Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Cupid In Dating Brands Lease Deal With Brightsolid

BBC.CO.UK - Feb 14 - Cupid is to take on several brands under a leasing deal with Dundee-based Friends Reunited owner Brightsolid. Under the 10-year deal, Cupid will operate Friends Reunited Dating, Friends Over Fifty and Swoon. Brightsolid will retain ownership of their domain names, trade marks and intellectual property rights. Brightsolid CEO Chris van der Kuyl said: "Our acquisition of Friends Reunited in April 2010 helped the company to achieve significant growth last year, with overall sales up by 75%. "However, it is clear that Cupid has real strengths in the online dating sector, so it makes absolute sense to enter this agreement with them for our dating business.

See full article at BBC.co.uk

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All 2012 Valentine's Day News

Money Can't Buy Me Love - Or Can It?

IRISH TIMES - Feb 14 - A European Singles survey found that Irish men are likely to spend €106 on a date, compared to British men, who were likely to spend €60. According to a study conducted by the Oxford Internet Institute last year, one in 16 Irish people surveyed started their relationship online. Services range from the free, such as PlentyofFish.com to subscription-based sites like Match.com. While there are never any guarantees, does a greater financial investment result in a higher success rate? “They know that a paying member is serious about dating,” says Grainne Barry of Another Friend, Ireland’s largest dating site with ~60% of the Irish market share.

by Claire O'Mahony
See full article at Irish Times

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Singles Spend More Than £3 Billion Annually Looking For Love

DAILYMAIL – Jan 27 – A recent poll of 2,000 singles in Britain’s major cities has found that Brits collectively go on 37M dates a year, spending an average of £47 each time, spending a national average of £1.3 billion on food and drink alone. The dating industry has made a major impact on the UK economy, the study found, revealing that £421M goes towards transportation and another £324M in grooming as people get their hair cut to look their best. The study was commissioned by Match.com and produced by the Centre of Economic Business Research.

by Sadie Whitelocks
See full article at DailyMail

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Women Go For A Man In A White Coat – Men Prefer A Woman In Black Robes

PARSHIP - Jan 11 - A recent study by PARSHIP and the University of Bremen in Germany shows that a person’s career influences their level of appeal to other singles, with male doctors and female lawyers most in demand. Singles attract less attention if their job only demands a basic education (e.g. warehouseman, salesperson, driver). 

The 10 most appealing career designations

Men’s careers/ Women’s careers
1. Doctor/Lawyer
2. Architect/ Flight attendant
3. Psychologist /Doctor
4. Scientific assistant/Business manager
5. Policeman/Scientific assistant
6. Teacher/Architect
7. Lawyer/Foreign language assistant
8. Journalist/Engineer
9. Management Consultant/Teacher
10. Engineer/Designer

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Interview With Maksim Khramov, CEO Of LovePlanet

IDATE - Jan 2 - LovePlanet was founded in 2005. It grew fast and was acquired by RBK in 2006. Maksim Khramov joined the company in 2007. LovePlanet is currently a part of Mediamir. Mediamir specializes in promotion of internet sites and other entertainment products.

Q: What is LovePlanet?
A: LovePlanet is a freemium dating site. 

Q: How many offices are there at LovePlanet?
A: LovePlanet has several offices.  Our headquarters are in Moscow. The largest part is based in St. Petersburg, where LovePlanet was actually founded.

Q: How many employees are at LovePlanet?
A: 20 people in total.

Q: What markets LovePlanet serves?
A: We mainly target the Russian speaking audience. A significant portion of our users live in the Ukraine and Belorussia.

Q: How large do you see the Russian online dating market?
A: Mamba and LovePlanet annual revenue is ~ 1 Billion rubles ($31M).

Q: What is LovePlanet advertising % of revenues?
A: ~20% of our total revenue, and is constantly rising.

Q: How many members are at LovePlanet.ru?
A: We have ~17M registered users.

Q: Are you mobile?
A: At the moment ~5-10% of our audience use an HTML version adapted for a mobile screen. Together with html version, we are developing and building applications for iOS and Android.

Q: For the Russian speaking residents where are the market opportunities for growth?
A: We see growth in the other cities of Russia.

Q: Are you planning on entering the EU market?
A: We would be happy to work in other markets as well such as Europe or America. However, it's a challenge since business models differ greatly.

Q: Do you use Facebook connect for increasing conversions?
A: We see the tendency of Internet users migrating to social networks. We are working in this direction at the moment and recently we have developed the application for “Vkontakte.ru” network.

Q: How many payment systems does LovePlanet accept?
A: To pay for our services you can use practically any payment system working with Russian market: credit cards, “Qiwi” terminals. You can also pay with Sberbank or with a wire transfer. The major part of payments is done via SMS service now.

