Month: October 2007

PlentyOfFish May Be Worth $1 Billion

Posted on October 30, 2007

Plentyoffish_logoREAD/WRITE WEB — Oct 29 — In June '06 PlentyOfFish was earning ~$3.5m/yr on Google Adsense. Next year it will earn $10m+. POF gets 1.2 billion page views/month, and ~500,000 unique logins per day and is #2 in the US online dating market and #1 in Canada and UK (Hitwise). Facebook (40 billion page views/mo) has a valuation of $15 Billion thanks to Microsoft's $240m investment last week. According to Markus POF has 5-10 times the click through rate of Facebook so POF's 1.2 Billion page views is the same as 5-10 Billion Facebook page views per month. Markus concludes "Facebook is only able to generate 10 to 15 times as many clicks on ads as my site and it's valued at 15 billion." What's more, some of his direct competitors, eHarmony, Match, etc, are valued in the billions. Markus didn't put a figure on what PlentyOfFish is worth but it's clear he's thinking in the billions. Not bad for a one-man company (plus a new Customer Service Rep!).

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

Careers, Travel And Dating For The Disabled – Disaboom.com

Posted on October 30, 2007

Disaboom_logoTHE NEW YORK TIMES — Oct 30 — 50 million U.S. people have a disability but there are few ways for advertisers to reach them. Disaboom.com (live Oct 1, went public in May on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board securities market) hopes to change this. Netflix, Johnson & Johnson and Avis have signed ad deals. Disaboom paid DATA Inc., $280k to design the site, and also acquired lovebyrd.com, a dating Web site for people with disabilities, to fold into Disaboom. At the end of June, the company listed $2.2 million in cash. The number of adults with some form of disability is growing because the population is aging. 40% of those 65+ are disabled, compared with 19% of those between 16 to 64, according to census data. FULL ARTICLE @ THE NEW YORK TIMES

Meetic Gets AOL Distribution Deal

Posted on October 30, 2007

Meetic_logoREUTERS — Oct 29 — Meetic has signed a distribution agreement with AOL to become the exclusive dating channel on several European portals of Time Warner Inc’s Internet division. The agreement extends a similar partnership signed in February between Meetic and AOL France. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS

Mark Brooks: A great vote of confidence for Meetic. MSN next?

Dr. Ruth Working For JDate

Posted on October 30, 2007

Jdate_logoMARKETWIRE — Oct 29 — JDate has partnered with legendary sex expert, Dr. Ruth, to address those nagging and often embarrassing questions about dating and relationships as part of a regular column on the site's e-zine, JMag.

Mark Brooks: JDate has found it's Dr Phil. 

Is This Hooker Lurking On Your Dating Site?

Posted on October 29, 2007

Exclamation_pointOPW — Oct 29 — Eric from ProfileHelper.com forwarded me this profile earlier today. He wasn’t looking for a hooker, but he found one on a top 3 internet dating service. The service removed it quickly after we gave them a heads up…but how did this slip through, I wonder? Natalie is 29 (34B 30 34) looking for a guy up to 55 years old. She ‘services’ the Orlando area.

"Hey You, I’m Natalie
I have the girl-next door look but with a naughty attitude
Guys say my long, well tanned and muscular legs are my best asset
What do you think?
I am a very, very discreet woman who expects the same from her dates.
Available on Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays [days and nights] and
possibly during the week with some notice.
I service the Orlando area and would love to hear from you!
Donations for the Orlando area are reasonable:

I’ll make sure our first date isn’t our last.
Please Email me
What are you waiting for?
Natalie"

Internet Dating On The Rise In India

Posted on October 29, 2007

ShaadilogoTHE TIMES — Oct 29 — Thousands of young British Asians are spurning the tradition of allowing their parents to choose their partners and are instead relying on internet dating. 700,000 of Shaadi.com's ten million members are in Britain and of the 100,000 users browsing singlemuslim.com, about 10% are British. More than 10% of the profiles on singlemuslim.com have been uploaded by family members. People put up a profile, and what they're looking for — how religious they are, age, height, disabilities, pretty much everything. Then they can search and get their wali, a guardian, involved. Usually the guy goes to the girl's place and the wali asks the questions and they can get to know each other. 

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

Mark Brooks: BharatMatrimony and Shaadi are the leading matrimonials services.  Orkut and Fropper are leading social networks.

Online Dating Popular in China’s Big Cities

Posted on October 29, 2007

Chinese_datingCCTV.COM — Oct 29 — Online dating only caught on with young Chinese about two years ago. Now there are over 1,000 web-sites providing dating services free of charge to some 8 million registered members. A survey shows that 70% of respondent daters hold a bachelors degree and that many of them believe they are single because their social circle is too narrow. Searching and matching services are quickly improving. 

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

Mark Brooks: I spent two months in Shanghai in Spring. The Chinese services are free because the only viable means to charge is via cell phone billing, and the government just reduced the amount that can be charged to 10RMB a month, from 20RMB a month. Just ~$1.50 a month!

Matchmaking Service – Great Date Now

Posted on October 29, 2007

Greatdatenow_logoTHE JOURNAL NEWS — Oct 28 — The U.S. online dating market made $649 million in 2006. The number of Internet users who browsed dating sites dropped for the 3rd time in 4 years, according to Jupiter Research. Each Great Date Now office has a matchmaker, who spends an hour getting to know the client, and follows up with conversations after each date. Matchmakers do background checks. The founder met his wife on Match.com after spending hours online every night and a year dating women who didn't quite match their profiles. Great Date Now has nine locations in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Brings in $200,000+ a month, and spends $100k-$150k a month on advertising.

Mark Brooks: The initial sales interview at matchmaking services typically lasts an hour. In that time they interview, sell and close the client candidates. A key differentiator for matchmaking services such as The Right One is that they reduce the number of surprises at first dates by authenticating people's looks, identities, marital status, and clean crimial record. How is your internet dating service helping singles reduce the 'surprise factor'?

Lavalife To Power Playboy Sex ‘n’ Dating Channel

Posted on October 29, 2007

Lavalife_logoBLOGNATION — Sep 14 – Lavalife (1.2 million members, 1,3 million messages/day) has an exclusive sponsorship and content deal with Playboy.com for their new Sex and Dating Channel. They will contribute content to this section on Playboy.com and provides visitors with a direct link to Lavalife.

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

Chemistry.com Chat Up Lines

Posted on October 29, 2007

SmileOPW — Oct 29 — Email me if you want me to send you a copy of some of my favorite marketing emails from leading internet dating companies. This week I received a promo email from Chemistry listing the top ten chat up lines. Here they are… – Mark Brooks

1. What's your sign?
2. Pardon me, I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I borrow yours?
3. You must be a broom, because you're sweeping me off my feet.
4. Do you have a license? Because you're driving me crazy.
5. I got a thirst. And baby, you look like my Gatorade.
6. Are you lost? Because heaven's a long way from here.
7. Are you religious? Because you're the answer to all my prayers.
8. Can I take your picture? I want Santa to know exactly what I want for Christmas.
9. Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?
10. Well, here I am. What are your other two wishes?