E-Rewards Buys Peanut Labs For Market Research Surveys
Had the pleasure of getting an overview of this new product this afternoon with the MD of Research Now Asia-Pac and it’s certainly a HUGE step in the right direction for the research industry and really heartening to see a step into the gaming direction…as I’ve been saying for a number of months…GAMING IS THE NEW SOCIAL! The concept of being able to reward engaged gamers with their own virtual currency (the expression I’ve always used for this is “game-changer”). The absolute category killer here would be a Social Game designed specifically for data collection…not too far around the corner methinks 
Market research firm e-Rewards, Inc. has acquired Peanut Labs, which specializes in survey offers that reward respondents with virtual currency, in a deal expected to close this October.
Headquartered in San Francisco and founded in 2007, Peanut Labs has a respondent pool of more than 240 million consumers. The company offers market research surveys that users can fill out online in order to receive free virtual currency for social games/apps and free-to-play titles.
The company’s partners include developers, operators, and monetization firms like Bigpoint, Changyou, Nexon, Rockyou, Playdom, Pogo, and Playspan. Its surveys will also be integrated into Facebook’s Credits platform later this year, allowing participants to earn the social network’s universal virtual currency.
Peanut Labs will retain its brand identity for its San Francisco-based publishers, operating as “Peanut Labs, an e-Rewards Company.” Its Seattle-based market research survey business will join e-Rewards’ online sampling and data collection firm Research Now, and will cease to be a client-facing trading brand by next year.
After the acquisition is completed, Peanut Labs will no longer charge publishers for CPA offer monetization programs for the remainder of the year, instead paying partners 100 percent of revenue earned from CPA offers — a move meant to reflect what it says is “the monetization industry’s transition from CPA offers to market research surveys”.
“All of us at Peanut Labs are excited about joining forces with Research Now,” says Peanut Labs co-founder and CEO Ali Moiz. “Combining Peanut Labs sampling capabilities in social media with Research Now’s global online panels, our clients will now have access to the largest and most diverse global respondent universe available to support online research projects.”
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