MUMBRELLA – Jan 27 – Gay dating website Manhunt has launched a billboard campaign in the Paddington area advertising its new mobile product that helps gay men hook up. The campaign was devised by Pink Media Group, a gay media specialist that also works with gay hook-up app Grindr. Manhunt has 65k users in Australia.
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52 posts categorized "Manhunt"
‘Eyebrow-Raising’ Billboard In Times Square
MEDIA BISTRO - Jan 1 - Gay social network site Manhunt is about to drum up some publicity by placing the above billboard in Times Square. Located at the corner of Broadway and 47th Street, Manhunt’s billboard, which will be up through Jan. 6, was described as “raising some eyebrows” and featuring “two sweaty guys in dog tags about to make out.” It’s already greatly offended one L.A. mom, despite the fact that a similar Michael Kors billboard (depicting a woman placing her hand inside a man’s briefs) has been the subject of no such controversy.
by Bob Marshall
See full article at Media Bistro
Manhunt’s New Ad Campaign
MANHUNT DAILY - Nov 28 - Manhunt is launching a new billboard campaign. They chose to debut the campaign in Los Angeles. Manhunt received dozens of complaints because citizens were concerned about children being able to view their billboards. All of this hubbub is over the fact that they depicted two men shirtless and semi-embracing. Another ad for fashion designer Michael Kors’ underwear line has a girl commencing a handjob on a guy. This ad is placed just a few blocks away from the Manhunt ad and there weren’t any complaints to Michael Kors, his ad agency, or to LA political officials. For some reason, gay sexuality is still scary and controversial for many people.
Men Urged To Opt In For Nationwide Sexual Health Messaging Service
PINK NEWS - Nov 29 - The GMFA Sexual Health Messaging Service, which allows men to alert previous partners when they are diagnosed with an infection, is set to be rolled out to more clinics and websites with funding from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The GMFA has worked with Gaydar, Fitlads, Recon and Manhunt. After receiving a diagnosis at a clinic, the system offers users a unique PIN code to access the online SHMS service. Once there, contact details for recent sexual partners can be typed in, from mobile phone numbers to profile names. Messages can be sent anonymously, but the GMFA says the recipient may be more likely to take action if a name is included.
by Stephen Gray
See full article at Pink News
Manhunt Says F*ck Censorship
GAY SOCIALITIES - Nov 23 - Manhunt.net new web-based mobile site that easily accessible via iPhone, iPad and Android browsers at m.manhunt.net. The new Manhunt Mobile is not a native app, and therefore not subject to the adult content restrictions imposed upon competing mobile dating and hookup applications by Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market.
by Jack Barbosa
See full article at Gay Socialities
Is Manhunt.net Helping Men Cheat on Their Wives?
GATHER - May 31 - Manhunt.net boasts millions of men looking for dates, friends, and hookups. It was founded in 2001 by Jonathan Crutchley and Larry Basile after the original telephone-dating venture "MANHUNT" had been a success. Unlike a traditional dating service such as Match.com, Manhunt.net is a sex-oriented destination. Many married men appear on the site as well. Naturally, the site can't be held responsible for people cheating of their own accord, unless Manhunt.net is intentionally giving them the means to do it. A free search option allows men to browse those located near them, and in doing so, see their interest in "Married Men."
by Chris Sosa
See full article at Gather
Grindr And Manhunt, Gay And Growing + Manhunt To Charge Membership In UK
OPW - May 19 - Grindr and Manhunt have enjoyed considerable growth over the last few years. They don't charge in the UK yet. But that will change within days. (you saw the news here first!). Manhunt's typical member sticks around for 15 months and conversion rates are upwards of 15%. Typically, it costs in excess of $40 to bring in a paying member to a PG straight dating site. But Manhunt's cost of acquisition is less than half of that. See our first interview with the Co-founder of Manhunt, Jonathan Crutchley in April 2007, here.
