Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Hot Or Not’s New App: Close By Or Not?

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 3 - Hot or Not has launched a location-based free iPhone app that will show you who is close to you. It uses the iPhone’s built-in GPS technology. Hot or Not says that the app received ~2,000 sign-ups its first day in the App Store. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Mark Brooks: Hot or Not was purchased by Avid Life Media in February 2008.

See all posts on Hot or Not 

Marketing Affairs: How To Advertise Paramours

MARKETPLACE - Aug 19 - Noel Biderman is the president a company called Avid Life Media, which runs a bunch of niche dating sites. There's CougarLife.com for older women and younger men, HotorNot.com and AshleyMadison, a dating site for married people for which Noel has gotten a lot of attention. Noel buys traditional ads where he can. But of course, a lot of big media companies won't take ads from Ashley Madison. His response? Fine. He goes to plan B -- decrying them in the press for being unreasonable. Avid Life pulled down $30M in revenue last year.  Introducing cheaters to each other online has afforded Noel a pretty comfortable life. Noel does tend to defend his business with various theories and arguments about the future of matrimony and where we're headed as a society. But in the end, he says it really is all about the money. There's no way he'd be doing this otherwise. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKETPLACE

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Make It Personal, Keep It Real - Experts Share Advice

LA TIMES - Feb 14 - "Keep profiles brief and specific. Leave the novel at home. Don't put pictures of you and your pets or children. Don't post party photos."
— Julie Spira, author of Cyber-DatingExpert.com and the book "The Perils of Cyber-Dating"

"It's great when people put five or 10 pictures of themselves that depict things they love to do, pictures that communicate your personality. It's about making it personal [with] adjectives, interests, descriptions and honesty."
— Bob Holden, EHarmony's VP North America

"You should always have one close-up to the face. Post three to five photos. Also run 50 or so through HotorNot.com [and let people vote] for which ones score the best."
— Mark Brooks, editor at OnlinePersonalsWatch.com

"Get a friend to help you write it.  Be honest about who you are and what you're looking for."
— Greg Liberman, president and COO, Spark Networks

"If you start on a date with a picture from 10 years ago and you've gained 10 pounds or if you have a lot less hair now, you're starting on false assumptions. Your profile should be three paragraphs. It should be a conversation piece."
— Whitney Casey, Match.com's relationship expert and author of the book "The Man Plan."

"The more someone knows about you, the less they want to date you. If you write a massive essay, they're going to find something to dislike about that person. If you don't know something, everyone assumes you're the same as them. Let everything else come out during the dates."
— Markus Frind, founder/CEO of PlentyofFish.com.
FULL ARTICLE @ LA TIMES

See all posts on eHarmony           See all posts on Match.com
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In World Of Online Flirting, Virtual Gifts Are Big Business

MIAMI HERALD - Feb 12 - Virtual gifts have become a $1 billion industry in the U.S. and $5 billion worldwide. Snap Interactive runs the Facebook app. "Are You Interested?'' which introduced a gift store two months ago. CEO Clifford Lerner said the app. is raking in "a couple thousand dollars a day'' just from gift purchases starting at $1.25 for a heart, to $20 for a picture of an engagement ring or gold bricks. "We've actually seen that the higher cost of some of these gifts, the more we actually sell,'' Lerner said. "If a girl is not interested in a guy, and she sees he spent $20, she's probably going to respond. And that's worth it to the guy, just to get a response.''

Mark Brooks, a social media and Internet dating consultant, has seen companies recently introduce new features like virtual goods or mobile dating services. As the online dating space becomes more saturated, finding extra revenue is more important. "It's more difficult to get started, it's more difficult to make money in this market,'' Brooks said. "Virtual gifts are definitely in right now.'' PlentyofFish discovered that as a gift's adorability factor increased, so could the price. "The cuter they are, the more receptive they are,'' said Kate Bilenki, Director of Love at PlentyofFish.com. "Teddy bears, hearts, bunnies, cute things like that.''

Avid Life Media's HotorNot.com got the virtual gift ball rolling in the dating scene back in 2002 by selling virtual flowers which now cost $2 to $10 each. At AshleyMadison.com users can send a virtual bottle of champagne or hotel room key. "The growth rate is phenomenal,'' said Noel Biderman, president of Avid Life Media. "If it has the right impact, people will pay to replace words.'' AshleyMadison has 5.2 million members and has seen spending on virtual gifts jump from 2.4% to 4.1% of total user revenue in the past year.

