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

Singles Spend More Than £3 Billion Annually Looking For Love

DAILYMAIL – Jan 27 – A recent poll of 2,000 singles in Britain’s major cities has found that Brits collectively go on 37M dates a year, spending an average of £47 each time, spending a national average of £1.3 billion on food and drink alone. The dating industry has made a major impact on the UK economy, the study found, revealing that £421M goes towards transportation and another £324M in grooming as people get their hair cut to look their best. The study was commissioned by Match.com and produced by the Centre of Economic Business Research.

by Sadie Whitelocks
See full article at DailyMail

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FriendFinder Networks Implements Cost Reduction Initiative

MARKETWATCH – Jan 25 – Leading internet and technology company FriendFinder Networks Inc. has announced the implementation of a cost reduction initiation to more closely align with its new business model. CEO Marc Bell stated that the company is taking steps to reduce their operating costs as part of their efforts to reorganize their operations. In an effort to reduce operating expenses and increase shareholder value, the company is consolidating their global offices to fewer locations and relocating several operations to their main facility in Sunnyvale, CA.

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

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iDate Demonstrates Shift In Dating Technology

FAST COMPANY – Jan 26 – Author Dan Slater, who is writing a book about the online dating industry, attended the iDate Conference in Miami and took a look at the way technology is influencing the way we date online. Things are changing now that one third of America’s 90M singles date online, and it’s no longer the “unspeakable underworld” it once was. Seventeen years ago, when Gary Kremen founded Match.com, anonymity was key to success, protecting people’s privacy and allowing them to reveal their “true identity” on their own terms. In 2007, Zoosk was formed on the basis that the younger generation grew up on technology and the conventional online dating platform was of no interest to them. Zoosk “is for a social life – with dating in mind” where privacy concerns are not as rampant. New sites continue to pop up in the ever-changing industry challenge our notions of privacy and what we should expect going forward. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is right – morality may be divine, but it’s also fickle and shifts in technology make new things possible.

by Dan Slater
See full article at Fast Company

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mopay Launches Payment Platform For Online Dating

PRESS RELEASE – Jan 24 – mopay launched its new payment service customized specifically for the online dating industry at iDate 2012 in Miami. The company has adapted their fast, secure, easy-to-use payment method for online dating sites that can handle single or recurring payments of up to $50. mopay allows users to input either a landline or cell phone number, confirm the number by SMS, and then charge the payment to either of their phone bills to make payments fast and easy, thereby converting visitors to customers at a faster rate. This feature also allows customers without bank accounts to “charge” their membership fees without having to worry about debit or credit cards.

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

SeekingArrangement.com Introduces Anonymous Calling Feature

PR WEB – Jan 27 – Sugar Daddy dating site SeekingArrangement.com, the largest sugar daddy and sugar baby dating site, has announced the launch of its new anonymous phone calling service named “ICALLU” that allows members to call each other anonymous through a Voice over IP (VoIP) server. According to the site, over 55% of its members are concerned about privacy and giving out their phone number, and 32% of members have had a negative experience after giving out their real phone number to strangers in the past. The new service, which costs 99 cents per minute domestically and $1.99 per minute internationally, will help protect members’ privacy while still allowing them to make a connection over the phone. Founder & CEO Brandon Wade expects the cost of the service to drop over time as more members being using it.

See full article at PR Web

See all posts on SeekingArrangement

Illinois Proposed Legislation To “Lower Risks” Of Online Dating

CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Jan 26 – Legislation has surfaced in Springfield, Illinois that would require any online dating site operating in or offering services to Illinois residents to announce prominently and repeatedly on their website whether or not they conduct background checks on members. Senator Ira Silverstein is taking a crack at passing the legislation. Though he acknowledges that the bill isn’t fool-proof, he believes it would set up a “new level of consumer protection with dating sites.” Similar laws have passed in Texas and New Jersey.

by Alissa Groeninger
The full article was originally published at Chicago Tribune, but is no longer available.