Grindr is a phenomenon with 1,980,000 users worldwide, as of 30th April, 2011, and 8,000 new users per day. Not too shabby considering that Joel started the company with $5k capital and is yet to do anything in the way of advertising! So the cost per new user is, get this, $0! In the USA Grindr has 741,800 users and in the UK there's 254,600 users as of 30th April, 2011. We captured the founding story of Grindr in December, 2010 when we interviewed Joel Simkhai, the founder and CEO of Grindr right here on Online Personals Watch.
Public companies have to show their numbers. Grindr and Manhunt don't. Wouldn't it be nice if we could collect these numbers from the entire industry to be able to show the trending in our humble little industry? Or at least to the rest of the Internet Dating Executive Alliance so you could have some sense of the industry numbers in the aggregate. Your comments please.
Examiner Reviews Manhunt.net
EXAMINER - May 12 - Examiner.com recently reviewed Manhunt.net on a number of factors. Manhunt used truthful advertising, a simple layout and easy registration, which the reviewer appreciated. Profile information was deemed comprehensive, with the intent of the site clearly implied. There were a few qualms with the search and matching functions due to limited sorting options and an unmanageable amount of results. Subscriptions are $12 per month or $99 per year. Overall, the site was given a grade of A-, so there may be some lessons learned from one of the leading site in the men-seeking-men market segment.
by Brian Way
See full article at Examiner
Digital Romance: The Business Of Online Dating
ATLANTA POST - May 3 - Online dating is now the third most popular way for singles to meet, ranking behind the workplace and school (#1) and friends and family (#2), but ahead of bars (#4), according to an eHarmony study. ~113M people visit dating sites each month. 6 out of 10 African Americans are unmarried, according to Packaged Facts, while according to the 2004 U.S. census, 42% of all black women have never been married. Such statistics make the black community a prime target for the online dating industry. BlackPeopleMeet.com, was the 11th most visited dating site in March, reaching 4% of the total U.S. black population, according to Experian Hitwise. Other sites targeting African Americans include BlackSingles.com, AfricaSingles.net, BlackPeopleLove.com and SoulSingles.com. ~90% of online daters stick to the top 100 dating sites though, according to industry consultant Mark Brooks. Among the world’s top sites are PlentyofFish, Zoosk, Manhunt, eHarmony. These sites offer relationship services that social networks do not, Brooks pointed out. “Dating sites protect the name and identity of people until they’re ready to give it up. Facebook is a handy tool for researching people. You can look them up on Facebook and see what kind of company they keep. So the two work hand in hand.”
How are Internet dating sites changing society? In a number of significant ways.
People are able to weed out people with show-stopping attributes. Second, dating sites have leveled the playing field for men and women. Women are not penalized for making first moves. Third, as a research paper by Brooks points out, singles are becoming more picky because online dating allows them to be more selective.
Online dating has a well-known downside. People online tend to lie about themselves. According to a study by OKCupid, men fib about their height. Half of all daters lie about their weight, and most people inflate their salaries by ~20%. A danger to avoid is a tendency to mask faults by creating the perfect date in the mind’s eye. “When you start talking to somebody and you really want them to be the perfect match, you might start projecting qualities onto them that you would most desire, and that’s called the halo effect,” said Brooks. “There’s a huge fantasy element to this, which is one reason why the virtual world sites are big,” he continued. “There’s a mental need for this, for believing that virtual worlds are better than the real world. A lot of Internet daters are disappointed. And ultimately people need to get out on 20 dates before they ever make their choice. They need to go experience the real world first.” Chemistry counts, and daters must meet in person to develop a close relationship. “Personally, I do not think we will ever take the mystery out of dating and intimate connection,” said Dr. Thomas Bradbury, eHarmony advisor, professor of psychology and founder of the Marriage and Family Development Lab at UCLA. “We are hard-wired to connect, and the daily challenges of creating, maintaining, and improving that connection are likely to be always just outside our grasp.”
