Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Sites That Cater To 'Discreet' Encounters Thriving

USA TODAY - Feb 14 - For Noel Biderman and others who have founded dating websites for married people, it's a lucrative business. "The day after Valentine's Day is one of our biggest days of the year," says Biderman, founder and CEO of AshleyMadison (AM). Some of the sites are based in Europe and increasingly have become international, with their eye on the USA. "American people are really hypocrites about infidelity," says Teddy Truchot, co-founder of Gleeden, which launched in Europe in 2009, moved into Australia and entered the U.S. market last fall. "Everything from the U.S. which comes to Europe is about infidelity," says Truchot. "You see cheating all over TV and in real life." Data from 2010 from the General Social Survey shows that 19% of men and 14% of women reported ever having had an extramarital partner. AM earns well over $60M a year, suggests online dating industry analyst Mark Brooks. Biderman says that estimate is "on target," but he's expecting greater revenue this year ($100M). Industry tracker Brooks counts well over 30 cheating websites. He is quick to disclose that he has been a paid consultant for many online dating services, including those he calls "philanderer sites." "The philandering sites are specific to people who are wanting to be discreet," he says. "As much as I abhor these sites, they do actually do something good for the industry. People can be who they are on the philanderer sites," he says, rather than have married people claiming to be single, which happens on singles dating sites, he says. Biderman says it took five years to get the first 1M anonymous members. Currently, ~2.3M are registered and considered active by logging in or taking an action within the past 30 days. Brooks says he's surprised that in 10 years, Biderman's site hasn't had a lot of direct competition. Part of it, he says, is that "people don't like to start that kind of business." But Gleeden is ready to take that on.

by Sharon Jayson
See full article at USA Today

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All 2012 Valentine's Day News

Valentine's Day For Cheaters

CHICAGO TRIBUNE - Feb 13 - Everyone knows Valentine's Day is Feb 14th. Not quite as as many may know that Feb 13th is Mistress Day. "79% of married men that we polled planned to spend Feb 13th with their mistress," said Noel Biderman, the founder of AshleyMadison.com. Biderman said, despite having a company slogan that states "Life is short — have an affair," he is not trying to convince people to cheat, but merely creating a community of discretion for those who do. With~13M members throughout 17 countries, it seems like it's caught on. While the majority of the members are married men seeking women, Biderman said 22% are single women seeking married men. And Biderman said when you factor in hotels, jewelry and luxury travel, the infidelity economy is a trillion-dollar-a-year business.

by Jen Weigel
See full article at Chicago Tribune

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All 2012 Valentine's Day News

Shagbook.com Launches Mobile-Enabled Website

PRESS RELEASE - Feb 2 - UK-based adult dating site Shagbook.com is now offering a mobile-enabled version of its website, allowing daters the option of accessing the site from their smart phones and tablets, from anywhere in the world.

See full article at PR Inside

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‘Sugar Babies’ Seek Friendship And Help With Tuition

MIAMI HERALD - Jan 25 - Three Florida schools, including Florida International University, have had so many students join a sugar-daddy dating site that they’ve been included in the site’s ‘Top 20’ universities of 2011. For the women on Seeking Arrangement.com, what they’re seeking is often dollar-specific: as much as $10K a month, or more, to date a certain well-heeled man. College students make up about 40% of the Sugar Babies on SeekingArrangement.com. 10 to 20 escorts are removed daily.

by Michael Vasquez
See full article at Miami Herald

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AshleyMadison.com Expanding In Australia

THE TELEGRAPH - Jan 16 - AshleyMadison, an online dating agency targeting people seeking extra-marital affairs, is expanding its company in Australia due to high demand for the service. The growing dating trend has already attracted ~500K members in Australia with women accounting for 40% of its clients. Ashleymadison.com founder and CEO Noel Biderman said Australia had the fastest growing female membership in the world due to the high proportion of successful career women.

by Samantha Williams
See full article at The Telegraph

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College-aged Girls Looking For Sugar Daddies Online

DAILY MAIL - Jan 16 - Sky-high tuition loans are turning more college-aged girls to the internet in hopes of wrangling in a wealthy suitor through an online dating site since it appears to be more profitable than an extra shift at the local coffee shop. Seeking Arrangement brands itself as ‘the elite sugar daddy dating site for those seeking mutually beneficial relationships’ and was established in June 2006. The site has announced that it is seeing a spike in the number of female college students. New York University students top the list, followed by those at the University of Toronto and Penn State University. Even Harvard and UCLA made the top ten.

by Meghan Keneally
See full article at Daily Mail

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Irish New Year's Resolution: To Start An Affair?

