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

RSVP Bought by Oasis Founders, Current Managers

OPW INTERVIEW - Mar 16 - Daniel Haigh (Dir. Product RSVP/Oasis since 2014) and Dave Heysen (CEO of RSVP/Oasis since 2014) created Oasis, which was bought by RSVP in 2014, the original Internet dating service at scale, in Australia. RSVP was bought by Fairfax Media in 2005, which itself was bought by Nine. Now Daniel and Dave are acquiring RSVP and will run it, along with Helium Dating, and launch a new app. I asked Daniel and Dave about their plans. - Mark Brooks

Why did you buy RSVP back?
Fairfax Media was acquired by Nine Entertainment in 2018, and as a result Nine became the major shareholder of RSVP. Since this transaction we recognised that RSVP would be better placed as an independent business and we (Dave & Daniel) are excited to have had the opportunity to complete a company buyback in January 2021. However, our relationship with Nine is still strong and we have an ongoing multimillion dollar media spend agreement in place over the next 3 years. The majority of this advertising will be for ongoing marketing of RSVP in Australia.

What will you do with RSVP next?
Although RSVP has certainly been affected by overseas competition, we are very confident about the future, and have a strong position in the Australia market. Our current focus is improving the services provided by RSVP. We genuinely want to help our customers find a lifelong partner, and will always refine our online dating platform while providing a high level of customer care. We are also completing the development of a brand new native app which we are super excited about.

How about Oasis?
Sadly we decided to close down our Oasis.com / Amorenlinea.com brands in December 2020. We had some serious backlash (to put it mildly) from our members upon announcing this decision as Oasis had a very strong following throughout Australia, UK and South/Central America. The service was no longer viable. Oasis was a free site and advertising revenue has been steadily declining year after year, while the technology platform was becoming more expensive to maintain.

You launched a new app recently. Can you tell us more about it?
We soft launched a new online dating app called Helium at the end of 2020. Although we are still rapidly developing the app we are excited about initial numbers with almost 200,000 users having signed up to the service. Features include direct contact (none of this swiping or liking stuff), fully featured (and encrypted) messaging platform, mini-video calling, 'Really Me' verification and so much more! Helium is available worldwide in all English and Spanish Latin American markets. See https://www.heliumdating.com.

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments

Interview With RSVP & Oasis Active's CEO Dave Heysen

OPW - Jan 18 - Oasis Active is a big free Internet dating site that is very popular in Australia and South America. Dave Heysen and Daniel Haigh are the co-founders and will be attending iDate this week.

Why did Oasis Active merge with RSVP in June 2014?
We felt that together we would be a stronger market force and cover more of the market, particularly the Australian market. 

What was the nature of the deal?
The deal was a Merger, with the aim to look for synergies between the two companies. Both companies need to be more dynamic to deal with the pace at which the market is currently changing. Together the two brands control a strong % of the Australian dating market and we will work to try and strengthen that position even further. The Oasis.com/Amorenlinea.com platform will also now have the resources to push further into markets outside of Australia and promote our new App coming out early in 2015.

What's your new role?
Daniel Haigh (the other co-Founder of Oasis Active) is now the Director of Product and Technology and myself CEO of RSVP & Oasis. We are both Executive Directors of the combined entity.

How's the team transitioning to work with RSVP?
Great – within the next few months we will all be under the same roof. The teams from both sides are excited at the prospect of working across all the brands RSVP, Oasis and Amorenlinea.com, to name a few. Combined we have circa 30 full Time employees as well as customer service representatives. Our customer service is a combination of in-house/outsourced. We currently have a couple of relationships outside of Australia that primarily help us with the languages we support apart from English, such as Spanish, Portuguese etc.  

How will the products work in unison? Has their positions changed?
The brands will still remain separate. We have been pushing some traffic between the sites trying to offer daters more opportunity as there is under 10% crossover of membership in Australia. At this stage their positioning will remain the same but we will be working to make sure we give each brand the best chance in the market. If that means altering the market positioning, that is something we will have to do.

