Month: November 2007

Plentyoffish.com #1 Dating Site In The U.K.

Posted on November 27, 2007

Plentyoffish_logoPR NEWSWIRE — Nov 27 –  According to comScore World Metrix, Plentyoffish.com is now the #1 online dating site in UK as ranked by unique visits. Plentyoffish.com received 7,209,000 visits in the U.K. during the month of October, 2007. Meanwhile, the combined total traffic of all the Meetic sites was 4,397,000, and 2,100,000 for Match.com in the same period. PlentyofFish has grown to be the #1 dating site in the world, overall. #1 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and the 2nd most popular in the USA.

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

Manhunt Parties On

Posted on November 27, 2007

Jonathan_at_party SNW — Nov 27 — In case you hadn't noticed, Manhunt is just chewing up the gay dating/social networking market.  Jonathan Crutchley is co-Founder and Chairman. He's a regular attendee of the Internet Dating Conference /Social Networking Conference and likes to throw parties at his houses in Boston and Palm Springs. He's in the picture with Chi Chi La Rue who was DJ at his recent pool party in Palm Springs for Manhunt.net in honor of Palm Springs Gay Pride. 

What is Manhunt doing right? In short, they know the gay dating space, intimately. Their customer service is among the best in the industry and they charge just $12 a month. Also, have you noticed how the sites with the most 'playful' names are doing especially well on minimal ad spends. OnlineBootyCall, Manhunt, Plentyoffish.  All are playful, tongue in cheek names that travel well by word-of-mouth. Manhunt is full-on and adult and has it's antithesis in myPartner.com which is, essentially, eHarmony for gay men. (Disclosure: Manhunt, myPartner and Plentyoffish are clients of Courtland Brooks) – Mark Brooks

Blabbermash: Video Agony Aunt

Posted on November 27, 2007

Blabbermash_logoOPW — Nov 27 — Michael Alvear writes Manhunt.net's advice column as their Cruise Director and is host for the U.K. hit TV Series The Sex Inspectors. Now he's launched Relationships, Dating and Sex video advice site, Blabbermash. Users load up a video with their rants/questions and get advice from viewers/readers. Alicia wants to know why guys ask how many people she slept with, Sirbgb wants to know what kind of dog will help him reel in women 'cos his current dog is getting him the wrong kind of dates, while Diane wants to know what's up with the guys with creepy Asian fetishes. A little too revealing, or is this the shape of things to come? Your comments please… – Mark Brooks

WorldFriends Networks Looking For Funding

Posted on November 27, 2007

Worldfriendsnetworks_logoWORLDFRIENDS NETWORKS — Nov 27 — WorldFriends Networks, (Shanghai-based, owned by Meta4 Group) a provider of private label multi-lingual social network/internet dating services, is currently seeking Series B funding. Nicholas Paine and Bruce Croxon, the former co-founders of Lavalife who took Lavalife to $90 million in annual revenues, head the company's board.  WorldFriends Networks currently boasts 1.4 million registered members in 237 countries, and a 15% monthly growth rate. 

Mark Brooks: I visited Dominic, the CEO, and Nicholas, at their Shanghai offices earlier in the year.  WorldFriends Networks is strong in Japan and growing in China. See the lower left of Shanghaiist for an example of their personals service. They focus on travel minded, upscale users who want to learn a foreign language. Their first site was Hungry For Words which took off as a language learning and penpal service and has morphed into a social network (and dating) site. They raised $2.5m in February 2007 from Nicholas and Bruce and others. If you happen to have a couple of million handy, this could be a good bet. If you'd like to see how their service stacks up against 6 others, email me and I'll send you a 50 point analysis.

PersonalityPro’s Assessment On Singles365.com

Posted on November 27, 2007

Single365_logoPRESS RELEASE — Nov 26 — Singles365.com, UK based dating site powered by WhiteLabelDating.com, launched PersonalityPro’s Personality Assessment tool. In 6-8 minutes, the test assesses member’s basic personality characteristics, perceptions, motivators, communication style and unique strengths. PersonalityPro’s tests are used to to increase members conversions on dating and social networking sites. PersonalityPro’s test consists of 24 DISC-based questions as well as a number of photo and audio questions.

