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

Now Date.com Is Dead On Commission Junction

OPW - Dec 12 - Date.com went down, along with other Avalanche Media products Gk2gk and Matchmaker.com a few weeks back now. Date.com now forwards to Matchmaker and Gk2gk is live again. The word on the grapevine is internal strife and a legal suit. Hopefully they can sort it out. Date.com and Matchmaker are hallmark dating sites. The company has suffered for not having a good mobile offering of late. Now Commission Junction is down, according to one of their affiliates. The following letter was sent out.
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Subject: Commission Junction Advertiser Date.com (X) has been deactivated

Dear Valued Publisher,
Please be aware that Date.com, one of the advertisers you are joined to in the Commission Junction network, has been deactivated. While Date.com is deactivated, you will not receive commissions for traffic you drive via the advertiser's banners, text links, and/or other link types. Consequently, please replace these links as soon as possible with links from active advertisers. To view the links you are using that are generating traffic for Date.com but from which you are earning no revenue, go to the Invalid Links Generating Traffic Report.

During the advertiser's deactivation, you will still remain affiliated with Date.com if and when the advertiser reactivates its affiliate marketing program with Commission Junction. Once reactivated, Date.com will appear in My Advertisers in the Account Manager. You will receive another email from Commission Junction alerting you to the advertiser's reactivation.

To view all of your affiliated advertisers who have been deactivated from the Commission Junction network, go to the Deactivated Advertisers Report.

If you have further questions regarding the status of Date.com, please contact your Commission Junction account representative or Client Support.

Best regards,
Commission Junction
___

From affiliates perspective, this really sucks! Affiliates put a lot of work into getting SEO rank. The good ones (like the one who sent me the heads up on this) deserve to have more notice and more respect than 'oops, now we're not payin' ya.' I guess it comes with the territory, but still, we can surely do better by affiliates. No wonder they're running for the igaming hills.

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This post also appears on InternetDatingAffiliates

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.

Did Date.com Hit The Deadpool?

OPW - Nov 16 - It looks like Avalanche, the parent company of Date.com, Matchmaker.com, Amor.com, Geek2Geek and other dating sites, has gone out of business. All the sites are down. We have reached out to Avalanche's CEO, Meir Strahlberg, and will update as we learn more.

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Post by Courtland Brooks team

Avalanche Introduces Virtual Gifts

PR NEWSWIRE -- Feb 12 -- Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com have launched Virtual Gifts to its community. Beginning this week, singles can show interest by purchasing online gifts for $1. From a business perspective, this feature will serve as another revenue stream for the company; according to leading analysts, virtual gifts is an estimated $1.5 billion industry.

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

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www.cheapdate.com

GLOBE & MAIL -- Jan 29 -- Lavalife, PlentyofFish, Match and PerfectMatch have seen their memberships soar after the stock-market plunge. Lavalife registrations are up 11% from last month, PlentyofFish enjoyed 77% growth in visits from Dec '07 through Dec '08. "Unlike the real world, dating sites offer the lovelorn a "completely refined, focused community", says Mark Brooks. Dating sites take care of the formalities. "If somebody wants to wander around and meet somebody, that's not a good idea on two counts: No. 1, it'll take them a long while and No. 2, they've got to get all the difficult questions out of the way." A survey by Florida-based Avalanche LLC - which operates international sites date.com, matchmaker.com and amor.com - found that 48 per cent of respondents were spending more time online or on the phone with a potential date before spending cash on a face-to-face meeting. Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine, agrees that bad economic times force people to "reprioritize their goals in life." Paul A. Falzone, CEO of LoveAccess.com agrees. "People, when they're confronted with any type of dilemma in their lives, tend to want to migrate back to what's comfortable to them. They go back to eating their comfort foods, they crank up the heat by the fire instead of going out all night, and they want someone to be able to share things with." FULL ARTICLE @ GLOBE & MAIL

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Office Holiday Party Hook Ups

PR NEWSWIRE -- Dec 16 -- "According to statistics from a Pew Internet & American Life Project, 38% of Americans in marriages or long term relationships reportedly met at work or school. Avalanche, owner of leading online dating sites Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com asked their members whom would you end up hooking up with at the office holiday party.

Following are the complete results:

• Women/Men
• Single Boss 23.3%  10.7%
• Married Supervisor   3.3%   3.6%
• Hot male co-worker  63.3%   3.6%
• Sexy female co-worker 6.7%  60.7%
• Someone you Supervise 3.3%  21.4%
• The receptionist 3.3%  17.9%
• Mailroom Guy 3.3%   3.6%

FULL ARTICLE @ THE EARTH TIMES

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In These Tight Times, Lovelorn Go Online

MEDIA LIFE MAGAZINE -- Dec 1 - A number of online dating services are reporting that their subscriber numbers have soared since September's stock market turmoil hit. Christian Connection, a London-based online dating service, reports that its revenues in last three months were up about 40% YOY. Perfectmatch.com also said in November that the number of members is up 47% compared to last quarter. And Avalanche.com, which owns Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com, reports a similar trend, with revenue up 17% YOY and membership up 26%.

The full article was originally published at Media Life Magazine, but is no longer available.

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Avalanche Begins International Expansion

PR NEWSWIRE -- Nov 20 -- Avalanche, owner of Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com, started its international expansion with the launch of translated sites in Spanish, Portuguese and German. Avalanche also added PayPal as a payment option for site subscribers.

The full article was originally published at Cloud Computing Journal, but is no longer available.

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Avalanche's Revenue Grows 17% In Recessed Economy

PR NEWSWIRE -- Oct 7 --  Avalanche, LLC, owner of dating sites Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com, has experienced growth during these cash strapped times. Additionally, a new poll reveals that site members are becoming frugal with dating, investing more time looking for love online before committing to a date.

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

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Date.com Partners With Enlaso

MARKET WIRE -- May 9 --  Date.com and ENLASO, a provider of enterprise language solutions, partners to localize Date.com's network of dating sites into numerous languages. Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com will be translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Before the end of 2009, Date.com plans to have its dating sites available in 18 languages to better accommodate its growing subscriber base from outside the US and to assist it in marketing itself internationally.

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