by Steven Barboza
See full article at Atlanta Post
See all posts on eHarmony See all posts on Zoosk
See all posts on BlackPeopleMeet See all posts on Manhunt
See all posts on BlackSingles See all posts on OkCupid
See all posts on Plentyoffish
Manhunt Mobile Adds 175,000 Users In First Month
PRESS RELEASE - Feb 4 - Manhunt Mobile, the companion app of gay male hookup site, Manhunt.net, has added 175K users in its first month. The launch of Manhunt Mobile has also increased membership to the website. Before the launch, the website averaged 28K new sign-ups each week. Since January, that number has grown to 30K a 10% increase.
Manhunt Debuts iPhone, Android Apps
NEWSWIRE - Jan 3 - Gay dating site Manhunt has announced apps for Apple’s iPhone and Google's Android. This allows users mobile access to ~4M Manhunt users around the world. FULL ARTICLE @ NEWSWIRE
The Gaydar V. Manhunt Battle Over NYC Pride
QUEERTY - July 2 - Gaydar is trying to start a fight with Manhunt over
supposedly hijacking NYC Pride. Gaydar, the British-based "dating" site
is all upset that after donating cash to Heritage of Pride to become a
sponsor for the NYC Pride parade march, which entitled them to wave
their brand around at the Pier Dance, Manhunt hired a plane to fly a
banner over all the queers. "I found the Manhunt’s aerial banner
hijack attempt to be a bit desperate and, with no mention of Pride on
their banner, not terribly supportive of the community", said Gaydar's
marketing head Phil Henricks. Does flying an airplane banner over NYC
Pride's festivities count as hijacking? Well, it's certainly not kosher
— but it's a standard industry practice. FULL ARTICLE @ QUEERTY
Move Over Grindr, Here Comes Manhunt's "ASSFINDER!"
WICKEDGAY BLOG - June 11 - Manhunt is working on a new service Manhunt
GPS. It is a GPS instant find-a-man program that is sure to rival the
popular Grindr service. This isn’t an iPhone app – Manhunt GPS will
work with the iPhone’s browser. The profiles on GPS will look just like
profiles on Manhunt.net. Manhunt GPS will be launching in a limited
beta in the Boston area later this week. FULL ARTICLE @ WICKED GAY BLOG
Manhunt Ads To Appear On Sports Illustrated
QUEERTY - May 6 - Manhunt.net's ads began appearing on the top of
SportsIllustrated.com. Is Sports Illustrated finally acknowledging
openly gay sports fans or just closeted jocks looking for a
"brojob"? Manhunt's ads have also appeared Knight Publishing's
mainstream newspaper sites such as the Miami Hearld, Asheville Citizen
Times, and the Charlotte Observer. Manhunt's media buyers are using
what's becoming increasingly standard in online ads: "re-targeting."
When you visit a gay site like Queerty, your browser picks up a cookie
that holds information about which sites (and of what type) you visit.
Then, other sites on the net using that same re-targeting network will
start showing you gay ads because it knows you've been on gay sites. FULL ARTICLE @ QUEERTY
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
Phone-sex Chat Lines Are Part Of Web Of Cybersocializing
WASHINGTON POST - May 5 - The phone-chat services offer several ways for users to interact. Traditionally, callers are connected at random to another user already on the line. If they are not interested, they can disconnect and move on to someone else. Recently, however, companies have offered members use of a voicemail box through which they can record a personal message and pore through dozens, or hundreds, of other people's messages before leaving a contact number for anyone. Some of the most popular adult-oriented chat sites have more than 1M visitors logging in each day, said Mark Brooks, a consultant and editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com. What happens after users turn over their credit cards for monthly membership payments is largely left to chance -- and users are generally good about taking precautions, Brooks and others in the industry said. "People arrange to meet at your place or mine," said Jonathan Crutchley, chairman and founder of Manhunt.com, which operates gay-oriented phone and Web chat services. "And every now and then, people get murdered. There have been some murders." "Even if you just go into a bar, you can have a bad experience," Brooks said. "So common sense applies. If you are going to meet up with someone, let someone know where you are headed. Don't let them pick you up at home. Meet somewhere public. There are three basic rules. People break the rules." FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST
Manhunt.net Launches Group Video Chat
OPW - Apr 1 - Manhunt.net just released a Beta version of a new group video chat. As of now the new feature is only available to members in New England. Once the test version is successful, Manhunt.net plans to roll out the product worldwide in a month's time.