Watch the full interview at iDate

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DatesOut Launches London Dating Site

NEWSWIRE TODAY - Dec 12 - DatesOut encourages singles to post date ideas at set times and places. Users then choose their partner from those who’ve shown interest or alternatively, invite other site members along to their date.

See full article at Newswire Today

Dating Sites For Those Who Know What They Want

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK - Dec 5 - The internet dating industry is worth £2.5 billion worldwide. But if people really know what they want, the big general websites probably aren’t for them. Specialist sites can connect them with vegans, pagans, bald men, short women, wannabe Wags or triathletes. Mark Brooks, an internet dating consultant and the editor of Online Personals Watch, says, 'Many users are addicted to choice, and this has helped cause expectations to rise.’ The truth is, 'People often don’t know what they really want. The more selective you are the less likely you are to be compatible on other levels.’ On the upside, he says, 'Niche dating can get the toughest questions out of the way up front.’

The Best Niche Websites
- Teeforetwo.co.uk sets up single golfers with partners to play with, and for dates
- Brainiacdating.com and sweetongeeks.com is for bright people
- Redhead-world.net is an international social network for redheads
- Paganpartners.co.uk for druids, shamans or wiccans
- Alternativedatinguk.co.uk specialises in goth, emo and, er, vampire dating
- veggieromance.com is for vegetarians
- ethicalsingles.com is for people with a humanitarian outlook

by Rebecca Seal
See full article at The Daily Telegraph

eÇift.com Scores 3 Million Euro Round Of Funding

UNQUOTE.COM - Dec 2 - 3TS Capital Partners, the Growth Capital Investor for Central and Eastern Europe, invests in Elit Teknoloji, the owner of eÇift.com the market leading Turkish dating site. eÇift will receive 3M Euro. eÇift was established in 2009 by serial entrepreneurs Tamer and Akgün Kulmaç and Janset Çelik to serve Turkish speaking users looking for a serious relationship. In 2010 the business received equity financing from business angels; participants included b-to-v Partners AG, Parship.de co-founder Konstantin Urban and Hotel.de founder Stefan Morschheuser. By now eÇift became the leading Turkish language dating platform with ~1.5M registered users and cash-flow positive operation.

See full article at Unquote.com

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Dating Service Connects People Over Their Leftovers

WIRED.CO.UK - Dec 2 - Farmers cooperative Lantmännen has developed a dating tool that connects singles based on what food they have leftover in their fridges. It might not sound like the level of psychometric filtering touted by other dating sites, but Lantmännen aims to pair up fellow environmentally-conscious single people to share leftover dishes or ingredients. According to Lantmännen, a fifth of all food in Sweden is thrown away. It was this figure that led to the creation of the dating service, called Restdejting. Lantmännen is a major player within food, energy and agriculture in Sweden. It is owned by 36K Swedish farmers and has over 10K employees.

by Olivia Solon
See full article at Wired.co.uk

CEO Interview: Levent Gultan, CEO Of Turkey’s Top Dating Site Network, Istanbul.net

OPW INTERVIEW - Nov 4 - We’re extending our coverage on Online Personals Watch to more markets. I met Levent at iDate a few years ago.  He now runs Turkey’s top dating sites. Here’s his story. - Mark Brooks

What’s your founding story?
We got into the dating scene quite late. We entered the market in 2006 and the concept was a local dating site based around city neighborhoods. It caught on quickly and within the first 3 or 4 months we had the 3 main cities in Turkey. Over the years we have expanded our network into different cities adding a new one this month.

We were lucky as there were not many Internet start-ups going after city names so we got high profile cities such as Instanbul.net easily. The city name helps with SEO rankings and marketing the site.

There’s about 35 million Internet users in Turkey at this time and about 1/3 are under 15. Have you found similar?
42% of the 35 million are under 35. Our subscribers are on average 33 years old so not that young at the moment.

What do you charge? What is the propensity for people to pay for internet dating in Turkey?
We’ve had over 5 million subscriptions to date.  We don’t charge the female subscribers which helps us keep the male/female ratio balanced. On the male side we are converting about 15%.

How would you describe your dating positioning, in terms of being serious like Match.com or a little bit more casual?
There’s actually no real translation for the word ‘dating’ in Turkey. At the end of the day we are all called ‘friendship’ sites which has a lighter feel to it. You can mix being a member looking for dates with finding friends. So probably more casual.

Are you making use of Facebook?
We are but not as much as we would like to. Our users don’t want to really disclose their identity. Turkey has the highest Facebook usership in the world with over 90% of people using it. The challenge is to find ways to make Facebook users feel comfortable to load profiles to dating sites but still in an anonymous way. We are also trying to advertise with Facebook.

Overall would you say that the rise of social networking and Facebook is good or bad for your Turkish dating sites?
I think through Facebook everybody has a reason to be online. But the flip side is that people tend to be resistant to other things online.

Are there any other particular difficulties with operating in Turkey or challenges  doing business as an Internet dating service?
We have similar challenges to all online dating sites. There has been a lot of abuse with mobile dating apps. We had to make sure we provide a very secure service with a money back guarantee to build user confidence in the market.  

How do people usually pay? What are the modes that are most popular?
Credit card is the most popular. There are over 40 million credit cards in Turkey right now due to low interest rates with our banks. We also have a small portion of wire transfers. Paypal is on the rise.

We interviewed the CEO of Pemberpanjur recently and their main competitor is e-cift in Turkey.  Do you think these more serious models have legs in Turkey?  
People are still learning about online dating through the casual sites. As time goes on they will be looking for more serious sites. The good thing is that there is traction in the market but serious sites are not as popular are casual sites.

What aspects of your service will you be focusing on for the next year?
We want to introduce new features that you wouldn’t see in general dating sites. In terms of strategy there is still a lot of room for growth and we are looking into some more serious dating sites as well as wanting to explore new geographies.

Gregory Blatt appointed Chairman, Philippe Chainieux CEO of Meetic

4TRADERS - Sep 30 - Meetic today announces changes in the composition of its Board of Directors. Gregory R. Blatt, CEO of the IAC group, Meetic's majority shareholder, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors, thus replacing Marc Simoncini, who remains a member of the Board. At the same time, Philippe Chainieux was promoted to CEO of Meetic and becomes a member of the Board.

See full article at 4Traders

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CEO Interview: Seda Berber, CEO of PembePanjur, "Turkish Version of eHarmony"

OPW INTERVIEW - Sep 29 - Seda lives in L.A. and operates PembePanjur, which is the nearest thing to eHarmony in Turkey. - Mark Brooks

PembePanjur translates to “pink shutters”. What does it mean?
People say that when they grow up they want to get married and live in a house with pink shutters. It’s a cultural and traditional terminology in Turkey. You can find the term in the movies, etc. We grabbed the cultural term and used it as the name of our company, which is based on serious relationships and marriage.

You’re based in LA and you’re UCLA educated. You’re an interactive marketer and designer. Why are you interested in matchmaking?
I have a degree in Sociology. I got into interactive design and marketing just before I came to the USA and got more education in marketing. My partner is a developer and we were working on a project. We were talking about starting an online dating site.

What is your target demographic?
Our target is 30-40 year old young professionals.

Do you like eHarmony?
Yes. We looked into the serious dating sites in more depth and then adopted the model to the Turkish culture and traditions and that’s how we came up with Pembepanjur two years ago. eHarmony was a major site that we looked into.

How many questions do you have and what line of questioning do you use on the site?
We have a combination of about 130 questions. 64 cover social and economic background and 64 are personality analysis. Our service is based upon compatibility, basically character analysis.

Did you pull on your background in Sociology or more of a Psychological profile?
It’s Sociology but the questions are not done by us. We hired a psychologist and she prepared the questions based on other worldwide known questionnaires then it was adapted into Turkish.

There are some challenges working with the Turkish market in terms of billing and regulatory issues. Can you tell us more about some of the challenges you had to overcome?
We didn’t have many regulatory problems. The biggest problems we had were the merchant accounts with the banks. Turkey still has a pretty conservative society which is reflected in the banking system. It took a while to open a merchant account. Trusting a dating site service was not on the top of their list.

You are two years in, how many members do you have?
We are 1 year and 9 months in and we have over 350, 000 active members.

How do you market the service?
We have been doing online marketing so far i.e. facebook. In the last two months we did our first public relations campaign such as TV/radio and we were also in the Sunday paper in Turkey. This is just the beginning for us; we believe doing PR is the best way to promote.

Did you see an immediate jump or was it more over a period of time?
It was an immediate jump. The day after the article in the Sunday paper our revenue went up quite a bit.

What did you do to get the attention?
We had been building relationships with a big funding company in Turkey created by the top 18 online giants. They selected us as one of the top 3 Internet projects of 2011 so that’s how we started to get the press attention.

Karl Gregory, U.K. MD, Match.com

NEW MEDIA AGE - Sep 28 - Following a relaunch earlier this month, Match.com UK MD Karl Gregory spoke to new media age about the new site and what digital media can learn from a successful online subscription-based business.

Q: What are the major changes for the user following the relaunch?
A: The new Match.com site has been developed based on customer feedback. Features include new cultural data to give more insight into a member’s personality, more security controls, updates to search functionality and a new Daily 6 feature.

Q: How did the relaunch impact your ad offering?
A: Our ad technology now works to determine the most relevant audience for the ads that appear on the site, based on gender, age, location and interests. 

Q: How important is customer and behavioural data and how do you use it?
A: Data is at the heart of our business. Our technology learns from people’s search behaviours.

Q: As a paid-for site service, how do you make sure advertising fits your business model?
A: We are able to be selective when it comes to our advertising partners. 

Q: What for you are the most important innovations and trends this year?
A: New technologies, such as mobile apps.

by Charlotte McEleny
See full article at New Media Age

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Dating Profile Attributes vs. First Date Outcomes

PRESS RELEASE - Sep 9 - According to FreeDating.co.uk study, the more overweight a woman is, the more open she is to having sex on a first date. The same applies as women get taller. The younger a woman is, the more likely she is to be up for sex on a first date. Men peak in their late twenties in this respect, with younger men apparently slightly more inhibited. The more educated a man is, the more receptive he is to sex on a first date. Women, in contrast, become less open to first date sex as they get increasingly better educated. Dan Winchester, founder of FreeDating.co.uk, said "this research allows our users to target or avoid other members based on their own attitude to what is appropriate behaviour on a first date." Read the full report on this research here.

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Meetic First Half 2011 Results

PRESS  RELEASE - July 27 - Revenue for the first half of 2011 totalled Eur92.4M, up +1.1% compared to the same period of 2010. The total amount of money invested in advertising over the Q2 was thus Eur21.7M, compared to Eur36.5M the previous quarter. The client acquisition cost was thus Eur86.35 versus Eur72.10 over the same period of 2010. Subscriber numbers: a total of 844,435 subscribers at 30th June 2011, versus 872,047 subscribers at 31st March 2011. This decrease in the number of subscribers is due to the reduction in marketing spendings over the Q2 2011.

See full article at 4-Traders

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Cupid Wins Over German Online Dating Business

STOCKOPEDIA - June 23 - Cupid has acquired a 75% stake in two German online businesses, OnlineLiebe GmbH and WomenWeb GmbH, for a total of €2.75M (£2.5M). The two companies are run together by the same team in Munich, led by founder Andreas von Maltzan, who is recognised as one of the pioneers and leaders in the German dating market, having established Neu.de, Germany’s most popular dating site, which was sold to Meetic in 2007. OnlineLiebe GmbH owns sites such as Zuckerjungs.de, Zuckerdaddys.de, Gleicheliebe.de and Gayjz.de. Its leading site, Zuckerjungs.de, was founded last year and has already become the market leader in the ‘Cougar’ dating niche in Germany, as well as in Austria and Switzerland. WomenWeb GmbH is Germany's largest online community network of female interest websites with domains such as Womenweb.de, Frauen.de, Kochrezepte.de, Allegraclub.de, Esoteriktreff.de, Hochzeits-club.de and eight other portals. Bill Dobbie, Cupid’s CEO, said: “This acquisition continues our stated strategy of international expansion and is an excellent opportunity for us to gain a foothold in the German-speaking markets.

See full article at Stockopedia

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Kerrang! Radio Launches Dating Site on WhiteLabelDating.com Platform

WLD - June 21 - Kerrang! Radio has launched into the world of online dating with KerrangDating.co.uk, powered by WhiteLabelDating.com. KerrangDating.co.uk aims to provide their listeners with the perfect place to meet like-minded singles. Kerrang! has won many awards in its time, from Media Brand Of The Year to Station Of The Year, taking away 21 awards in its launch year alone.

See full article at WhiteLabelDating.com

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Lovestruck.com Offers Free Issues of Time Out

BENZINGA - June 12 - Lovestruck's singles can enjoy up to 12 months of Time Out magazine for free with a Lovestruck.com subscription. From comedy nights, hidden galleries, classic clubs and the latest bars, to film houses, hip theatres and pop-up cinemas, the iconic Time Out publication will provide Lovestruck's members with a smorgasbord of inspiring, romantic and culturally stimulating date ideas.

See full article at Benzinga

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IAC Offers to Buy Out Remainder of Meetic for 15 Euros/Share

REUTERS - May 30 - InterActiveCorp's Match.com unit offered to buy all of the outstanding shares of Meetic for 15 euros a share. Match.com already owns 27% of the French online dating service. Meetic is valued at 347 million euros, or $497 million. The offer is 7.3 times EV/EBITDA, with a PE ration of 13.9. Match has no plans to delist Meetic.

by Christian Plumb
See full article at Reuters

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AnotherFriend.com Reaches 500,000 Members

PRESS RELEASE - May 20 - Ireland’s largest dating site, AnotherFriend.com is celebrating this week after reaching half a million members. To celebrate this milestone, AnotherFriend.com has released the findings from Love: Uncovered, the first detailed study of online dating and love in Ireland. The report reveals fascinating facts such as 45% of singles are using online dating to find ‘the one’ and quarter of single men and women have cheated on a partner in the past. AnotherFriend.com caters for single Irish people looking to meet someone for fun and friendship or love and romance.

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