THE INDEPENDENT - Jan 4 - According to extra-marital dating sites such as Illicit Encounters, Lovinglinks.com and MaritalAffair.com, the start of the year is the time most married men and women will sign up to commit adultery. IllicitEncounters .com, is expecting a 300% rise in new members this week having previously discovered January 4 to be "the most adulterous day of the year". "Christmas and New Year are times when couples spend an intensive period of time with each other and their families," explains extra-marital expert and spokeswoman for Illicit Encounters, Rosie Freeman-Jones. "This can be quite claustrophobic and sometimes leads to a 'cabin fever' situation where both parties feel irritated with each other and cracks in the relationship start to surface. Illicit Encounters alone has 43,000 Irish members.

by Chrissie Russell
See full article at The Independent

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Gleeden.com Launches In The U.S.

GLOBE NEWSWIRE - Nov 16 - Gleeden.com, an extramarital site already popular in Europe, is launching in the US. The site was launched by brothers who first conceived the idea from listening to the frustrations and marital problems of the women surrounding them; friends, family and colleagues. "It is the first dating site that is completely developed by women to cater to women's needs. Other websites focus on the needs and wants for men to have physical affairs without being discovered. Gleeden.com promotes honesty and freedom within a couple", the site claims. According to Gleeden, extramarital affairs can intervene as therapy for a couple.

See full article at Market Watch

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Hispanics Are 'Fastest Growing Community When It Comes To Infidelity'

HUFFINGTON POST - Nov 11 - According to AshleyMadison.com, the Hispanic community is "the fastest growing community when it comes to infidelity." Since launching the Spanish-language version of their website in 2009, 1.1M Latinos have signed up, accounting for 31% of their total new membership.

See full article at Huffington Post

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Gleeden.com Launches in USA

EON - Sep 28 - Gleeden.com, the extramarital dating site, launches in the US. The site claims to have 1M members in 100+ countries. Officially launched 18 months ago in Europe by US-based venture capital fund, BlackDivine, Gleeden caters to people seeking affairs outside their relationships.

See full article at EON

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Strings Attached: Online Dating for Married People

FOX BUSINESS - Sep 7 - Nothing is off limits when it comes to the Internet. Fox Business checked in with four dating sites for married people.

AshleyMadison.com
Started: 2001
Members: 11M in 15 countries, 7M in the U.S.

Q&A with Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media
Q: When do you notice an uptick in traffic?
A: The days after Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

Gleeden.com
Started: 2009
Members: 1M

Q&A with Kristiana Strandjeva, spokesperson for Gleeden.com

Q: Were you surprised at the response level/interest from people?
A: Not surprised at all. The concept of relationships outside of the marriage has been around a long time, it is as old as marriage itself. 

Q: Why do you think married people turn to a site like this?
A: In today’s day and age, it’s very difficult to be married and faithful.

NoStringsAttached.com
Started: 2010
Members: 3.4M

Q&A with Anthony Previte, CEO of FriendFinder Networks
Q: Why married people turn to a site like this?
A: The opportunity to cheat is the best with people you know. These are also the most dangerous because it's only a matter of time before your partner finds out. Sites like NoStringsAttached are safer.  

MarriedSecrets.com
Started: 2003
Members: “In the hundreds of thousands"

Q&A With Jason Baker, spokesperson.
Q: Why do you think married people turn to a site like this? 
A: Often times the main theme is that people are looking to find an intimacy that they are not getting at home. 

by Kathryn Tuggle
See full article at Fox News

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AshleyMadison Hits 10 million Members

DIGITAL LIFE - Aug 10 - Extramarital "dating" service Ashley Madison.com has crossed the 10 million-member mark worldwide. Noel Biderman, founder and president of the site, who is married with two young children, launched the site in 2002 after he "discovered that countless numbers of married men and women were using traditional ‘singles’ dating sites."

by Suzanne Choney
See full article at Digital Life

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Honor Mom - Or Another 'Daddy' Will

NY POST - May 5 - This is a wakeup call to married men: This Sunday is Mother's Day. Do not scoff. The day following Mother's Day is the No. 2 date on which women seek love outside marriage. And No. 1? The day after Valentine's Day. For a decade, Ashley Madison, the online dating site that claims more than 9M members, has hooked up frustrated women with appreciative guys. On a normal Monday, 2,500 to 3,000 women join. But last post-Mother's Day, May 10, was a record. Some 31,427 women signed up. The average age is 36.

by Andrea Peyser
See full article at NY Post

Mark Brooks: This is pretty much the social warning call for the rise of the infidelity sites. Look after your girl, or someone else will.

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3.5 Women to Every Man Cheating Online

PR WEB - Apr 5 - New research from IllicitEncounters.com shows that, for every husband pursuing affairs online, there are more than three wives. The research also showed that women spent considerably more time than men as a member of the site, staying active for just over a year. Male members are typically active for just over 6 months. IllicitEncounters.com, who conducted the research, say the figure marks a clear shift in the demographics of British affairs. IllicitEncounters.com has been running since 2003, and now has ~570,000 members across the UK & Ireland.

