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

Q&A With CEO Of Dating App Paktor, Joseph Phua

IBTIMES - Dec 29 - Paktor, is popular in South East Asia with ~20M users. The app is currently available in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. In October, Paktor had raised $32.5M in new funding to expand into mobile entertainment.

Q: Are you only targeting users 18-32? Do you think that there is no market for those above 32?
A: Everyone of any age are most welcome, just that we noticed that the majority of our users fall between 25- 35 years old.

Q: With increase in hacking cases, how safe is your app from such attacks?
A: We follow the security best practise guidelines as recommended by the industry experts. Paktor requires users to sign up via their FB accounts, but the caveat is to have at least 50 friends before anyone is eligible for user registration.

Q: What is the revenue model?
A: Currently Paktor app is on a 'freemium model', where it is free to install and use the app. Users who would like to have a better match may have the option to subscribe as Paktor's premium member. The other revenue source comes from advertising.

Q: How different is Paktor from Tinder?
A: We tap on our localised knowledge and introduce features that locals want.

Q: Are you planning to launch in India? 
A: The India market holds plenty of opportunities for Paktor and we don't dismiss the possibility of entering India. However, our current focus is on North Asia – namely Korea and Japan.

by Aditya Bhat
See full article at IB Times

See all posts on Paktor

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Online Dating Will Blow Up On January 1

BUSTLE - Dec 28 - Several dating apps report a huge increase in users on January 1. For instance, on POF, signups are expected to reach 110k, which is a 48% increase above the average daily rate in 2016. They believe signups will peak at 2 p.m. PST on January 1. New Year's Day will be the biggest dating day of the year for Hinge, too. The app usually sees a 50% lift in registrations the Sunday after New Year's. Match saw a 60% increase in new singles coming to their site last year.

by Natalia Lusinski
See full article at Bustle

See all posts on POF
See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on Hinge

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

One Week Left To Vote For 2017 iDate Awards

WEBWIRE - Dec 29 - Voting remains open to the public at iDate Awards website until Friday, Jan 6th, 2017. The winners will be announced at the iDate Awards ceremony on the night of January 25, 2017 in Miami.

See full article at Webwire

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Elena's Models To Provide Russian Language Lessons To Its Clients

PRESS RELEASE - Dec 28 - Dating site Elena's Models is partnering with video learning website "Learn with girls" to provide affordable Russian language lessons to its clients. Elenasmodels.com is an international dating site for people seeking relationships, romance, and long-term partners. It has been established in 1999.

See full article at PR Newswire

See all posts on Elena's Models

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

CitySwoon - Australian Hybrid Online/Speed Dating Company

FINANCIAL REVIEW - Dec 27 - Louise O'Connor and husband Brett Couston are combining the power of computers to crunch data with old-school face-to-face meetings. Their company, CitySwoon, is a hybrid online and speed-dating business. Until last September the company was hosting four speed-dating events a month; now it hosts 20 events a month in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth. Before the event, participants are asked a number of questions. The participants on the platform are matched based on their answers and have 10-to-15-minute "dates" with six to eight people.

by Misa Han
See full article at Financial Review

See all posts on CitySwoon

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Internet Dating Conference Hotel Options - Jan 24-27 At Miami Beach

OPW - Dec 27 - So you're going to iDate. Great, see you there! But how about your hotel? Kinda pricey aren't they.  The standard hotel is $295 a night, plus 14% tax, plus a resort fee. SLS is awesome, but this is a bit rich. I'm picking up an Airbnb this year for $159 a night. I'm staying there with a Courtland Brooks team member. It's a one bedroom with a sofa bed. Airbnb and Homeaway still have great options, especially for multiple people. Marc Lesnick, the conference host, made these deep links for the dates and location. 

AirBnb: http://idate2017.com/T/529a.php
HomeAway: http://idate2017.com/T/529b.php

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.

Q&A With Justin Mateen, Founder Of Tinder, About How To Grow Your App

TECH CRUNCH - Dec 27 - The app ecosystem is strong and growing. By 2020, App Store consumer spend is supposed to exceed $100B (App Annie). Mobile now represents 65% of digital media time; 86% of this time on phones is spent in apps (AdWeek).

Q: How did you start Tinder?
A: With Tinder, we fundamentally solved a basic human need that had been ignored. Dating apps specifically had a stigma, and were focused exclusively on paid acquisition which didn't really create the same community an organic user base provides.

Q: How'd you get the right users, organically?
A: We went after the hardest users; users that seem like they don't have a need for the product. These can either be your worst critics or your greatest evangelists. For us, that was college students.

Q: How about paid ads?
A: Paid ads can be worth it, but your ads have to be subtle, unintrusive and organic: Your eyes are trained to ignore banner ads. They feel impersonal and coercive. Nobody likes to be forced to do anything.

Final lesson from the Q&A with Justin, was just how important retention is. "No amount of growth can replace solid retention. You're shooting yourself in the foot if you're focusing too much on growth when you should be focusing on product."

by Jesse Michels & Sunil Rayan
See full article at Tech Crunch

See all posts on Tinder

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Wixty Acquires Brazilian Dating Platform, Kingr

BUSINESSWORLD.IN - Dec 25 - The deal was worth $150k and was made in cash. Kingr, a dating platform for Christians in Brazil, was founded in Dec 2015, and currently has 48k users, out of which 20k are active. Wixty is a 4 years old Delhi based software company. The plan is to expand the operations to USA, UK, India and eventually all over the world.