2010 Internet Dating Conference Highlights
OPW - Feb 5 - The 2010
Internet Dating Conference was held from January 27th
through January 29th at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
iDate Miami is the largest single gathering of online dating CEOs,
matchmakers, and social networking executives in one room. iDate2010
also included the first annual iDate Awards, results for which can be
found
here.
The hottest topic of the event was the competition between free sites and pay sites, as well as the convergence of the two models into an increasingly popular “freemium” model. PlentyofFish and OKCupid dominate the free dating site market and have pioneered the new “freemium” business model in which users of free sites can enhance their profile for a nominal fee. PlentyofFish offers a Serious Dater badge and OKCupid has its A-List upgrade.
Mark Brooks, editor of OPW, delivered his annual industry review addressing the top news stories and online dating trends for 2009. During the year, internet dating sites worldwide received 113 million visitors, a key indicator that the stigma of online dating is a thing of the past. Among the big stories for the year were the purchase of PeopleMedia by Match parent company IAC and Meetic's purchase of Match Europe operations. There were several key trends for the year, such as the strong growth of niche dating, the increasing importance of mobile messaging as a “must have” feature, and the implementation of personality profiling on a growing number of sites.
The Internet Dating Executive Alliance, or IDEA, hosted a brainstorming session on ways to improve revenue for online dating sites. IDEA members Scot McKay, Bill Broadbent and Sandira Calviac offered their best ideas to the conference attendees. One of the key suggestions was offering users more services beyond the typical dating functions. Scot McKay of X&Y Communications believes sites should increase conversion and retention by encouraging more creativity in profiles with free-form inputs instead of check boxes. Bill Broadbent, Instinct Marketing, believes sites should create a network of niche sites and cross-sell. Sandira Calviac was a strong proponent of offering lifestyle enhancing products and services such as personal development books and travel.
Manhunt's Jonathan Crutchley delivered an informative overview of the gay online dating market. According to Mr. Crutchley, the average subscription on Manhunt is 15 months, opposed to the 3 month average on traditional sites. Additionally, men married to woman account for 30% of the gay dating business. Brazil is the largest gay dating market outside of the United States.
Sam Yagan, CEO of OKCupid, presented his thoughts on the online dating industry. He discussed the rise of the “freemium” model which is where a site has free limited use with the option to pay for added features. Mr. Yagan also believes that sites should communicate more with their customers through blogs and social media in order to build deep bonds.
Dr. Eva Ritvo from the University of Miami School of Medicine offered her insights into increasing female retention on internet dating sites. She suggests appealing to a woman's instinctive behaviors. According to Dr. Ritvo, sites need to do a better job of protecting and educating women about dating.
She also encourages dating sites to focus on boosting self confidence, as women tend to see themselves as 20% less attractive than other see them.
Steve Faktor, American Express, gave his insights on the economic factors in the current online dating market. More people are switching to lower cost entertainment, fueling the growth of online dating. Women increasingly have stronger and more stable incomes. There is also a trend of longer relationships prior to marriage, which is likely to affect dating sites in the coming years.
The Internet Dating Conference was ended with the traditional Final Panel Debate. This lively discussion was dominated by the free site versus paid site battle. In the end, it was evident that free sites and paid sites have a form of symbiotic relationship which serves to advance the dating industry as a whole. There was also a general consensus that the best way for a new site to enter the market is to find a niche that is under-served.