See full article at PR Web

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One Woman Goes Undercover On Ashley Madison

MSNBC - Mar 30 - Writer signs up for Ashley Madison and meets with husbands to figure out why they stray. In her profile, she says that she is married, because many of the men don't want the complications of seeing a single woman. Overnight she receive 164 messages. 68% of the site's members are men, and their average age is 44. You think this is a site for sex in motels. Ashley Madison's president, Noel Biderman, certainly does. He says that the men are there for one thing. "This is about sex." He is wrong that all the men on AM want sex and sex alone. There are plenty of men who says he is happily married when what he really means is he is complacently bored. They might be looking to fall in love. On Ashley Madison, wives are mostly reduced to pronouns, and in that reduction they are less a human than a fact that shares their home. In the most extreme, these pronouns become antiheroes to the plan. One of the most striking things about Ashley Madison users is that they can literally be anybody.

Scott Haltzman, M.D., author of The Secrets of Happy Families said: "Use this article as a starting point to talk about your fears and ways to keep things fresh." Haltzman's tip: Try something new together, regularly.

by Lisa Taddeo
See full article at MSNBC

Mark Brooks: My tips for a happy marriage. 1. Take a date night EVERY week at least once. 2. Always, always be honest. 3. No disrespect. 4. Take time to communicate clearly. 5. Get a really fast motorbike and go for a fast ride round a small island (like Malta) once a week.  :-)

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Dating Site For Cheaters Draws Record Complaints

ICE NEWS - Mar 28 - Victoria Milan, a dating site which encourages married people to have affairs has prompted a record number of complaints to the advertising ombudsman in Sweden. Norwegian company Victoria Milan has introduced a billboard campaign in Stockholm, with posters reading: “Are you married? Liven up your life – have an affair”. “I understand that people react. But no one who is happy within their relationship will make use of our service just because we advertise,” said the company’s CEO Sigurd Vedal.

See full article at Ice News

Mark Brooks: A growing number of dating sites are focusing on this niche. Which is both good, and bad. It's bad because, it's a shame the institution of marriage is being eroded, and people are encouraged to lie to their spouses. It's good because, it's better cheaters are NOT on mainstream dating sites. They need to clarify on their marital status up front, not 3 months into dating. 'Oh, btw, I'm married.' Ick.

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'Have An Affair' Bus Ads Anger Swedish Commuters

THELOCAL.SE - Mar 15 - Victoria Milan, a new Swedish website which challenges individuals to dabble in infidelity in order to help them cope with dull, lifeless relationships has been reported to the advertising ombudsman. Married travellers waiting for buses in Stockholm are currently being confronted with the challenge "Are you married? Liven up your life - have an affair" in the form of a billboard campaign from Victoria Milan. Sigurd Vedal is the CEO and he has been quick to launch a defence of the apparent attempt to exploit marital difficulties. "I understand that people react. But no one who is happy within their relationship will make use of our service just because we advertise," he said.

See full article at TheLocal.se

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100K Spouses Cheating On-line While Working From Home

PR WEB - Mar 9 - A survey from extramarital dating site Illicit Encounters.com found ~65% (370K) of members access the affairs site during work hours, and 23% (131K) admit to logging on while 'working from home'. The statistics show a 10% increase on those who visited the site on company time. IllicitEncounters.com has been running since 2003, and has ~570K members.

See full article at PR Web

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CEO Noel Biderman And Sexy Ashley Madison Banned Ad

POSTCHONICLE - Feb 22 - "People don't stray because it is easy or convenient. Most stray because they are missing something in their relationship and feel they need or deserve more than their primary partner offers. Providing a service like ours does not make someone more likely to stray any more than increasing the availability of glassware contributes to alcoholism", said Noel Biderman, founder & CEO of Ashley Madison. Below is a video interview of Noel on Huckabee.

By Mitch Marconi
See full article at The Post Chronicle

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Cheating, Incorporated

BUSINESS WEEK - Feb 14 - Noel Biderman is the CEO of Avid Life Media, based in Toronto. "Monogamy, in my opinion, is a failed experiment," he declares. Adultery has been good to Biderman, but defending his product is a full-time job. After spending several years as a sports agent at Chicago's Interperformances, Biderman founded Ashley Madison in 2002, naming the company after the two most popular names for baby girls that year. AshleyMadison is by far Avid Life's most successful brand with 8.5M members, 1.3 million of whom have actually paid something. Avid Life is expected to generate $60M in revenue this year and $20M in profit. Biderman is quick to explain why his business isn't hurting anyone. "You eradicate Ashley Madison, you're not going to eradicate infidelity.Do you think if you stop allowing divorce attorneys to advertise, we would stop people from getting divorced?" he says. According to Justin Wolfers, an economist, Ashley Madison provides liquidity to an illiquid market, which may make the market bigger. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WEEK

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