Barbie vs. the penguins

Even though she reigned supreme on Web 1.0, as more and more kid-oriented virtual worlds like ClubPenguin and WebKinz open on the Web, Barbie’s struggling to keep up, according to a CNET analysis. “Mattel's Barbie.com and EverythingGirl.com have the highest concentration of girls age 2 to 11 on the Web, according to researcher Nielsen NetRatings, but their overall audience hasn't grown much over the years.” It adds that Barbie.com got about 1.9 million unique visitors last month, down from 2.1 million in April 2006 (ClubPenguin attracted 4 million visitors, Webkinz 3.6 million, and Neopets 3.2 million last month). This summer Mattel’s coming out with an MP3 player “that can be accessorized like a doll and used to unlock special animations, make friends and shop in a virtual world on the Web.” Here’s an item on Sony’s rumored interest in acquiring ClubPenguin at tech news site GigaOm.com.