OPW -- May 21 -- Earlier this week I spoke with Marc Simoncini, the Founder and CEO of Meetic. Meetic is focusing on expanding Meetic Affinity all over Europe. Its in all countries except for the Nordics at this stage. This is a higher end dating product for serious daters (which is akin to eHarmony in the USA). They will be rolling out a product for a younger audience called Peexme. Its a mobile application and web application that will be launched in June. Watch this space for more info. Peexme will be more of a flirting than a dating service. Meetic is their dating service and their matchmaking product is Meetic Affinity. As far as their acquision of Match Europe goes, they will continue to run all the brands but will only promote the top brands. Meetic will run Match in the Nordics, and Meetic all over the rest of Europe. They will actively market and promote one brand per market. So that means they will stop promoting Match and DatingDirect in the UK. Additionally, they will merge the Match Europe and Meetic databases.
The deal with IAC is an eight year agreement. There are three main elements to the agreement.
1. Match has no right to manage the daily business in Europe. It will be managed by Meetic
2. There's a reciprocal right of first refusal for acquisition
3. And there will be two members on the board of Meetic, from IAC
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As per your interview it seems the acquired Match Europe operations do not include "Chemistry rebranded algorithm".
But "Chemistry" is still operating in:
Portugal: rebranded as Cupido Diario.
Spain: rebranded as Afinesati.
Italy: rebranded as Com-Bacio.
United Kingdom: rebranded as Match.com Personality Test.
Norway, Finland, Denmark: rebranded as MatchMe.
Netherlands, Belgium: rebranded as Chemie.
France: rebranded as Alchimie.
Austria, Germany: rebranded as Amor.
Ireland: rebranded as Daily5.
in direct competition with Meetic Affinity
I remember I took the Meetic Affinity (formerly called Ulteem) 98 questions Spanish version compatibility test 2 1/2 years ago.
Concerning the personality, Meetic Affinity uses the Big Five.
They claim the tests meet the standards of analysis defined by the American Psychological Association and the Educational Testing Service, but there are no proofs.
They should prove Meetic Affinity can match persons who will have more stable and satisfying relationships than couples matched by chance, astrological destiny, personal preferences, searching on one's own, or other technique as the control group in a peer_reviewed Scientifc Paper.
The compatibility/affinity between prospective mates is only a 2 integer number as percentage like 75%.
(My matchlist: 56 women with affinity the highest=77% the lowest=65%, no one seemed to be really as compatible as a paying member will require, what I mean: I could easily reach that list of "prospective compatible women" searching by my own.)
How a prospective client could differentiate Meetic Affinity from Parship or Be2 or eHarmonyUK proposals ? They are nearly all the same. The whole precision of their matching methods (measurement_of_variables + compatibility_calculation) is at the same level or less anyone can achieve by searching on one's own! It is in the range of 3 or 4 persons compatible per 1,000 persons, so in a 10,000,000 persons database, there are as many as 30,000 to 40,000 persons to contact. 30,000 persons is the population of an average small city!!!
"Meetic is focusing on expanding Meetic Affinity all over Europe .....This is a higher end dating product for serious daters (which is akin to eHarmony in the USA)."
Prospective subscribers will easily note the whole precision of Meetic Affinity is at the same level or less anyone can achieve by searching on one's own! They will consider Meetic Affinity proposal as a joke, only useful for entertainment purposes, for short term mating.
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"Additionally, they will merge the Match Europe and Meetic databases."
I hope it will be a complete ..... disaster!
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Meetic is a public company. Its shares has been oscillating since IPO and falling down since Oct2007. How Mr. Simoncini can explain that?
MEETIC( Paris: MEET.PA / ISIN FR0004063097 )
Regards,
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]
Posted by: Fernando Ardenghi | May 22, 2009 at 01:55 AM
I am not sure Alchimie remains under control of IAC. Alchimie = match france = meetic.
Posted by: Fred | May 24, 2009 at 03:49 PM
Chemistry rebranded as Alchimie by Match in France is a proprietary compatibility matching method invented by Dr. Helen Fisher (Anthropologist). It uses a propietary personality model: Explorer, Builder, Director, Negotiator.
Meetic Affinity (formerly called Ulteem) is a proprietary compatibility matching method invented by Dr. David Bernard (Psychologist). It uses the Big 5 normative personality model.
Chemistry rebranded is in direct competition with Meetic Affinity.
How a prospective client could differentiate Meetic Affinity from Alchimie?
The same "company" promoting two tests!!!
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]
Posted by: Fernando Ardenghi | May 25, 2009 at 07:07 PM
As Chairman of Dateline ( the Uk's oldest and most established dating brand )... I really think that verification is the KEY to the future of online dating. The public want more verification and they want to know the profiles are truthful and the people have been checked out, our service "The Platinum Serivce" does what it says on the tin!!, every member is verified and visited in their own home.
From our conversion rates we know the public like this service.
Eddy Ankrett
Chairman
Dateline PLC
[email protected]
Posted by: Eddy Ankrett | May 29, 2009 at 05:30 AM