BringIt raises $1.5M, helps RockYou generate revenue by putting a game inside a game

If you want to increase your revenue for a social game, you can put a game inside an existing game. That’s what BringIt, a tournament gaming startup, did for social game firm RockYou.

BringIt inserted its platform for tournament-style mini-games inside RockYou’s Zoo World game on Facebook. BringIt helped RockYou improve how much money it makes from each user and how long its users stay engaged with RockYou’s game. BringIt is also announcing it has raised $1.5 million in funding.

The BringIt platform lets users play their friends and bet the game’s virtual currency, or Zoo World Wildlife Points, without having to leave the game to do so. They can view leaderboards, issue challenges, and play in tournaments. For Zoo World, BringIt’s Zoo Blast mini-game gets users to stay an average of six minutes and 31 seconds more for each time they log into the game. The mini-game is skinned, meaning it has the same look as the rest of the RockYou game.

The eCPM is in excess of $120 for users who click-through into the BringIt mini-game. That is, BringIt generates $120 in revenue for RockYou for every 1,000 people who play its mini-game. That compares to eCPMs of around $100 or so for special ads known as offers.

BringIt is helping speed the rate at which players spend their money inside the virtual economy of the game, by sinking, or removing the currency from the game at a faster rate by getting players to spend their virtual money. That leads to users spending more real money on virtual currency, said Woody Levin, chief executive of BringIt in San Francisco.

Levin (pictured right) said 6 percent of users return to the Zoo Blast mini game every day, and 55 percent of users have played the game before.

Levin says it just takes a few hours to integrate BringIt into a social game.

The company has deals signed with a number of top-five social gaming publishers, Levin said, and will launch more of these deals in the coming quarter. RockYou is also expanding BringIt to its other games.

BringIt has raised its new round of money from Blumberg Capital, Seraph Group and ErGo Media Capital. To date, the company has raised more than $2.8 million

BringIt has eight employees and was founded in 2008. The company generates revenue based on fees related to the purchase of virtual currency from within its mini games as well as a revenue sharing deal. Rivals include Frosmo, but unlike Frosmo, BringIt does not offer offline prizes for its tournaments.