« December 28, 2008 - January 3, 2009 | Main | January 11, 2009 - January 17, 2009 »
CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH -- Jan 8 -- According to new data from Mediamark Research & Intelligence,
(MRI) watching online videos and making
online phone calls posted the biggest year-to-year percent increase
among adult Internet users. FULL ARTICLE @ MEDIA POST
Mark Brooks: Users are getting warmed up to internet telephony and video.
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH -- Jan 8 -- Nielsen
Online found
that customer reviews are an important research tool for online
consumers, with 71% agreeing that consumer reviews make them
more comfortable that they are buying the right product. 81% of
online shoppers have read product or retailer reviews by other
customers. FULL ARTICLE @ MEDIA POST
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
NY TIMES -- Jan 5 -- The days, when Venture capitalists poured money into Web sites that were free to users and that made money selling advertisements, are over. Instead, investors are looking for sites that make money in ways other than selling ads, like selling subscriptions or virtual goods. Investors are not convinced that selling ads or content like applications on mobile phones can make much money for them. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
OPW -- Jan 9 -- If you're attending iDate Miami here are the three exclusive beach parties to enjoy.
Wednesday 21st Jan - Litle Cocktail Reception at Monty's Raw Bar South Beach, 300 Alton Road, Miami South Beach
Thursday 22nd Jan - White Label Dating Cocktail Reception at Nikki Beach One Ocean Drive, Miami South Beach
Friday 23rd Jan, at 11 p.m. - After Event Party at Shore Club
OPW -- Jan 9 -- EasyDate, UK's fastest growing online dating company, is looking for US Partnership Manager. The person will be responsible for:
- Sourcing & Recruiting new White Label Partners
- Handling incoming White Label enquiries
- Managing Key Affiliates
- Managing and Growing Traffic Partners
Experience with online business is essential.
Rewards:
- Salary of 40k – 50k USD per year
- Impressive Bonus Scheme
- Opportunity for personal growth
Please send Resume and Cover Letter to: hr@easydate.biz.
FULL JOB DESCRIPTION
OPW -- Jan 8 -- We have just updated Hitwise U.S. dating rankings.
Singlesnet is #1, beating PlentyofFish.com by less than 0.01% of market
share! 17.0935% for Singlesnet and 17.092% for PlentyofFish.com.
Match.com moved ahead of Yahoo! Personals to #3. eHarmony dropped from
#6 to #8 moving DateHookup and ManHunt.net up to #6 and #7
respectively.
INC MAGAZINE -- Jan 8 -- Plentyoffish is
on track to book revenue of $10M for 2008, with 50%+ profit. Frind can
be disarmingly
frank. Yahoo, he says, is "a complete joke,"
Google is "a cult," and Match is "dying." Mark
Brooks, a marketing consultant who has advised Frind since 2006 said
"I've
never known anybody so competitive. He always says exactly what he
thinks." Frind made just $5 in his 1st month
but by the end of the year he was making $3,300 a month,
largely by selling ads to paid dating sites. From March to Nov' '03 he
expanded from 40 members to 10,000. By 2006, Plentyoffish was
serving 200m pages/mo. In 2008 he rented an office and
hired 3 people. Frind estimates, based on
exit surveys, that the site creates 800k successful relationships a
year. FULL ARTICLE @ INC MAGAZINE
THANHNIEN NEWS -- Jan 8 -- Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem has ordered government agencies to make plans for opening the nation's first matchmaking firm in order to prevent the abuse of Vietnamese women by foreigners. In Vietnam individuals and organizations have been legally forbidden to broker marriages for fees. Matchmaking can only be conducted by non-profit centers run by provincial women's associations and charities. FULL ARTICLE @ THANHNIEN NEWS
GREEK REPORTER -- Jan 7 -- Saïd Amin, a young entrepreneur originally
from Iran, created an empire of online dating services that target
Greeks, Italians, Arabs and other ethnic groups. World
Singles operates seven different ethnic online dating sites,
among them Eligiblegreeks.com.
Q: When did you start your company?
A: It all started as a
hobby in 2000, became my full time job in 2001.
Q: How did you come up with EligibleGreeks.com?
A: EligibleGreeks.com
was the second dating site that I started. I saw a void in this market and moved in quickly to fill it.
Q: How many people have profiles in EligibleGreeks.com?
A: We have several hundred thousand members and are currently the most visited dating site for Greeks worldwide.
Q: What could you say about the
behavior, patterns etc of (the members of) EligibleGreeks.com in
comparison to people to your other ethnic sites.
A: EligibleGreeks.com is
generally speaking more liberal and expressive.
