|
|
Monthly Archives
This page will redirect you to the new home of Online Dating Insider in 10 seconds.
Main
| December 2002 »
November 27, 2002
Posted by Dave Evans
uDate announced the appointment of new Vice-President of Sales and Marketing (Europe).
Riccardo Zacconi has been a successful entrepreneurial and consulting career, most recently with Benchmark Capital (London), where he was Entrepreneur in Residence and before as founder and CEO of the German operation of Spray Network NV, the European Internet media Group ultimately sold to Lycos Europe for more than 760 million Euros.†Prior to Spray, Riccardo spent eight years in consulting, working at the Boston Consulting Group for over six years and, before that, at the LEK Partnership in Germany.
Comments (0)
| Category: Jobs
November 26, 2002
Posted by Dave Evans
NYT article about Elle magazine's blunt-as-an-anvil dating columnist, E. Jean Carroll, started a Web site, www.greatboyfriends
.com, on which women recommend men to other women. Who could resist a website that tells you to go fill your martini glass, doll. This from the woman who advised going to the Kentucky Derby to meet people. Guys, start calling those ex-girlfriends.
Comments (0)
| Category: Dating Site
November 25, 2002
Posted by Dave Evans
USA Today wrote on 5-22/02 that "Citing customer complaints, Yahoo will soon drop a fee it began charging in October to people who want to place enhanced personal advertisements on its online dating service. But people browsing Yahoo's personals didn't like the fact that the same enhanced ads were at the top of the list, often for days at a time, according to Katie Burke Mitic, general manager of Yahoo Personals. Users found it annoying to have to scroll through the enhanced ads to get to the regular ads.
So now Yahoo plans to drop the $4.95 fee, probably within the next two months, Mitic told Dow Jones/AP Tuesday. It will abandon priority listings and incorporate other enhanced features, like multiple photos, into the regular ads, which will continue to be free. Browsing the ads also will remain free."
Comments (0)
| Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
uDate owns uDate.com and kiss.com. they reported that Net income before tax for the three months ended September 30, 2002 rose to $3.4 million, representing growth of 554% year on year and 18% quarter on quarter. Subscriber numbers fluctuate with marketing initiatives and other factors, but September 2002 paying subscribers* rose to 237,000, an increase of 5% from 225,000 in June 2002. September 30, 2002 current subscribers# rose to 191,000, an increase of 5% versus June 30, 2002 current subscribers. Gross new subscriptions added in the quarter fell by 6% quarter on quarter to 144,851, mostly due to seasonal factors.
Comments (0)
| Category: Finance
November 24, 2002
Posted by Dave Evans
From the match.com website, we read that "during 2001, Match.com generated $49.2 million in revenue and $16.5 million in EBITDA with more than 382,000 paying subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter."
Comments (0)
| Category: Finance
Posted by Dave Evans
Ticketmaster, which owns match.com announced back in March that it was to acquire Soulmates Technology for $23M US in stock. "Soulmates delivers a private-label solution for portals seeking a customized personals interface that takes on the look and feel of their site. Through a relationship with MSN, Soulmates Technology is currently utilizing their technology to power MSN's personals in approximately 25 countries. With the capability to deliver online personals in more than 18 languages, and 32 global currencies, the acquisition of Soulmates Technology will give Match.com an immediate worldwide footprint."
Comments (0)
| Category: partnerships
November 14, 2002
Posted by Dave Evans
USA today article states that according to Yahoo the on-line dating industry will be a $250M in 2002. Based on what I've read this number seems about right, and showing no signs of slowing.
Comments (0)
| Category: Finance
November 13, 2002
Posted by Dave Evans
The Boston Globe ran an article about the problems people are having reporting abusive or fraudulent behavior on dating sites. Seems like a lot of people's complaints are falling through the cracks. Someone should develop a reporting blacklist to warn people about the undesirables out there.
Comments (0)
| Category: Safety
November 8, 2002
Posted by Dave Evans
In 1994 Gary Kremen joined forces with partner Peng Tsin Ong to start Classifieds Inc. They raised US$1.7 million from Canaan Partners and started a service called match.com. I bet the partners at Cannan are very happy with their long shot. They also mention starting jobs.com, which is now a monster.com property. File under "do one thing right." Trish McDermott, then of the International Society of Introduction Services, is now the Vice President of Romance for Match.com. While at ISIS The she co-wrote an industry Code of Ethics and helped consumers select dating services that would best meet their individual needs. Anyone have a pointer to a copy of this document? E-mail.
Comments (0)
| Category: Research
Posted by Dave Evans
Another WIRED article from November '99 where Rufus "Naughty Bits" Griscom and Genevieve Field went from "just another twentysomething Manhattan couple with low-paying jobs and a fascination with sex" to a separated duo hoping to score $10 million to spiff up the place and launch NerveCenter, now known as Spring Street Networks. Keep an eye out for more coverage of Spring Street. Who knew that "literate smut" could be so lucrative.
Comments (0)
| Category:
Posted by Dave Evans
Rufus Griscom wrote a piece in WIRED Why Are Online Personals So Hot? stating that "One in five singles looks for love on the Web". Whether this is the result of third-party research or marketing fluff remains to be seen. If you take match.com recent earnings and do some basic match I think this number can be debunked pretty easily.
Comments (0)
| Category: News
Posted by Dave Evans
Comments (0)
| Category: News
Posted by Dave Evans
WSJ has an article mentioning that many people who meet through on-line dating services remain hesitant to reveal how they met to friends and family.
"Meeting online sounds like a risky act of desperation. And there are all those news stories about mayhem and Web maniacs. It's at least one rung lower than meeting in a singles bar." What are the on-line services doing to bring an end to this stigma?
Comments (0)
| Category: News
Posted by Dave Evans
I have not come across an authoritative weblog covering the on-line dating scene, so here it is. Your feedback, insight, tips and commentary are what will make this site stand out as a valuable resource so let's hear from you.
Comments (0)
| Category: News
|
|
