I have seen 1-2 players drop 1-2000 $ in 2 days, so there has to be more I don’t see. Also @heyortin , Replay was sold… in 2006 to the current owners. Now @bertbakar , It was only recently that staff was add’d as they need’d more programmers to do thier HTML5 update. I can rember “staff” being in the 7-8 ppl range, not too long ago.
I know my 40m wasn’t bought. You also need to understand, (so I’ve been told) Replay used to be restricted BR, and they switched to unrestricted tables.
Its not like I lose chips to Ilovecat, but its a trickle up economy. the 1m player loses to a 10m player who then loses to a 100m player, who then loses to a 500m player who loses to a 5b player. Add to that , that 10 yrs ago 50$ might’ve bought the same 3.75m chip pkgs. ( don’t quote me on that, its only a guess )
Did you include all the promotional chips given away ? That too adds up over time, not to mention the “top off” chips just like the Daily bonus does.
I don’t see adverts here, so I guess enough is there to keep the lights on. What I haven’t seen over the last 3+ years is a measurable increase of players online. I would’ve expected by now, for there to be @least another 1-2000 players “online”.
Replay runs a pretty tight ship, and usually stays lean-mean. None of us know, unless we were here, how the growth from the beginning took place in # of chips. Sites like WSOP and others have launched after I joined ReplayPoker. Player retention is a huge deal, sure # of unique visits is important, but once they walk in the door you need to keep them around, and relatively happy.
Nowadays, “data” gets monitized and sold or shared for a profit. Noone reallly knows what data brokers charge, well not the general public doesn’t. Nothing is truly free. Companies like Google, will share or give away technology in return for “data”.
On the flip side is Replay. If there is 10,000 unique visits per day, and Replay earns $10 from 5% of them ( or equivilent ), thats 5k per day or 150k per month. I might believe that costs approach 100k per month, thats 50k profit or 600k per year. That doesn’t include any income for data.
Player aquisistion, player retention, unique visits per day, ave players “online”, ave % of players that buys chips, and inflation itself of the Replay economy… I’ll bet are the big metrics Replay cares about. Obviously they make enuff to keep the lights on. I hope they reinvest some profit back into Replay to aid in the above metrics.
100k per month is inline with WannabeCoder 's approximation of "in excess of 1m per year. ( its 1.2m per year @ 100k/month )
I for 1 don’t care if Mr. Replay and ChaseTheRiver are making $ hand over fist, I more worry about “players online” and “Chip inflation”. Even if there is 2000 players online and 1500 are “seated”, thats still over Rings, SnGs, and MTTs. Just like Skiing, if you aren’t going fast enough, the physics just don’t work… same goes for Replay, if you don’t have enough “players online/seated” then the playerbase is so splintered that none of it works @ its peak performance.
Judge’n by what tables are the most filled up, my guess is that Replay makes far more from selling 10-20$ chip pkgs ( and should ) than selling 100$ chip pkgs. Its another reason I think currently tables are un-restricted ( bankroll wise ). That allows higher players to drop levels and absorb alot of those bought/free chips and take them up the food chain. It also slows down the overall migration of players vertically… BUT
the better players will ALWAYS “hoover up” lower players’s chips. Who then in turn do the same thing to even lower players. I have seen and know of a few players who can either rebuild thier Bank quickly , or just rip thru levels on thier way up. Taking both bought/free chips up with them.
There is still huge potential for Replay to grow. If the HTML5 update goes well, and mobile users are not left out in the cold, I can see Replay double’n thier “players online” in the next 2 years. But they will not be able to retain all those players, if they don’t keep as many players Happy & Interested in playing daily. If that occurs they also would double thier profit margains.
It starts to get boring if you have to play against the same 'ole players all the time… or if the Promotions/offerings are basically the same thing. Replay has made great advances in the Leagues aspect. ( not the private leagues, the main ones ). This is 1 reason replay has expanded into the streaming aspect. Everyone wants thier 10 minutes of Fame. And if Private Leagues are marketed to Companies, then thats another huge market currently untapp’d.
Remember this is a UK company, but the US market unlike the European market… cannot play for real $$$ online and needs a free-chips environment the most. The biggest threat to Replay is if the US market all of a sudden could play online poker for real $$ easily with no stigma attached.
All-in-all ReplayPoker keeps the lights on, and is expanding, so thier Buisness Model must be working on some level, or we’d be barraged with Adverts.
Sassy
