“American Idol” to Launch Teen Fan World in Habbo.com

Teen fans of “American Idol”, which kicked off its new TV season on Tuesday, will be able to get together and party avatar-style with the launch later this month of an “AI” virtual experience within the Habbo.com world.

It will be the first foray into a virtual community for the American version of the international hit TV show, says David Luner, senior vice president of interactive and consumer products for FremantleMedia Enterprises North America, the licensing division of “American Idol” producer FremantleMedia.

“’American Idol’ is already the world’s largest interactive event,” Luner says. “We had over 97 million votes in the season finale last year. We’ve been looking at the virtual world space for a long time, because of the incredible communities that have been built, the online loyalty and the chance for direct contact with the viewer and the consumer. We looked at everything from building our own world to partnering, but the chance to partner with Habbo.com was just too good to pass up.”

Habbo currently runs online communities in 33 countries on six continents and sees more than 11.5 million unique users each month. More than 90% of that global membership is between 13 and 18, with a gender mix of roughly 56% male. Within the U.S., Habbo.com has a membership of about 3 million teens. That seems to make the partnership a good fit for both “American Idol”, which has a large teen fan base, and for Habbo.

“If you’re in any kind of teen-focused business like Habbo’s, partnering with Freemantle and ‘American Idol’ has to be on top of your list,” says Teemu Huuhtanen, North American president of Sulake Inc., parent to the Habbo brand.

The American Idol virtual experience will launch on Jan. 30 in Habbo.com and will be available only to U.S. Habbo members.

Habbo.com is a moderated “2.5-D” virtual world where members create blocky avatars called Habbos that can converse, interact and move about in the virtual world. The creations are somewhat limited in motion abilities, so there won’t be any dance contests in the “American Idol” virtual world, but Luner says the intent is to offer Habbos new in-game activities and virtual items through the 20-week season of the current program, to encourage fans to keep coming back to the area.

Both FremantleMedia and Habbo expect that many of those online events will include branding by advertisers hoping to get in front of the world’s teen demographic at a point of high engagement. According to Habbo, users spend an average of 45 minutes on the site every time they visit.

“We can do a fully branded universe,” Luner says. “We can do unique product merchandise, themed rooms, unique events that coincide with the timing of the show. We plan some excellent programming around this within the Habbo universe.”

At the same time, the “American Idol” virtual world on Habbo.com will be intentionally kept separate from the TV show to preserve the official sponsorships brands like AT&T Wireless and Coca-Cola have signed with the broadcast program. For example, the Habbo.com version will not be promoted on the TV show, although it will be advertised on the official Web site. And registered members will be notified of the Habbo.com launch via e-mail and newsletter.

In choosing Habbo.com as the site of its teen-centric virtual world, Luner says a large criterion for Fremantle was in-world security to make sure members are kept safe from predators and identity thieves.

“We are a family-friendly show, and there are a lot of virtual worlds out there that are not family-friendly,” he says. “Habbo has the infrastructure needed to target teens, and a strong track record. We feel very, very safe with their moderation capabilities.”

Those in-world safety measures include a staff of 200 adults trained to moderate the sites, Huuhtanen says. Habbo.com also employs complex software that dispatches one of those moderators to any room in Habbo.com where only two members are present, to avoid inappropriate behavior. An in-world language filter also prevents inappropriate speech.