FULL ARTICLE @ GREEK REPORTER
See all posts on EligibleGreeks
See all posts on WorldSingles
CNW -- Jan 7 -- Lavalife has launched the third annual search to
find Canada's 10 most eligible singles with the smarts, looks and
winning personalities to carry the title of Top Single. Lavalife's 2009 Top Singles Competition is presented by Colgate MaxFresh and is in partnership with LouLou and Glow magazines. FULL ARTICLE @ CNW GROUP
OPW -- Jan 8 -- iDate now has an official Facebook group. Click here. Membership is open. - Mark Brooks
PHONES REVIEW -- Jan 7 -- Viximo announced their TrueFlirt application for the Apple iPhone at Macworld 2009. TrueFlirt allows users to send virtual "flirts" which combine social messages with animation. FULL ARTICLE @ PHONES REVIEW
NY TIMES -- Jan 7 -- Friendfinder Networks (formerly Penthouse Media
Group) is trying to go public
in this market and plans to list on NYSE if it
does find buyers. Penthouse went bankrupt in 2003. It was taken
over by Pet Capital Partners, which gained control
by buying up Penthouse bonds that received stock in the reorganization.
If investors will not put up enough money, Bankruptcy No. 2
looms again. The big
investment banks seem to be shying away from the deal, even though at
$460m it would generate badly needed fees. The only underwriter
is a Cyprus-based subsidiary of a Russian bank. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES
PR WEB -- Jan 7 -- Previously Metrodate was dependent on premium
membership revenue (~$19.95 per month).
The decision to make the site free came from
reviewing the needs of the consumers. Feedback from users indicated
that they were growing accustomed to the trend of web sites being free.
Instead, Metrodate.com's focus for revenue will be local, targeted
advertising. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB
Mark Brooks: POF makes 30c CPM from Adsense these days. Far more is possible with direct ad sales. But Metrodate would need to build to millions of page views to justify hiring an ad sales person. Looks like they're running 35k visits a month right now. That should bring in about $15.
FORBES -- Jan 6 -- With the current downturn in the economy, singles are turning away from traditional methods of meeting people casually in bars and instead are flocking to online dating. Easydate.biz has gone from making a pretax profit of £180k in 2006 to a projected £6m this year. Parship claims it has grown by 400% in sales terms from 2005 to 2007. In Britain alone, 8m active singles went on 24m first dates in 2008, with 69% of these arranged online. FULL ARTICLE @ FORBES
PR NEWSWIRE -- Jan 5 -- Meetic will focus on
profitability in 2009. Meetic allocated ~15m Euros exceptional ad
expenditure in 2008, mainly for offline branding to increase the
profile DatingDirect, Neu.de and the matchmaking service
MeeticAffinity. The Group is confident that it will gain a significant
share of the European matchmaking market in 2009 and generate EBITDA
margin of 20% to 25%. In '08 the Group disposed of its Chinese
operations (eFriendsNet, Yeeyoo). Investments in Latin America, which
are currently marginal, will be maintained. FULL ARTICLE @ MSN MONEY
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK -- Jan 5 -- Match.com reported pre-tax profit of £3.67m in the year to 12/31/07, compared with a loss of £2.19m a year before. Last year, total revenue for Match worldwide rose 12% to $348.7m (£240m) and operating income rose 13% to $65.8m. The international growth was driven by the UK and Scandinavia. British dating sites in general are seeing a rise in members despite the credit crunch. Nielsen Online indicate a 15% rise in unique users visiting online dating sites in Nov compared with the same month last year. Match and EasyDate, which owns the SpeedDater, DatetheUK and BeNaughty brands, say they have seen some of their best days of trading since the collapse of Lehman Brothers ramped up global financial turmoil in September. Ross Williams, founder and chairman of WhiteLabelDating.com, says its database of members has grown by 250% to over 1m in the UK, and overall annualised revenues have increased by 450% to over £12m in the past 12 months as the dating sector booms in the economic gloom. Mark Brooks, an internet dating analyst, says: "The entire industry, with the exception of more marginal traditional matchmakers, is doing better despite the downturn." FULL ARTICLE @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
See all posts on Match.com See all posts on DatetheUK
See all posts on EasyDate See all posts on BeNaughty
See all posts on SpeedDater See all posts on WhiteLabelDating
STAR LEDGER -- Jan 5 -- When she hit 40, Neenah Pickett decided to find a husband by 2010. She created 52Weeks2FindHim.com so she can post self-descriptive videos and speed-date with email responders from her home via webcam. Online dating took off in the early 1990s, with users posting detailed personality profiles and flattering photos. More recently, sites like webdate.com and speeddate.com began to feature video dating, said Mark Brooks, editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com, an industry site for online personals. "Sometimes, you go out on a date with somebody and find out they don't have a full head of hair, or are 20 pounds heavier than that photo taken years ago," Brooks said. "With a video date, you see what you're going to get. It's very compelling." FULL ARTICLE @ NJ.COM
PRESS RELEASE -- Jan 4 -- The 5th Annual Internet Dating Industry and
Matchmaking
Industry event will focus on generating revenue and adapting
to the current market. Ticonderoga Ventures, retained Courtland Brooks,
a boutique marketing consulting that focuses on the internet dating
industry, to recruit an almost all-CEO cast at this years conference
and handle media relations for the event. In addition, the agenda
contains two separate pre-event sessions; an Introduction to the Online
Dating Industry provided by Mark Brooks, publisher of Online Personals
Watch and principal of Courtland Brooks, and a Matchmaker Event
provided by Julie Ferman, CEO of Cupid's Coach. FULL ARTICLE @ 1888 PRESS RELEASE
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