Another Reason to Love the Virtual Goods Business Model: Virtual Worlds Make Cash from Charging for Virtual Items that Promote Movies

I recently found an Adweek article (courtesy of Kzero) about how various movie studios are using virtual worlds in their promotional strategies. Some of it is pretty interesting:

Movie Clips as emoticons

In April, Viacom's Paramount Digital Entertainment signed a partnership agreement with Makena Technologies, making thousands of movie clips from the Paramount movie library available on There.com, an online virtual world. Visitors who purchase the clips can use them to communicate with others by having their avatar "speak" lines from movies while the actual clip plays in a small window. Links allow users to purchase DVDs of the featured movies.

According to the article, There.com is charging about a dollar for one of these video emoticons.

Movie Props as Virtual Goods

Two months ago, to promote the theatrical release of Paramount's The Spiderwick Chronicles, the site sold props from the film, such as an animated raven for 25 Habbo coins ($5) and a chest that opens for 5 Habbo coins ($1).

So basically, players pay to promote movies to their friends, and the virtual world gets a cut. Need I say more?