See full article at Businessworld.in

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

For Online Dating Sites, A Bumpy Road To Love

NY TIMES - Dec 24 - JDate was created in 1997; ChristianMingle was added in 2001. Spark Networks, the parent company, eventually grew to ~30 dating sites, but the crown jewel has always been JDate. Since 2011, Spark Networks has been led by a rotating array of chief executives — four over five years. According to Spark Networks' 2015 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the number of paid subscribers to its Jewish networks declined to ~65k last year from 85k in 2012. Its total for all networks dropped by ~55k people, to under 204k. Some of the decline could reflect Spark's management turnover, but it is also indicative of the challenges facing the online dating industry. "It's never been cheaper to start a dating site and never been more expensive to grow one," said Mark Brooks, a consultant for the Internet dating industry who also runs Online Personals Watch. Part of the problem, he said, is that 70% of Internet dating in the US is now on mobile. "It used to be 10% of those who registered converted to paid," Mr. Brooks said. "Now it's more like 2 to 3%." Some also see a move toward ever more niche sites like MouseMingle.com (Disney lovers) and GlutenFreeSingles.com. Spark Networks already offers niche products, but Lisa McLafferty, Spark's new chief revenue officer, says its aim is now to "refresh the brand."

by Alina Tugend
See full article at NY Times

See all posts on Spark Networks
See all posts on MouseMingle
See all posts on GlutenFreeSingles

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

eHarmony's New CEO Grant Langston Shares His New Vision

OPW INTERVIEW - Dec 23 - eHarmony is now easier, quicker and more open. Grant is the new CEO of eHarmony and describes how the company has changed in the last few months, and what's to come. - Mark Brooks

See all posts on eHarmony

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.

The Internet Dating Conference Agenda :: My Top Three Picks!

OPW - Dec 22 - iDate Miami is happening January 25-26. Are you going? The top people in the dating business will be there. Marc tells me there's a great representation from senior management this year. That's good. So here's my top picks from the agenda. Here's the sessions I'll definitely be sitting in on and taking notes on.

1. Geoff Cook, the CEO of publicly traded company MeetMe is speaking first on the 25th. His company is doing well, and they bought the hallmark early mobile dating service Skout this year. Amazing. Got to see that.  They're going from strength to strength and their stock is way up. Doubled this year!
2. The marketing director for Zoosk is giving us his thoughts on marketing to a relationship on mobile. Great!  Zoosk gets 20 million hits a month on their website, and way more on mobile. They're doing well again. Why?  How? What's next? Let's find out.
3. I'm interviewing the CEO of Hinge. Justin McLeod is going to give us insights on mobile dating for the people looking for meaningful relationships. i.e., the other end of the market to Tinder. Does it work? How's he doing it? I'll also be visiting Justin's office in NYC the week prior. Watch OPW. I'll run a video review on OPW prior to my iDate interview with Justin. 

Also, Brandon Wade is speaking. He's talking about how he went from niche to mainstream. We're talking SeekingArrangement here. Highly controversial of course. What's inside this man's brain? What's he going to do next? I certainly will be listening in and asking some tough questions.

So there we have it, and here's the agenda in full. Hope to see you there. This will be the 41st iDate that I'm speaking at! Prices go up December 23rd so best to pick up your tix now, so you can write them off in this tax year.  ;-)

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.

How Disney Fan Dave Tavres Started MouseMingle.com And Scored Massive Press Coverage

OPW INTERVIEW - Dec 21 - Dave Tavres is CEO of MouseMingle.com and describes how he started MouseMingle and got a massive amount of top press within a week of starting his Disney fan dating site. - Mark Brooks

See all posts on MouseMingle

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.

Foreign Office Warns Gay Tourists About Dangers Of Grindr Abroad

PINK NEWS - Dec 21 - The UK Foreign Office has updated its guidance for LGBT tourists to warn about the dangers of using Grindr abroad. It now warns: "If you intend to visit cruising areas or use a dating app, find out about the local situation and take sensible precautions if you meet someone." It has been alleged that police in Egypt were exploiting Grindr and other dating sites to hunt members of the gay community, as part of a crackdown on homosexuality. Grindr took the step of directly warning users to be cautious. Channel 4 documentary Hunted also documented anti-gay vigilantes in Russia using hook-up apps to lure gay men to flats, where they would be attacked or sexually assaulted.

by Nick Duffy
See full article at Pink News

See all posts on Grindr

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Hornet Hires New General Managers For France, NY And Taipei

PR NEWSWIRE - Dec 21 - Fabrice Le Parc has been named GM for France, Tim Greene for New York and Darien Chan for Taipei operations. Le Parc, Greene and Chan will lead business development and customer acquisition strategies for Hornet. Le Parc has worked as a web entrepreneur, having co-founded and sold various companies. He served as the MD for be2 before founding his own dating site, Smartdate. Greene and Chan are seasoned executives who have helped build businesses for numerous online properties through their combined experience in financial, marketing and technology services.

See full article at PR Newswire

See all posts on Hornet

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

One Hour Consultations Available

OPW - Dec 21 - Mark Brooks is now available for initial one hour consultations if you'd like to get some insight and feedback on your Internet dating business thoughts and ideas. The booking form is here.

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.