Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

Your Questions For The CEOs Of Match And Meetic

OPW -- Feb 20 -- I've requested CEO interviews with Meetic's Marc Simoncini and the new Match CEO, Greg Blatt. What questions would you most like to be put to the CEOs of Meetic and Match? - Mark Brooks

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Old People Need Love Too

YOUBENTMYWOOKIE.COM -- Feb 20 -- Growing up, I never used to hear about STD seminars for the elderly at the local JCC. The fast growing demographic for STD infection is the elderly. Just because your grampa broke his hip, doesn't mean he he can't still bump and grind. A group of senior citizens have taken matters in to their own hands… no pun intended… and created a Claymation sex education film. FULL ARTICLE @ YOUBENTMYWOOKIE.COM

Mark Brooks: Seniors are getting online in greater numbers for online dating as well. 

No Recession On Love

PR WEB -- Feb 19 -- When members of the Internet Dating Executive Alliance (IDEA) met last month at the Miami Internet Dating Conference, the economy was a popular topic of discussion. Yet unlike the doom and gloom you might hear at conferences for any other industry, much of the talk centered on how numbers across the board are holding or are up for Internet dating sites. Hitwise reports that the Internet dating industry gained 12% more site visits in 2008 over 2007. The peak period for Internet dating sites is Nov through Valentine's Day each year. Hitwise reports that the top 100 dating sites gained 2% more site visits for the three month period of Nov '07 to Jan '08 vs. Nov '08 to Jan '09.  Free dating sites gained 55% more visits in the same period. 

●   Plentyoffish.com - U.S. traffic is up 33% since Aug
●   Match.com - 22% more paying memberships in Dec'08 vs. Dec'07
●   PerfectMatch.com - Q4 2008 revenues increased 42% over the prior quarter
●   WorldSingles.com - 10% increase in sales from Q4 '08 compared to Q4 '07
●   TogetherChristian.com - "paying sign-ups" increased 23.8% from Aug '08 to Jan '09
●   Meet Market Adventures - up more than 60% since Aug '08
●   WhiteLabelDating.com -  23.25% increase in site traffic from Aug '08 to present
●   EasyDate.biz - revenue is up 107% in '08.
●   SelectAlternatives.com - from Aug' 08 to Jan '08 3% increase in membership revenues

FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

IAC Appoints Greg Blatt CEO Of Match.com

PR NEWSWIRE -- Feb 19 -- Greg Blatt, currently IAC's Executive VP and General Counsel, has been named CEO of Match.com. Mr. Blatt succeeds Thomas Enraght-Moony, the previous CEO of Match.com who is leaving Match.com following today's announced sale of its European operations to Meetic.

The full article was originally published at CNN Money, but is no longer available.

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Meetic And Match.com Announce European Partnership

PR NEWSWIRE -- Feb 19 -- IAC and Meetic have entered into an agreement for Meetic to acquire Match.com's European operations from IAC. IAC will sell 100% of the stock of the entity that houses Match.com's European operations for an approximate 27% stake in Meetic, plus a 5m euro note. FULL ARTICLE @ IAC MEDIA ROOM

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Can A Recession Seriously Boost Online Dating?

MARKET WATCH -- Feb 19 -- Zoosk targets 20 and 30 somethings, a demographic that spends a lot of time on social networking sites. Zoosk's founders say their site is among the first to incorporate social networking into online dating. Zoosk has received $4.5 million in funding and has 16.5m users. Not all dating sites are growing like Zoosk. Spark Networks saw sales drop to $14m vs. $15.8m a year ago, while Match.com's revenue grew 5% to $93.5m. While jobless people may be also lonely, many will find paying $25 to $35 a month for a dating service a luxury when they have no income and will use Zoosk or free sites like PlentyofFish. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKET WATCH

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eHarmony Spends $93.3 Million In Advertising In 9 Months