This kind of success is persuading other sites to give it a spin. First Beat Media oversees more than 100 niche dating sites like BikerPlanet, GothScene, LatinaRomance and TattooLovers. It's testing virtual gifts. "Seeing a ton of icons of roses and chocolates from other suitors on your page might turn people away from contacting you -- doing more harm than good," said Stephen Ventura, director of operations. "We're approaching it very cautiously,'' Ventura said. "We feel it might detour some folk from the relationship finding process.''
FULL ARTICLE @ MIAMI HERALD 

See all posts on SNAP Interactive        See all posts on First Beat Media
See all posts on AreYouInterested       See all posts on BikerPlanet
See all posts on PlentyofFish               See all posts on GothScene
See all posts on HotorNot                   See all posts on TattooLovers
See all posts on AshleyMadison           See all posts on LatinaRomance

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Dec 17th, 2009 - 3 mins

This is the news for the week of December 11th through December 17th, 2009. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

• Mobile Dating Growing Like Gangbusters
• Ashley Madison Sues AshleyMadison
• Spark Networks Launches Spark.com Dating Site
• Blackbox Republic Partners with Entertainment Venues and Promoters

HotOrNot Co-founder, James Hong, Interviewed

THE INDEPENDENT – Nov 11 – James Hong, co-founder of HotOrNot was interviewed by Viral Loop author, Adam L. Penenberg. Hong recounts the origins of HotOrNot and its rise to fame as one of the world's first viral phenomenons. The site was launched on October 9th, 2000 with an email sent to 42 of Hong's friends. By the end of the day, the site had 37,000 unique visitors. Day 8 saw 1.8 million uniques, and by the two-month mark, HotOrNot was in Nielsen's Top 25. Follow this link to read the full interview.

See all posts on HotOrNot

FriendFinder Networks Could Look To Sell Non-core Businesses

MERGER MARKET - Oct 26 - FriendFinder Networks, formerly known as Penthouse Media, filed for an IPO in December, anticipating $460m in proceeds to help pay off its debt. FriendFinder could look to sell off non-core pieces of its business that may be distracting to potential investors including GradFinder and Christian dating site BigChurch, online dating industry consultant Mark Brooks said. The company would likely keep its highly lucrative adult sites. Its adult social networking and live interactive video sites comprised 95% of the company’s revenue, as of six months ended 30 June 2008. FriendFinder’s international properties could also be spun out to a media company with more expertise in certain geographic markets, said Noel Biderman, CEO of Toronto-based Avid Life Media, the holding company of dating sites like HotOrNot and Ashley Madison. He pointed to IAC-owned Match which took a 27% stake in European dating operator Meetic in February, in exchange for Match’s European operations, as an industry example of this. In the case of FriendFinder, its Latino dating site Amigos has a strong membership base, and could be sold to an acquirer that can better grow and monetize the brand, Brooks noted. FriendFinder’s sites may fetch 7x to 8x EBITDA, Biderman said, using Match’s USD 80m acquisition of People Media in July as a comparable transaction. FULL ARTICLE @ OPW

Mark Brooks: FriendFinder's successful IPO and continued strong performance is critical for the reputation of the internet dating industry. FriendFinder could indeed look to sell its non-core businesses. Here's what I told the reporter..."GradFinder is a significant property that could be developed out to compete with Classmates.com.  ...BigChurch is a misfit community for them. They have been chastised by the Christian community for running the site. It should really be sold. Amigos has lots of traffic, is a great name, but South America still doesn't monetize anywhere near as well as the rest of the world.  So its a longer term play for a potential acquirer, but the future is pretty clear, it will eventually make good money. FriendFinder needs to have money in the bank, and make good money quickly, so I think these communities would be most suitable for selling."

See all posts on FriendFinder           See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on BigChurch              See all posts on Meetic
See all posts on HotorNot                See all posts on Amigos
See all posts on AshleyMadison       See all posts on People Media

This post also appears at the iDate Forums.

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Oct 23rd, 2009 - 3.5 mins

This is the news for October 18th through October 23rd, 2009. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here are some of the topics we covered for this week:

• People Media ranked on Deloitte’s prestigious Technology Fast 500 list
• Zoosk’s member base surpasses 40 million users
• Newly-launched eLove.com fuses online dating and traditional matchmaking
• AARP partners with Perfectmach relationship expert Dr. Pepper Schwartz
• Australia’s Cupid Media rejecting 3,000 profiles a day due to fraud suspicions

 

Hot Or Not War Launched A Card Game

TECH CRUNCH -- Sep 10 -- Hot or Not has released a new app for the iPhone which combines features from its website into a card game. You are dealt 5 cards face up, as is your opponent. You then pick whichever one you think has the highest Hot or Not rating and so does your opponent. You do this for 30 seconds and the person with the most victories, wins the round.The game is free and available now in the iPhone App Store. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

See all posts on Hot or Not

New Site Sponsor, Viximo

OPW -- May 22 -- Viximo is a new Online Personals Watch site sponsor.  They offer a virtual goods platform suitable for Internet Dating sites. Cyworld and QQ alone make hundreds of millions of dollars from virtual goods. Asia loves virtual goods, and Americans are turning on to them. Facebook and Hotornot are two success stories to reference in the U.S. market. I'm told, two of the most important factors for making virtual goods work on a site are: 1. really great virtual goods, and 2. the right pricing and handling of money and virtual money. Viximo can help. We're excited about virtual goods, and virtual currency and proud to have Viximo as a sponsor. As always, we vet our sponsors. No fluff is allowed on OPW. We recommend taking a look at Viximo.