WotWentWrong Is Break Up App For Bad First Dates

FAST COMPANY – Jan 25 – Startup web app WotWentWrong has set out to solve the “mystery of why promising new romances ended unexpectedly or successful first dates vanished” by allowing users to provide feedback to each other on exactly what went wrong, hoping improve their own dating karma and help their unsuccessful dates find better luck in the future. Features of the site include the WotWentWrong List, with pre-defined explanations for breaking up with someone, proactive feedback from exes with suggestions for future dates, and anonymous stats that shows your romantic success against others online.

by Austin Carr
See full article at Fast Company

Take Me Out Launches Dating App

BROADCAST – Jan 27 – ITV1 entertainment show Take Me Out has launched Take Me Out Flirting, a free dating website and corresponding mobile app, that allows show viewers to set up a profile and chat with potential partners for free. The app has been developed through Handmade Mobile after striking a deal with rights holder Fremantle Media Enterprises. Users will also be able to chat with current and former contestants on the show. The app is currently available for Apple and Android devices with planned versions for Blackberry and Nokia Ovi.

See full article at Broadcast

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Manhunt Hits Sydney Billboards

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.

See full article at Mumbrella

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The 2012 iDate Awards Are.....

OPW - Jan 25 - The 2012 iDate Awards took place at The Royal Palm Beach in Miami. We are proud to announce the following award winners.

- Lifetime Achievement Award 
   Gary Kremen  

- Best Dating Site
   OKCupid 

- Best Up and Coming Dating Site
   HowAboutWe.com

- Best Marketing Campaign
   Match.com

- Best Affiliate Program
   FriendFinder.com

- Best Payment System
   Paymentwall.com

- Best New Technology
   Grindr

- Most Innovative Company
   OKCupid

- Best Matchmaker
   Julie Ferman, eLove (Cupid's Coach)

- Best Dating Coach
   Evan Marc Katz 

- Best Mobile Dating Site
   Grindr

- Best Dating Software Provider
   WhiteLabelDating.com

- Best Dating Site Design
   OKCupid

‘Sugar Babies’ Seek Friendship And Help With Tuition

MIAMI HERALD - Jan 25 - Three Florida schools, including Florida International University, have had so many students join a sugar-daddy dating site that they’ve been included in the site’s ‘Top 20’ universities of 2011. For the women on SeekingArrangement.com, what they’re seeking is often dollar-specific: as much as $10K a month, or more, to date a certain well-heeled man. College students make up about 40% of the Sugar Babies on SeekingArrangement.com. 10 to 20 escorts are removed daily.

by Michael Vasquez
The full article was originally published at Miami Herald, but is no longer available.

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Badoo: A Very Social Network

WSJ - Jan 24 - Badoo isn’t well known in the U.K. or U.S. but the service is big in France, Italy, Spain and Brazil and operates in 180 countries. Russian-born serial entrepreneur Andrey Andreev founded the service as a run-of-the-mill social network in 2006. Badoo, he says, is like a nightclub on your phone. The most popular age group is 25-34 years old, although one-third of users are over 35. This latter group spends the most money. It has 7 billion page views a month, and ~1 million users online at any time. The company is profitable and did one round of funding. $30 million from Finam for 10% of the company. It has 200+ employees.

by Ben Rooney
See full article at WSJ

See all posts on Badoo

Google Top Adsense Earners: #1 Markus Frind

PRESS RELEASE - Jan 20 - Here is a list of the Internet’s biggest Google AdSense publishers. The information was compiled based on an audit by US Department of Labor and The Official Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1. Markus Frind : PlentyOfFish.com : $300K per month
2. Kevin Rose: Digg.com : $250K
3. Jeremy Schoemaker : $140K
4. Jason Calacanis : Weblogs, Inc. : $120K
5. Mahmood Somani a Technology Entrepreneur from Vancouver, Canada quickly climbing to Top Adsense Earner really fast, and runs multiple classified websites sites earning him approximately $185,000.00 monthly.
6. David Miles Jr. & Kato Leonard : FreeWebLayouts.net- $100K
7. Tim Carter : AskTheBuilder.com : $30K
8. Joel Comm : e-book : $24K
9. Shawn Hogan : DigitalPoint.com : $10K

This list only comprises of people who are earning from Adsense.

The full article was originally published at Free Press Release, but is no longer available.

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Grindr ‘Mandatory Update’ To Tackle Hack

PINK NEWS - Jan 23 - The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a hacker had listed sensitive profile information online, allowing Grindr users to be impersonated. Grindr said last week only a small number of Australian users had been affected by the hacker’s site, but it would be taking urgent measures to protect security. Address and credit card information was not hacked.

by Stephen Gray
See full article at Pink News

See all posts on Grindr