The next Internet Dating Conference will be held in Beverly Hills from June 16th through June 18th. For more information, visit www.idate2010.com.
Jonathan Crutchley And Adam Segel, Founder Of Manhunt And CEO Of Online Buddies
OPW INTERVIEW - Dec 14 - Online Buddies runs Manhunt.net, one of the most prominent gay dating sites. Manhunt recently acquired DList.com, a social networking site for the gay community. We have interviewed the founder of Manhunt, Jonathan Crutchley, and Online Buddies CEO Adam Segel about the merge and their marketing plans for DList.
For those not familiar with DList, can you describe the site?
Jonathan: DList is a social networking site for younger gay men. Users post videos and music clips and hang out chatting with friends, who could be anywhere, unlike with Manhunt, which was intended for guys to meet each other locally. DList was founded in 2006, and Online Buddies recently acquired it.
How did the idea to acquire DList come about?
Adam: We had been friends with the owners of DList for quite some time, and we were watching the development of the social networking space. Manhunt is more a dating and connections website, while DList is a place for people to meet friends, explore art, music, etc. It was a different offering, and we wanted to make that available to men.
Our ultimate goal is to be the largest and best place for men to meet men on the Internet. If they want to meet each other through a site like Manhunt, then that’s terrific. If they want to meet each other by sharing art, photos and things like that on DList, then that’s fantastic as well. We want to give all the mediums possible for men to be able to interact and meet each other.
How many members does Manhunt and DList have right now, respectively?
Jonathan: Manhunt has at least 2 million member subscriptions. Just under half of those are in the United States, and the rest are international. DList has about 180,000 subscribers at the start, and the idea is to grow it beyond that.
Adam: We have already started marketing DList just this week, and we’ve already quintupled the number of people joining each day.
Jonathan: We’re doing more marketing under the new ownership than the previous owners of DList were able to do.
How are you marketing DList?
Jonathan: It was a couple of years ago, but we advertised Manhunt on MySpace one weekend. On the Friday night the ad appeared, the responses crashed our website. The place to advertise an Internet product is on the Internet.
Adam: We started off by marketing DList through the Manhunt website and to the younger Manhunt members. We’re also marketing DList through events and promotions and through Facebook, MySpace and Google. We also advertise on some adult interest websites. The adult ’tube sites seem to do well for us.
Tell me more about these DList promotional events.
Adam: We work with the gay and lesbian organizations at a lot of different colleges. We’re coming up with some different contests and promotions, like traveling DList parties. We just did our first party at Harvard. It was a joint with MIT, and we had tons of guys come. We want to continue to host these parties at other campuses across the country.
What is the advertising budget for DList?
Adam: Marketing for DList is part of the overall marketing budget for Online Buddies, which is between $3 and $4 million per year.
Who would you consider DList’s competition to be?
Adam: One of them is called Connexion. Another one is called JustGuys.net. But they’re much smaller. Plus, they don’t seem to have the traction that DList has, especially now with the power of Online Buddies behind it and the marketing might we’re able to give it.
How does DList currently make money?
Adam: There are a few people who pay for some premium features. But the vast majority of the site is free, and the revenue is generated through advertising.
Do you plan to make any changes to the revenue model?
Adam: We aim to keep the website free so that more and more guys will use it, and thus we will be able to fund the website with advertising dollars.
We have a steady stream of advertisers now. We actually have advertisers waiting for us to make even more inventory available.
Any changes to current DList content offerings?
Jonathan: I don’t know if we plan any immediate changes in content. I think the first problem will be marketing and increasing the number of subscribers.
Who are some of your advertisers?
Adam: Most of them are through ad networks. In the past, we have worked with American Express, BMW, some of the clothing companies, some movies, etc. Lady GaGa is someone who advertises on our site.
Does Online Buddies offer any packaged advertising deal across all its sites?
Adam: Not yet, but it’s something we’re planning.
Mark Brooks
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