Online Personals Watch

FriendFinder Not Likely To Find Pals On Wall Street

CNET NEWS -- Dec 24 -- Friend Finder Networks, the company formerly known as Penthouse Media Group, is filing an IPO (underwritten by Renaissance Capital, based in Moscow) to pay off almost a half a billion in debt, to stay alive. The $460m IPO will go to paying off FriendFinder's ~$450m debt. For the nine months ending September 30, FriendFinder had revenue of $243m, operating income of $17.6m and a net loss of $32.3m. In its prospectus:

Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on our ability to raise additional capital, including from this offering. As of September 30, 2008, our balance sheet had...$420m in short-term debt... $411m of which had been reclassified from long-term debt, due to our failure to comply with certain covenants and restrictions in the agreements governing our 2005 Notes and 2006 Notes... We do not currently have sufficient cash to repay this indebtedness if our debt is accelerated and if the noteholders instituted foreclosure proceedings against our assets.

FriendFinder averaged 1 million paying subscribers a month for the first nine months of September 30 good for 77% of Internet revenue. Net revenue per subscriber was $19.06 a month. The monthly churn rate is 18% for the nine months ending September 30, down from 19.6% at the end of 2007.

Various neglected to collect taxes in the EU. The company says:
After our acquisition of Various, we became aware that Various and its subsidiaries had not collected VAT from subscribers in the European Union nor had Various remitted VAT to the tax jurisdictions requiring it. We have since registered with the tax authorities of the applicable jurisdictions and have begun collecting VAT from our subscribers in the European Union and remitting it as required.
FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS

Mark Brooks: The IPO is underwritten by Renaissance Capital a Moscow based investment bank. Huh? On the other hand, adult site membership is up, user churn is down, and ARPU is $19.31 a month. Your comments please.

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Fishing For That Perfect Partner On The Web

NORTH SHORE NEWS -- Dec 24 -- For some people the online dating world is a boon, for others it is a waste of time and source of more frustration. One of the biggest and apparently best of the online dating sites is www.plentyoffish.com. Plenty of Fish is absolutely free. It might not have the fancy matching logic but it does have volume. You have to love some of the other names for dating sites: LonelyWivesAffairs seems to have promise, kisscafe has a nice Sleepless in Seattle feel to it, and I won't even begin on SugarDaddie.com. FULL ARTICLE @ NORTH SHORE NEWS

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WhiteLabelDating.com Wins Contract With Natmags

WLD BLOG -- Dec 23 -- Natmags currently publish well established magazines in the UK including Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire and Cosmopolitan. They will initially be using the WLD application to roll out dating sites for their celebrity gossip magazine Reveal, along with women's weekly magazine Best. FULL ARTICLE @ WLD BLOG

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Xmas Day Internet Dating Conference Discount

OPW -- Dec 24 -- Happy Xmas!  As a little Xmas bonus we've negotiated a very special $75 discount for OPW readers who book an iDate conference pass or a pass to my Introduction to Internet Dating session through this link. This offer expires January 15th. Have a happy and safe holiday season! - Mark Brooks

Lack Of Advertising on Dating Sites?

OPW -- Dec 23 -- Why don't more dating sites make money from banner advertising? I think its because dating site users are very focused on what they are doing. Even more so than on social networks which have notoriously low click through rates. Watch this video to see what I mean. - Mark Brooks

FriendFinder Files For $460 million IPO

REUTERS -- Dec 23 -- FriendFinder Networks Inc, an operator of social-networking websites and publisher of the adult men's magazine Penthouse, filed on Tuesday for a $460m initial public offering. FriendFinder plans to use the proceeds of its IPO primarily to pay off debt, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS

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Christian Dating Service Flourishing In Down Economy

PR INSIDE -- Dec 23 -- Together Christian is doing well in spite of the downer economy. Together Christian is an online dating service that caters to clients who are Christian and seeking the same. Together Christian operates under The Right One and Together Dating service. FULL ARTICLE @ PR INSIDE

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Plentyoffish Not In Danger Of Over Fishing

MASHABLE -- Dec 21 -- Plentyoffish.com boasts 900k active daily members and one solo developer and is actually gaining market share and distancing itself from seasoned competitors with full staffs and fancy websites like Match.com and eHarmony. Plentyoffish's US monthly market share in the dating category continues to rise, now 17%, while Match and eHarmony have only managed to amass 3 - 5% market share. According to Frind's Plentyoffish blog, not only is Plentyoffish the top dating site in the US and the UK, but it's continuing to see steady signups in December, a month that Frind observes normally sees a 30% decrease. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE        

Mark Brooks: In this economy, no wonder. Your comments please. (Full Disclosure: POF is a client of Courtland Brooks)

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The Real Cougar Woman Radio Interview

BLOG TALK RADIO -- Dec 19 -- The Real Cougar Woman Radio was coined by Linda Franklin who has a website, RealCougarWoman.com. Linda focuses on real concerns of today's Cougar Woman – wellness, beauty and relationships. Linda and her co-host Bonnie D. Graham interviewed Paul Falzone, CEO and founder of The Right One and Together Dating and Mark Brooks, the online dating guru. Paul believes that people want to go back to face to face and there is a trend moving away from online. TRO/TD made an acquisition of a  Love Access which will be changed to eLove.com in the very near future. " Right now we are converting a lot of online people to the offline centers and giving them a lot more service and it's proving to be ideal", said Paul. FULL INTERVIEW @ OPW

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MySpace Vs Facebook Advertising Showdown

TECH CRUNCH -- Dec 21 -- Ryan Hupfer at HubPages who advertises on both MySpace and Facebook, compared the two platforms. In a nutshell, he finds Facebook a much better experience. When it comes to the results, though, things are mixed. Ryan's test showed a lower cost per click on MySpace than Facebook ($.27 v. $.44). But the Facebook clicks were more productive: a new user cost just $5.11 on Facebook, v. $8.03 on MySpace. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch

New Internet Dating Conference Video

OPW -- Dec 22 -- There's a new 2 minute video showcasing the Internet Dating Conference at iDate2009.com. Check out the quote from Marc Bell, CEO of FriendFinder, at the end. - Mark Brooks