Mark Brooks: Personality Pro tests are short and fun. The incorporation of photo and audio questions helps keep users attention. If you’d like a copy of my 50 point analysis of 7 white label internet dating services, please email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com.

IAC Expanding in China

Posted on November 25, 2007

IacASOCIATED PRESS — Nov 23 — IAC/InterActiveCorp will invest $100 million to expand in China. IAC’s 30 Web brands include Match, Citysearch and Excite. IAC will also launch its Ask.com search engine in China within two years. With 162 million people online, China has the world’s second largest population of Internet users after the U.S.

Mark Brooks: Match acquired China’s eDodo.net in February. Meetic paid $20 million for YeeYou in January. See interview with Meetic’s CEO.

Paul Falzone Appointed to Board Of Professional Matchmakers

Posted on November 25, 2007

MatchmakingOPEN PRESS — Nov 22 — Paul A. Falzone, CEO of The Right One, Together Dating and eLove has been appointed to the Matchmaking Institute's Board of Professional and Certified Matchmakers. The Matchmaking Institute is a school of matchmaking and relationship sciences and was founded in 2003. The Right One / Together Dating (300,000+ members at 60+ U.S. locations) is the largest brick and mortar dating service in the industry along with elove.com, their online hybrid.

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

Mark Brooks: The Matchmaking Institute trains and certifies matchmakers. The board will help set standards for the brick and mortar matchmaking industry.

Dating Direct Has A New Mobile Payment Solution

Posted on November 21, 2007

Dating_direct_nove_logoTRADING MARKETS — Nov 21 — MIG, a multimedia mobile interactive services provider, delivered the first on-portal mobile payment service for Dating Direct, called Payforit. The key features currently include: trusted user functionality, flexible subscription engines, consumer identification.

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

Mark Brooks: Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com if you'd like a free copy of my 20 point analysis of 15 payment processors. 

A Kiss-Off To Online Dating

Posted on November 21, 2007

BUSINESS WEEK — Nov 20 — The era of Web 1.0 is over, online dating is dead. Going on sites like Facebook or MySpace it's like going to a bar with your friends, whereas a dating site is like walking past a bunch of animals in cages at the zoo. According to comScore, the number of people visiting online dating sites dropped 6% in September. Unique visitors to Yahoo Personals and eHarmony fell 21%, Match.com had a 16% drop, and True.com's visitors plummeted 46%. ComScore does show some names like Plentyoffish.com growing, but these are new sites with far smaller user bases. I doubt PlentyofFish will ever get to the size or valuation of a Match.com.

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

Mark Brooks: Match had $89.1 million revenue in Q3. That's ~$360 million a year.  PlentyofFish is now making $10 million+ a year. I doubted Markus would ever get into the top 10 when I met him in 2004. I underestimated him. PlentyofFish is #2, Match #4 on the Hitwise USA rankings.  On Comscore USA rankings, Match is #2 and PlentyofFish is #8.  In the UK, Hitwise ranks PlentyofFish.com as the #2 dating site, and Match comes in at #5.  And PlentyofFish comes in at #1 in Canada according to Comscore, with Lavalife at #2 and Match at #13. See the full rankings here. (Disclosure: PlentyofFish is a client of Courtland Brooks)

Mobestar Delivers New mDate Solution

Posted on November 21, 2007

Mobestar_logoAD HOC NEWS — Nov 20 — WhiteLabelDating.com, an industry leader in outsourced dating sites and owner of Singles365.com, launched a branded version of mDate provided by Mobestar. mDate is a mobile dating platform which offers live, anonymous voice and video calling. The contract will earn Mobestar £25k in November and the revenue share will be split 50/50.

The full article was originally published at Ad Hoc News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Mobestar, Trilibis, Enpocket and Plutolife are the companies to talk to if you want to add a mobile component to your internet dating site.