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Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Summary - 5 Mins

Online Personals Watch News Summary #2, April 10, 2009 from Mark Brooks on Vimeo.

This weeks news covers the rise of philandering, virtual goods companies making $500m+, mobile dating to hit $1.4b in 2013, banner ad blindness, lock and key and events, online speed dating and a survey of fussy singles.

HOTorNOT.com Dating App For The iPhone Debuts In Top 5

PR NEWSWIRE -- Feb 9 --  The mobile dating application introduced two weeks ago for the iPhone by HOTorNOT.com ascended to the #4 ranking in the social network category at the iTunes store. Since its release, there have been nearly 7m ratings and over 3.5m yes and no votes. FULL ARTICLE @ PR NEWSWIRE

See all posts on HotorNot

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

HotorNot.com Comes To The iPhone

CNET NEWS -- Jan 22 -- HotorNot.com, the social rating site has a new, and free iPhone app out. It lets you pass judgment on others by scoring them anywhere from 1 to 10. It also lets you tap into its "Meet Me" network where you can get in touch with other registered users to set up dates. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS

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Single Shot: How To Be A Cheap Date

SEATLE PI -- Oct 10 -- Dating in the New Improved Depression means learning to make do with the simple things in life, the things we've been blathering about for 30 years: long walks on the beach, snuggling in front of a fire and enjoying The Sunday New York Times. Free personal sites are one of the hottest new trends in online dating, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com. The top three contenders, as ranked by Hitwise, are Plentyoffish, DateHookup and OkCupid, but there are many more, including HOT or NOT, Webdate, Matchdoctor, Bookofmatches and Smooch. FULL ARTICLE @ SEATTLE PI

See all posts on PlentyofFish    See all posts on Webdate
See all posts on DateHookup    See all posts on Matchdoctor
See all posts on OkCupid          See all posts on BookofMatches
See all posts on HotorNot         See all posts on Smooch

HOT Or NOT Searches For Hottest Co-eds At America's Biggest Party Schools

MARKET WATCH -- Oct 7 -- HotorNot.com is on a mission to find the nation's hottest co-eds and crown a Miss and Mr. Knockout. The competition starts today in three of the best party towns including schools such as University of Texas (Austin), University of Florida (Gainesville), and San Diego State University. The contest runs through November 30th and winners in each market will take home a cool $1000. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKET WATCH

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HOT Or NOT Gets Face Lift

BUSINESS WIRE -- Sep 24 -- HOT or NOT have redesigned their website. The site now includes more robust profiles that feature the company's proprietary HOTLISTS brand affinity application, new virtual gifts, buddy lists and faster access to HOT or NOT gossip and celebrity ratings. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

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How HotOrNot Bootstrapped Its Way To Profit

VENTURE WIRE -- Aug 8 -- HotOrNot.com, launched in 2000, became an Internet sensation, providing an early example of viral marketing and online advertising revenue before Google AdSense. The company never took any funding and sold earlier this year to Avid Life Media for a rumored $20m. Many entrepreneurs bootstrap their start-ups, going without outside investment and using their own resources. Other successful bootstrapped technology companies include Craigslist, AdventNet and PlentyofFish. FULL ARTICLE @ WALL STREET JOURNAL

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HOTorNOT Launches Celebrity Gossip Site

MASHABLE -- Aug 5 -- The gossip site will be hosted by Zack Taylor, celebrity blogger and will have content on prominent pop culture happenings.  Using the sites storied voting system, readers will be able to rate items in the same way the rate someone’s photo. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE

See all posts on HOTorNOT

Online Dating's New Face

INTERNET NEWS -- June 26 -- Facial recognition technology could help the lovelorn find a better match. Eyealike offers facial recognition systems for enterprises customers and online dating and social network sites. The idea is, users will be able to upload an image, or even choose from a selection of celebrity faces, and click on screen levers to adjust that image to their personal tastes. Mark Brooks, a consultant to the online dating industry, said facial recognition is the latest in series of technical advances with more to follow. He notes the advent of online "speed dating" sites like WooMe and ratings sites like Hot or Not. There are also already sites like MyDouble if you want to just see what celebrities you most resemble and perhaps use that info in a dating profile. Brooks agrees, the facial recognition and editing is better-suited to would be casual daters. "A site like eHarmony is slow to let users share photographs because it's more about getting to know the other person," he said. "A lot of this is about trying to fix the real world which is broken. In the real world, you see pretty girls and hunky men on magazine covers who are largely unattainable." FULL ARTICLE @ INTERNET NEWS

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HotOrNot Acquired For $20 Million

TECH CRUNCH -- Feb 11 -- San Francisco based HotOrNot, founded by James Hong and Jim Young in October 2000, has been acquired. The buyers are investors connected with Avid Life Media, and paid somewhere around $20 million for the site.  Their annual revenue is estimated to be around $5 million, with $2 million in profit. According to Comscore, the site has around 5 million monthly unique visitors and 200 million page views. The investors are creating a new company, called HotOrNot Media, and they may be acquiring more properties as well. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH