Internet Dating Video News Summaries

Internet Dating News Briefing #9

June 2009 OPW News Summary from Mark Brooks on Vimeo.

Hello, and welcome to Online Personal Watch’s Monthly News Roundup. I’m Mark Brooks, and this is what made industry news in June 2009.

A recent survey conducted by Opinion Research for eHarmony found that 51% of single parents believe that they and their children are better off emotionally when the parent is in a committed relationship. The survey asked single parents about their motivations for dating again, and 3 of the top 5 answers were “to have a mother or father figure in their child’s life,” “to share parenting duties” and “to appease their kids”. This very point is the top reason Irena and I particularly enjoy devoting our time and career to the internet dating industry.  Internet dating services and matchmakers promise to help people make better matches.  Better matches mean happier families and kids.  Happier and emotionally healthier kids may, we hope, lead to a society that won't self destruct in future generations.  This is a good cause, and what makes the dating industry a particularly rewarding industry to work in.

Match and eHarmony have both released success rates and statistics for their respective sites. Match announced that users send 56 million first emails and 132 million winks per year.  Users  go on 6 million dates each year, and 12 couples get married or engaged each day, and they bring in $1 million a day from subscription revenues.  Meanwhile, eHarmony announced that 118 couples get married or engaged each day thanks to them, and they have 12-15,000 new users every day, and a full audience turnover over every 6 ½ months. This item attracted a bit of discussion on OPW between a few of our readers. James Houran, the former Chief Psychology Officer from TRUE raised several very good points, stating that “the number of marriages or engagements is meaningless unless one also knows the divorce and break-up rates for the matching services” and that “it is more useful to know how many of those relationships turned out to be stable.” He makes a valid argument that success rates are only put into perspective when a ratio is given to failure rates.  But how many services are really able to track long term match success rates?   I don't know of any.  What's their motivation anyway.  Dating services are a victim of their own success.  They match people, then those people quit the service.  However, I think we're going to see new services evolve that help members after they've hooked up.  People do really need help.   And some are willing to pay for it.  So why don't we help dating site users through the entire relationship continuum.  If dating services could make money beyond the day they successfully matched users, they'd be motivated to stay in contact with them, and then they'd have the opportunity to collect real success metrics.  Then they would be in a better position to refine their matchmaking methodologies.

Spark Networks is losing subscribers.  Spark said it's trying to rebalance its portfolio to be less reliant on JDate, which recently received a face lift. However, its segment weighting seems to be shifting more because of the relative speed of subscriber losses. Stock is down about 9% year-to-date and about 47% over the last 52 weeks, reflecting the prolonged poor performance, and Spark Networks now has a market capitalization of $47.1 million. Revenue for Q1 dropped 20%. Meanwhile, revenue at Match.com slid just 1% and ad-supported free sites like PlentyofFish, which saw unique visitors nearly double to 2.9 million in April, are becoming an increasing threat. Spark is focusing its ad spending on a handful of its niche sites to bring them up to scale, and has all but given up on AmericanSingles.com. I do live in hope for Spark Networks, but quite consistently they have shown less than stellar results.

An interesting new site launched in the UK recently as a social hub for singles ready to get out and date. DatingTrail.co.uk is a site designed to bring dating sites, events and matchmaking together in one destination. The site features several hundred UK dating events ranging from Lock and Key parties to classy wine tasting evenings. Singles holidays from Adventura and Click Singles are also listed along with reviews of past trips. They have also put together a list of online dating sites, and rated the sites.  Nice work.

Virtual goods are back in the news, and CNET reported earlier this month that start-ups peddling virtual goods managed to raise $69 million in funding in the first quarter of 2009. Offerpal Media leads the pack with $15 million raised, followed by IMVU, ngmoco and Nurien at $10 million each. The author of the article states that what is not yet clear with virtual goods is what business models work and what segments of user populations are the best targets. I should note, Online Personals Watch is sponsored by Viximo and they provide a virtual goods platform for dating and SNS services.  Viximo maintains that everyone buys virtual goods.  One of the most interesting user behaviors is that many users buy gifts for themselves just to show that they have gifts attached to their profiles.

The Milwaukee-area office of Great Expectations is being sued by the Wisconsin Justice Department for apparently violating Wisconsin's no-call law, exaggerating the number of participants' marriages and misrepresenting its prices. The lawsuit alleges that Great Expectations sells memberships that allow access to a database containing photos, videos and profiles of other members, but actually just search nonaffiliated websites for names of Milwaukee-area singles who are then called by company telemarketers. The suit also alleges that telemarketers tell potential customers that unless they are “living in a cardboard box” they can afford the service; they try to obtain financial information to see how much a potential customer can afford to pay for their membership; and use high-pressure, oppressive tactics including holding driver’s licenses or credit cards to keep people from leaving during the interview process.  Ultimately GE's model is kinda defunct with the rise of video dating sites like Woome and Speeddate.com.  Anyone with a webcam can do a Skype call with someone they're interested in meeting from a dating site.  Yenta's have a future, but unless GE goes through a metamorphosis soon, their brand will metastasize pretty rapidly I'm afraid.  How about providing more matchmaking services? 

PlentyOfFish.com and world-class rapper, Flo Rida, are teaming up to unveil his latest video, ‘Available’. While dating sites have often been featured in movies and TV shows, ‘Available’ marks the first time that the online dating industry and the world of hip-hop have partnered up to spread their messages across both platforms.

Without question, the biggest and most controversial issue that sprung up during June was the announcement of a lawsuit against Match.com. Sean McGinn of Brooklyn is suing Match for misleading members by posting profiles of prospective dates that are unable to respond to any interest in them because they do not have a paid subscription. McGinn is accusing Match of causing “humiliation and disappointment” for some members who feel rejected when their attempt to contact a prospective date gets no reply.

We spoke with Nora Hart, the attorney representing Sean McGinn. It's her assertion that “Match defrauds the consumer of their time and personal investment every time a person pays Match’s subscription fee and writes to a member who won’t have the ability to read what they wrote or see their profile.”
The one main thing that they seem to be pinning the case on is the fact that when you look at a profile, you cannot tell if a person is a subscriber or a free member. You also cannot tell how long it’s been since they’ve logged onto the site beyond three weeks. It is this practice that they want to go after Match for. Should they win, this would have a significant impact on every dating site that doesn’t list subscriber status or caps activity reporting on their members at three weeks or so.

Norah Hart contends that, “When a subscriber cancels their subscription, their profile continues to appear to be that of an active subscriber. Nothing indicates to the viewer their limited access to read e-mails or respond to them.”

The problem with this argument is that just because someone cancels their paid subscription to a site, it does not mean that they are canceling their membership. It also does not take into account winking, which is a free feature on Match for all members, regardless of paid status.

What she fails to take into account is that there could be numerous factors contributing to her client’s failure on the dating site, from his photo or profile, to what he says in his emails and even his dating strategy. It may be that he was actually rejected by women with paid subscriptions who were just not interested.

I also requested a statement from Match.com on the matter, and they replied that "Match.com’s continued success depends upon the success of our members in making online connections and turning them into meaningful relationships offline. The allegation that we would deceive our subscribers by encouraging them to connect with inactive members therefore makes no sense and is contradicted by our 14-year record and the hundreds of thousands of members who find someone special on Match.com every year. We understand that finding romance, offline or online, can at times be emotional and personal, and we wish Mr. McGinn well in his search.  But his lawsuit is without merit, and we will defend it vigorously."

Mr. McGinn’s attorney is seeking a Jury trial and it will all come down to what the people decide and how strong his claims of anguish can sway them. Of course, the argument may be diluted by the fact that he did eventually find his girlfriend on Match.com according to a recent report on Fox News.

A number of dating company mergers and partnerships have been announced in the past month, and they are as follows.
·    Christian Café and Single Christian Network have combined to form one community at ChristianCafe.com.
·    IAC completed their transaction with Meetic, meaning Meetic now owns Match Europe and Match has its arms around Meetic.
·    Meetic has signed a partnership with Microsoft’s MSN portal, which will see MSN providing Meetic’s dating and matchmaking services to customers in 12 European countries.
·    meetMoi, a leader in location based mobile dating, announced a strategic alliance with ClearSky, a provider of content and managed services to wireless carriers. meetMoi will be added to Clear Sky’s product suite.
·    Virtual Greats, a virtual goods and sales distribution system, and Viximo, a provider of virtual goods and currency solutions, announced a partnership deal providing publishers with turnkey virtual goods solutions, including an unrivalled library of branded entertainment, sports and fashion content.
·    And Attivio’s Active Intelligence Engine has been selected to power Deutsche Telekom’s FriendScout24, which is now able to create a more user-friendly site with real-time field updates.

That’s all for the June report of OPW’s Weekly News Roundup. Tune in again next month as we bring you the latest and greatest from the world of online dating. No ads, no fluff, just raw news and CEO interviews served up daily. I’m Mark Brooks.

Internet Dating News Briefing #8

May 2009 OPW News Summary from Mark Brooks on Vimeo.

Hello, and welcome to Online Personals Watch’s Monthly News Roundup. We're switching these summaries to a monthly format so I'll cover the news from the mid-month roundup through today. I’m Mark Brooks, and this is what made industry news in May 2009.

I spoke with Marc Simoncini, the Founder and CEO of Meetic and he clarified some aspects of the strategy for Meetic after acquiring Match Europe. Meetic is focusing on expanding Meetic Affinity all over Europe except for the Nordics.  Now, Meetic Affinity is a higher end dating product for serious daters.  It's in the same class as eHarmony or Chemistry, really.  They're also rolling out a product for a younger audience called Peexme which is a mobile and web application that will be launched in June. That will be more of a flirting than a dating service. So Peexme is their flirting service, Meetic is their dating service and Meetic Affinity is their serious dating, or matchmaking service.  As far as their acquisition of Match Europe goes, they'll continue to run all the brands, Meetic, Match and DatingDirect, but they'll only promote the top brands. So that means Meetic will run Match in the Nordics, and Meetic all over the rest of Europe, and Dating Direct in the UK.  They're going to merge the Match Europe and Meetic databases so users on the Match and Meetic and DatingDirect sites, will all be merged into one huge database.  This is a collosal business development for the internet dating industry in Europe of course.  We'll be watching and reporting on this further, especially on Meetic's financials, as they're released. 

According to the Daily Star, a British dating site has landed itself in hot water for using the American President’s name and image without permission from the White House. ObamaSinglesDating.com is facing a federal investigation for its use of President Obama’s name along with an image gallery featuring photos of the President and First Lady. A White House insider stated that the site’s information would be passed on to the appropriate authorities if they do not stop using the President’s name and likeness on their home page. On the surface this may seem to be a great niche site for supporters of President Obama to meet like-minded individuals, but its also blatant commercial abuse of his name.

The social dating community Zoosk is making it possible for members to connect based on common tastes in music and movies. The site this week introduced the ability to integrate their users Last.fm and Netflix accounts directly onto their Zoosk Date Card, providing potential matches real time updates to their latest playlist and movie choices. Zoosk has grown to more than 30 million users, and is the only social dating community that allows users to connect across multiple social networks. I really like this feature because people really define themselves by the kinds of music and movies they like.  Its just a more natural way to allow people to show off who they really are.  This is a good thing.  I know that most dating sites ask what kind of music and movies users like, but there's nothing like seeing the real evidence from their recent real behaviors.  Do you really like romantic movies, or are you just saying that?  Do you really like Duran Duran, or did you just spend last week listening to thrash heavy metal?

CNN published an article about the way virtual currencies are powering social networks. It seems that as our identities migrate further onto the Internet, currencies that exist only online are becoming a more significant part of commerce on the Web and in the real world. Some even stand-in for real-world currency. Dr. Castranova at Indiana University said people tend to underestimate the large amount of cash being converted into online currency, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion each year apparently. A majority of this currency is being used in online gaming, however social networks are currently trying to find ways to manage or capitalize on their developing online economies.   Perhaps some of this money could be spent on internet dating sites.  This phenomenon has some significant potential as a source of revenue for online dating.  We just signed up Viximo as a sponsor of Online Personals Watch this week, I should note, and they're helping us open our eyes to the world of virtual gifting and virtual currency.

Ah, the smell of litigation is in the air, and once again it smells like Craigslist. Only this time, the online classifieds site is the plaintiff. Craigslist is suing South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, no less.  They're suing him for declaratory relief as well as a getting a restraining order against him.  Now, several weeks ago, Mr. McMaster presented Craigslist with an ultimatum that would require them to remove the portions of their South Carolina site that aid in the solicitation of prostitution and graphic pornographic material. When read carefully, this means the entire site for South Carolina would have to come down. So instead of waiting to be sued, Craigslist removed their “Erotic Services” category from the site and struck first with a suit. We'll bring you updates on this case as they become available.

Times Online recently published an article discussing the safety and ethics surrounding DNA dating. Dr Tamara Brown, a Croatian geneticist, has been investigating what creates that initial “spark” between two people, and she believes that the answer lies in smell. Her company, GenePartner, charges clients $99 for a genetic match based on a section of DNA called the human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, but makes it clear that they are not claiming to provide the ideal partner based purely on DNA. Another DNA testing company, ScientificMatch, started up in December last year and offers DNA matching for a lifetime membership fee of $1,995. Because DNA testing is as yet unregulated, there are fears over the high risk to privacy, and DNA results being sold to insurance companies. There are also concerns among the scientific community because some companies, like GenePartner, refuse to release their testing specifications for fear of other companies copying their algorithm. This, however, means that the research has not been evaluated by other experts and is indeed open to suspicion. 

When it comes to the question, “Would you pay someone to find you a significant other?”, an increasing number of singles are answering yes. Reports continue to come in about the online dating industry flourishing under the poor current economic conditions, but an increasing number of people are turning to matchmaking as well. The number of singles turning to online dating as a way to meet a compatible mates has been steadily increasing, with some 3 million U.S. singles currently part of one or more sites. Matchmaking company The Right One prides itself on an effective approach that results in a match nationally every 17 minutes and a wedding a day. It's Just Lunch International doesn't release statistics but the company's president points to its continued expansion in and outside the USA as solid proof that its program for the last 18 years indeed works. Concerns about privacy and user safety are reasons that some online daters have turned to matchmakers instead.

Some new companies are trying to streamline the process of searching for matches by culling profiles from different sites into one central Web portal. Industry folks call it "online dating aggregation," but James Nord compares the service to companies such as CheapFlights.com or Kayak, where users log on, search for what they're looking for, receive potential options from various providers and then click straight through to the provider site. Nord is the founder of Rubixx, thats' r-u-b-i-x-x.  Rubixx works by feeding daters the profiles of potential matches who fit their basic requirements from a variety of dating sites. So far, the idea has been slow to gain traction, and industry experts think the break is going to come in the form of Facebook, if security and safety standards can be met to search for singles among their 200 million members. Lycos tried launching a version of this kind of site back in 2005.  Their dating site aggregator was fed by TRUE, LoveAccess and a few second tier sites.  These sites fed profiles to them each week via a flat file, and TRUE and LoveAccess paid Lycos around $4 per new registrant that was delivered to them via the Lycos dating site aggregator.  The service flopped primarily because Lycos just couldn't drive much volume of business to the partners.

Earlier this week, we brought you news of the proposed bill in the Illinois Senate that would hike the state income tax by 67% and impose $1 billion in new sales taxes. A list of 39 new services to be subject to the 6.25% sales tax was also listed, and online dating services were among them. We have since learned that the bill was not approved and died in the House. However, this news did raise a number of concerns about taxation of online dating sites. Several comments were made on Online Personals Watch about taxation on dating sites in the UK and EU.  It's possible that a number of sizable dating sites in the U.S. may be hit with large VAT bills for their failure to pay the tax on UK or EU members. FriendFinder being one of them.

And finally, some of you may have been as shocked as we were by just how far the Japanese are going to make virtual sex a reality.  On May 18^th we published a video that demonstrated some pretty far out devices that allowed the less temperate and more horny of the Japanese to share every peak and tremor of their arousals with others online.  We found the video to be quite the eye-opener, and subsequently lost a couple of nights sleep over it.  Viewers beware.   It's not adult, we don't publish adult videos on OPW, but the devices may make you cringe a little. Jonathan Crutchley, the chairman and co-founder of adult gay dating site Manhunt commented that they actually sell these devices in their online shop.  Jokes aside, this article reminded me of an April 2005 article in Wired magazine's Sexdrive section where they introduced the iVibe rabbit, a tamer version of what we saw in the Japanese video.  These kinds of cybersex toys could well find themselves at home and more integrated into adult dating sites and online communities such as Paltalk, Nerve and SuicideGirls.

That’s all for the May report of Online Personal Watch’s News Roundup. Tune in again next month as we bring you the latest and greatest from the world of online dating. No ads, no fluff, just raw news and CEO interviews served up daily. I’m Mark Brooks.  Thank you.