Oasis is quite international. Will you continue to push internationally? What countries are you strongest in?
We continue to grow our Spanish speaking base throughout Central and South America and Spain. We will be pushing harder in these markets once our new Spanish android app is released in February 2015.

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RSVP To Merge With Oasis Active

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD - June 24 - RSVP, the online dating site owned by Fairfax Media, is poised to sign a merger agreement with rival Oasis Active, which is backed by Ten Network Holdings. RSVP is wholly owned by Fairfax, while Ten controls ~40% of Oasis, sharing the registry with other investors including co-founders David Heysen and Daniel Haigh, as well as former Star City, Engin and Solution 6 boss Neil Gamble. The merged entity would be worth ~$90M, with Fairfax to retain ~50% holding. Ten will control ~20% with Mr Heysen and Mr Haigh also retaining stakes.

by Sarah Thompson, Jake Mitchell & Gretchen Friemann
See full article at Sydney Morning Herald

Oasis Active Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Dave Heysen, said: “Oasis has always admired the RSVP brand in Australia and look forward to working with a business that has been one of the major players in the Australian market for more than 15 years. Together we can ensure that we continue to develop our products to cater for a wider range of the Australian singles market as well as collectively develop ways to best leverage rapidly changing technology.”

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RSVP Strikes Deal With Oasis Active

THE AUSTRALIAN - Mar 24 - Fairfax Media dating site RSVP has struck an alliance with the Ten Network-backed dating site Oasis Active. Fairfax will pay Ten $5M for 25% of the free-to-air broadcaster’s shareholding, which stands at 40%. The remainder is owned by private investors. The agreement values Oasis at ~$40m. The dating sites have come under pressure from a new wave of free mobile apps led by Tinder, which has already been adopted by 5% of the Australian population.

by Darren Davidson
See full article at The Australian

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RSVP In Talks With Oasis Active For A Possible Merger

AFR - Feb 4 - Free Aussie dating site, Oasis Active, has approached Fairfax's RSVP dating site about a merger or partnership. Both sites have come under pressure from international rivals like eHarmony and Tinder. An alliance, rather than a merger, was more likely.

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

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CEO Of Oasis Dating Network To Speak At iDate In Brazil

WEBWIRE - Oct 8 - The South American iDate conference is taking place on November 21-22, 2013 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Dave Heysen, Oasis Dating Network’s CEO, will discuss online dating in Argentina and Colombia.

See full article at Webwire

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Singles Searching For Love In Unexpected Places

OASIS DATING NETWORK - July 30 - 60% of people browse for dates while in bed, 25% search for dates on their lunch break, and 21% search for dates while on the toilet or in the bathroom, according to results of a national survey by the Oasis Dating Network, which runs leading Australian dating site Oasisactive.com.

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25 Things I Learned At iDate Australia

OPW - Nov 9 - The Australian Internet Dating Conference, covering the Asia Pacific just finished up. Here's a few things I learned.

- There are 1.1 million monthly idaters in Australia.
- Oasis and RSVP and POF are the idating leaders.
- 5% of the 2100 scam victims reported to ACCC lost $100k+ last year.
- Operators say scammer safety warnings don't deter users.
- The iPad is the 'happy' device, used for entertainment and non-work apps.

- Consider using YouTube TrueView, Homepage and First Watch ads.
- Use Google Adwords Social Extensions and you'll see 5-10% CTR uplift.
- Use 'Ripples' on Google+ to Identify influencers.
- Use piktochart.com for quickly developing infographics.
- When planning content, use Google Trends and Linkedin Today to see what's making news.
- Use Spezify.com to identify content partners and search multiple media platforms and Hittail.com for getting content.
- For Influencer marketing: Traackr, Klout, Marketing Cloud, Twitalyzer, Followerwonk.

- Mobile ad returns are disappointing for Oasis.
- They get a lot better return on their msite than their app.
- 10-15% of Oasis ad revenues come from advertising other idating sites.
- Oasis is launching freemium products next month.
- White Label Dating has $7.5 million revenues (run-rate) in the Australia.

