Postopia

Postopia was an American advergaming portal established by Skyworks Technologies in partnership with Post Cereals in 2001.

Postopia

Type of site	Internet games
Available in	English
Founded	2001; 24 years ago (2001)
Dissolved	January 2011 (2011-01)
Owner	Post Consumer Brands
Created by	Post Consumer Brands, Skyworks Technologies
Founder(s)	Post Consumer Brands
Commercial	Yes
Registration	Optional
Launched	2001; 24 years ago (2001)
Current status	Defunct

Work on the website started at Skyworks in 1999, continuing until 2009,^[1] with the website open in the summer of 2001;^[2] its games featured tie-ins with its cereal mascots and characters.^[3] As of a June 2001 Nielsen survey, the website attracted an audience of 254,000 unique users ages 6-11, ascending to 260,000 counting users under the age of six.^[4]

The first version of the website was developed by Scient, was heavily advertised on television and was featured in more than 17 million Post cereal boxes.^[5] The initial version was divided in four countries, each one with its own main character: Futuria, a futuristic city inhabited by inventors known as the Gadgetrons,^[6] led by Zander,^[7] the Ice Burbs, a wintry location dedicated to fashion and trends, its inhabitants being the Ice Breakers^[8] led by Kiki,^[9] Space Nation, a space station located above Postopia, populated by a team of explorers known as the Galaxy Busters,^[10] led by Chelsea,^[11] and the underwater Wet World, inhabited by professional athletes known as the Water Loggers,^[12] led by Nick.^[13] In 2004, the site was made by Razorfish, with two million unique users visiting the website per month and up to 30 minutes a day per user. The website's development was largely due to the implementation of broadband connections, pivotal for the development of interactive websites.^[14]

In November 2005, Skyworks started delivering USB-ported Dance Dance Revolution-inspired dancing mats, these mats were also available from sister website NabiscoWorld.^[15] That same year it was heavily targeted by a new Kraft policy to promote only healthier foods, which would affect the website by the end of 2006.^[16] In 2006, Congress went after advergames sponsoring unhealthy foods, prompting them to detach from their previous sponsors in order to continue being playable.^[17] The website attracted a million child users in the second quarter of 2006 alone.^[18] In December 2007, Postopia received the most traffic from outside advertising on Nickelodeon's website (87%), Disney's website (74%) and Runescape (67%).^[19] As of 2009, the average number of visitors per month had fallen to 264,000.^[20]

A 2011 study said that only a limited number of kids were aware that the games were made to advertise cereals — the study targeted the Honey-Comb-sponsored Be a Popstar.^[21][22] At the bottom of its homepage, it included a fine print message saying that the website contained commercial advertising related to its products.^[23] It also had the Postokens where users unlocked new levels or features to existing games using passwords found in cereal boxes.^[17]

The website was discontinued in 2011, likely as an effect of the reduction in child-based advertising online.^[24] Another cause was Kraft's sale of Post to Ralcorp, which hampered the creation of a new website.^[25] The website was replaced by PebblesPlay.com, an advergame website promoting Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles,^[26] Unlike what happened with Postopia, PebblesPlay did not generate the same amount of impressions.^[27]