EHARMONY BLOG -- Feb 11 --

Rank     Site                     Jan 07 to Sep 07     Jan 08 to Sep 08
1          eHarmony                79,019.631             93,255.171
2          Match.com               51,170.580             47,607.049
3          Chemistry.com         12,125.655             28,282.073
4          Cupid.com                  1,067.142                 847.231
5          Nocheatersdate.com         0.000                 822.042
6          Blacksingles.com           272.964                 510.251
7          AdultFriendFinder.com      0.000                 243.553
8          AshleyMadison.com         59.977                 243.420
9          Ciaorossano.com               0.000                 212.750
10        ChristianMingle.com           0.000                 201.213
Source: The Nielsen Company (2009)

The full article was originally published at eHarmony blog, but is no longer available.

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iDate Los Angeles

OPW -- Feb 19 -- The West Coast Internet Dating Conference will be at the Beverley Hills SLS Hotel, June 25th-26th. This is the deal makers conference.

EasyDate Offers 100% Revenue Share

EASY DATE -- Feb 18 -- UK dating company EasyDate offers 100% revenue share for the next 3 month. If you generate 5000 registrations per month you get 100% of the revenue for the next 6 months. If you generate 10,000, you get 100% revenue for a whole year!

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New Book Helps Midlife Daters

PRESS RELEASE -- Feb 18 -- 'Winning at the Online Dating Game' helps women age 40+ who are entering the dating scene after an absence.

The full article was originally published at eMedia Wire, but is no longer available.

No Sex Please, We're Women!

PRWEB -- Feb 17 -- Smooch asked its members if people who have sex on the first date are liberated or simply 'easy'. 65% of men consider such behaviour refreshingly liberated, whilst an equally emphatic 65% of women think it's unacceptable. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

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Male / Female Ratios

OPW -- Feb 18 -- Sam Moorcroft, the CEO/founder of ChristianCafe.com mentioned that he had slightly more women than guys on his site so I asked him for his numbers across various age ranges. He's allowed me to share them with you.  The following stats are across all members in the ChristianCafe database.

       
      Male/Female
18-20 - 50.7% / 49.3% 
21-30 - 42.8% / 57.2% 
31-40 - 40.8% / 59.2% 
41-50 - 37.5% / 62.5% 
51-60 - 33% / 67% 
61+ - 31.9% / 68.1% 
Avg overall - 39.9% / 60.1% 

How's your site compare? Is this typical? Your comments please. - Mark Brooks

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1960's Quest For Love - Operation Match

BOSTON GLOBE -- Feb 14 -- In the 1960s with a few Harvard buddies, Chris Walker cofounded one of the first computer-generated dating services, Operation Match. Now, after a lifetime spent in real estate development, Walker is attempting to revive his matchmaking business with a self-funded free dating site Personal Quest. The site is still in developing stages, and will offer"first date" video conferences, voice greetings, and detailed search options. Personal Quest is set to launch April 15 in Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. FULL ARTICLE @ BOSTON.COM

What Does Markus Do On Sundays?

THE PROVINCE -- Feb 15 --  For Markus Frind, CEO of Plentyoffish.com, Sundays are low-key.

Q: What do you do on Sundays?
A: I like to do as little as possible. I like playing video games, go out for dinner and travel.

Q: Are you swamped during the week?
A: Not really but it's starting to get more busy now. I've been doing three or four interviews a day because of Valentine's Day.

Q: Do you still only work an hour a day?
A: I used to do that last year. I started to do more this year now because the site is getting bigger and there's so much to do.

Q: Do you still work from home?
A: No, we have an office now.

The full article was originally published at The Province, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Plentyoffish.com

The Perils Of Cyber-Dating - Amazon Bestseller

PR WEB -- Feb 15 -- Cyber-dating expert, author and radio host Julie Spira's new book The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online reached bestseller status on Amazon.com today. Spira's romantic tell-all memoir is like "Sex and the City" in a Web 2.0 world. Over the last 15 years Spira has been on over 250 online dates and received several marriage proposals. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

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