- Japan has 4.5 million idaters.
- The leading dating sites in Japan has billboards on trucks.
- There are 180 million bachelors in China.
- The Chinese idating market should be worth $315m in 2015.
- 18% of Asia internet traffic is on mobile, compared with 8% in North America.

- Mobile developers are increasingly using HTML5 web over native apps.
- The iDating industry is weak on engagement marketing (Push/SMS/Email) compared to the gaming industry.
- OtherLevels.com helps analyze and optimize cross channel engagement efforts.

Oasis Dating Network To Speak At iDate Sydney

WEBWIRE - Nov 5 - Oasis Dating Network's CEO Dave Heysen will discuss the issues over free and paid Australian dating services at the iDate internet dating business event. Oasis is one of the largest dating sites in the region. The iDate Down Under & Internet Dating Conference is held this week on November 8-9, in Sydney.

See full article at Webwire

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Oasis Running Hot

IT WIRE - May 10 - Australian-owned online dating network Oasis is claiming substantial growth in its international user base. Oasis operates under three names in various markets: Oasis Active in Australia, Oasis in UK, US, Europe, Mexico, Brazil and the US, and Amor en Linea in Spanish-speaking markets. Parent company 3H Group also operates a site in China. The company claims ~4M members, 1.2M of them in Australia alone. "The continued growth of Amor en Linea shows that it's on track to becoming the world’s most visited Spanish speaking dating site," said Co-founder and CEO, Dave Heysen.

by Stephen Withers
See full article at IT Wire

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Oasis Active: Top Australian Dating Site

PRESS RELEASE - Apr 28 - Australian dating site Oasis Active is now the most frequently visited Australian site in the lifestyle and dating category, according to Experian Hitwise. Launched in April 2008, the free dating site now has more 1M Australian members. 

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Oasis Active Takes The Lead In Australia

DIGITAL MEDIA - July 9 - Online dating site Oasis Active, managed by 3H group, has overtaken Fairfax’s RSVP as the number one dating site in Australia, according to the latest figures from Hitwise. The shift seems to reflect a general move by consumers away from pay-to-play providers to those supported by advertising alone.

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

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Warning As Teens Join Online Dating Craze

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH - June 13 - Teenage girls are the latest singles to join the online dating craze, but experts have urged them to exercise caution when meeting people over the internet. Oasis Active, especially popular among young Australian teens, has overtaken the Fairfax-owned RSVP to become #1 site in the country, according to comScore and Hitwise. Oasis Active launched in April 2008, has ~1.6M members worldwide including ~800,000 in Australia. Up to 70% of Australian users are aged from 18 to 35 - a younger demographic than most dating sites, with 40% of that subgroup female. And while the site has a policy of only accepting members 18 or older, The Sunday Telegraph has spoken to girls as young as 15 who use the site. FULL ARTICLE @ HERALD SUN

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One In Four Adults Have Used Internet To Find A Mate

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD - Apr 17 - A Nielsen poll found one in four adults have used the internet to find a partner and another 38% are considering using online dating. Of those who had used online dating, 33.6% reported a short-term relationship, 16.2% said they had a long-term relationship, 8.9% said they had married or were in a defacto relationship, and 2.7% had children. RSVP.com.au (owned by Fairfax Media, the publisher of the Herald) commissioned Nielsen to conduct the first comprehensive survey of online dating habits. The most popular dating sites among those polled were RSVP (54%), Adult Match Maker (21%), eHarmony (20%) and Oasis Active (19%). FULL ARTICLE @ SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

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Ten Announces 40% Stake In Oasis Active

ASIAMEDIA JOURNAL -- Sep 1 -- Network Ten is investing in free Australian dating site Oasis Active. Network Ten currently holds just under 40% of Oasis Active, with the remainder held by private investors. Oasis Active commenced operation in April 2008 and its international network of users is ~998,000, with average monthly growth of 15% or more than 80,000 users. Oasis Active was developed and is managed by 3H Group. 3H Group was founded by CEO Dave Heysen and CTO Daniel Haigh. Mr Haigh previously established one of the largest international online dating websites, Soulmates Technology, which was acquired by match.com. FULL ARTICLE @ ASIAMEDIA JOURNAL