Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

EasyDate To Acquire Allegran

PRESS RELEASE - Apr 5 - EasyDate has acquired Allegran's online dating business, one of the UK's largest online dating groups, from Associated Northcliffe Digital. The acquisition increases EasyDate's current portfolio of dating sites from seven to twelve. EasyDate has purchased GirlsdateForFree.com, Loopylove.com, Quickflirt.com as well as the successful niche dating sites DatingForParents.com and MatureDating.co.uk. FULL ARTICLE @ EASYDATE

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Allegran Lays Off 70% Of Workforce

OPW -- Nov 3 -- Allegran runs Loopylove and GirlsDateForFree. Apparently 17 were laid off today. Everyone but management and a few in marketing. Reasons mentioned were the high cost of marketing, losses of of £1m this year, Plentyoffish taking market share in th U.K. and Match and Dating Direct's considerable ad spending. Allegran got squeezed in the middle. (Full Disclosure: Plentyoffish.com is a client of Courtland Brooks)

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Dating Sites Hang On Despite Increasing Competition

IDG SERVICE -- Sep 23 -- Owners and companies running dating Web sites are meeting Monday and Tuesday at the Internet Dating Conference in London to discuss challenges in their industry. The top dating sites in the U.K. for June were PlentyofFish, followed by Meetic, Match.com, Gaydar.co.uk and GirlsDateForFree, according to comScore. In North America, the top sites in June were PlentyofFish, Singlesnet, eHarmony, Match.com and Yahoo Personals. The number of page views for dating sites are falling, and people are spending less time but revenues are growing. The main revenue model is subscription. Other dating sites are offering premium services used by traditional matchmaking companies. A site in China, Zhenai, charges $200 a year for access to its online site and team of match matchers who work with singles over the phone. That's far less than fees charged by traditional matchmakers, which can cost $5,000 or more a year, said Mark Brooks, who runs a consultancy focusing on social networks and dating sites. FreeDating.co.uk is free, and makes money by showing ads. It's the same model used by PlentyofFish, a relatively simple site that debuted in 2003 and has surged to the top spot in the U.S. and U.K. markets. FULL ARTICLE @ PC WORLD

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UK Hitwise Rankings Update

OPW -- Jan 18 -- We've just updated Hitwise UK Online dating rankings. SexInTheUK is # 1, moving PlentyofFish, Gaydar.co.uk and DatingDirect down to #2, #3 and #4. Pocado.com entered the chart at #6. BeNaughty, GirlsDateForFree and TelegraphDating dropped to #7, #8, #10 from #4, #6 and #8. LoopyLove slides off the top 10.   

U.K. Online Dating Rankings Update

OPW -- Nov 12 -- The Hitwise U.K. Rankings are updated. Here are the changes: BeNaughty.com moves up from #10 to #6 and pushes GirlsDateForFree and Loopy Love to #7 and #8. Passion.com entered the chart and is at #9. FriendsReunited Dating is #10 and pushes Telegraph Dating is off the top 10. PlentyofFish remains at #1, with Gaydar at #2.

Daily Mail Makes two Acquisitions to Expand Online

REUTERS UK -- May 8-- UK publisher Daily Mail & General Trust added the dating sites LoopyLove and GirlsDateForFree (Allegran) to its growing online media empire. Two acquisitions worth up to 46.5 million pounds. Its Associated Newspapers division acquired Allegran and 62.5% of Data Media and Retail (Carsource.co.uk) with a three-year earnout with its management to acquire the remaining 37.5%. Daily Mail's initial payments totalled 32.5 million pounds.Like its peers in the struggling newspaper sector, Daily Mail has been aggressively investing in online properties.

Mark Brooks: Newspapers are suffering and playing catchup, by acquisition. This is good news for online personals site valuations.