Month: August 2010

Competitors Benefit From PlentyofFish Misfortune

Posted on August 17, 2010

Plentyoffish new logoOPW – Aug 17 –PlentyoffFish was down for over 8 hours on August 9th due to a
hardware failure. How does that effect the competition? Dan from Freedating.co.uk had
5.3% more uniques and 19.3% more visits on August 9th compare with one
week prior. Why did he see so many more visits? Because existing users
of Freedating.co.uk
who previously split their time between the two sites suddenly only had
one option. Meanwhile, Martin from Smooch.com, another free UK dating
site, saw similar increases in uniques and pageviews but more
interestingly, his registrations were up 70%.

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all posts on FreeDating.co.uk
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542 People Married Every Day Through eHarmony

Posted on August 17, 2010

Eharmony-logo SOCAL TECH – Aug 17 – eHarmony has run a study which determined that on
average, there are 542 people married every day in the U.S. due to the
web site. eHarmony said it it studeied marriages between January 1, 2008
through June 30, 2009. The study was released on the launch of
eHarmony's 10th anniversary ad campaign, which the firm says it will
begin airing today. FULL ARTICLE @ SOCAL TECH

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People With Internet Access More Likely To Be In Relationships

Posted on August 17, 2010

Online dating mouses heart TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Aug 17 – A research led by Michael J Rosenfeld, the associate
professor of sociology at Stanford University, has found that 82.2% of
people with access to the web at home had a spouse or partner, compared
to 62.8% of those without an internet connection. The increasing
popularity of online dating meant that the internet would soon overtake
introductions from friends as the most common way for people to meet
prospective partners. FULL ARTICLE @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Blind Dating With FaceTime iPhone App

Posted on August 17, 2010

Visualfriend logo FAST COMPANY – Aug 16 - Visual Friend is a new internet dating service, essentially a curated version of Chatroulette, where iPhone 4 users can connect face-to-face though FaceTime, Apple's new video calling app. Members create profiles, search for lovers, meet in chat rooms, and then "decide whether or not they want to pursue the relationship further by exchanging their numbers. FULL ARTICLE @ FAST COMPANY

Trafford Council Pays For Dating For Those In Its Care

Posted on August 16, 2010

Trafford council BBC.CO.UK – Aug 16 - A Greater Manchester council has admitted people in its social service care are allowed to buy internet dating subscriptions out of public funds. It comes after a Sunday Telegraph investigation found money from other UK councils was being used to hire sex workers for people in social care. Trafford Council said the personal budgets were usually used to pay for care assistants or to buy equipment. Dating website subscriptions would also be an acceptable expense, it said. Thousands of people in the UK use personal health budgets to buy services with cash allocated to them by local authorities. 9RD2QXQXAUX9 FULL ARTICLE @ BBC.CO.UK

Dating Site Marks 10 Years With Ad Campaign

Posted on August 16, 2010

Eharmony-articleInline NY TIMES – Aug 15 - eHarmony turns 10 on Monday, and it is celebrating the anniversary with an advertising campaign called “Love Begins Here.” The campaign features couples who met on the site and a message that singles can still find meaningful relationships. Nearly 100 people, mostly couples, participated in the eight-day shoot in Los Angeles. The participants were not paid to appear in the spots. The new campaign is a change in the creative direction of eHarmony. Instead of having couples talk about how they met or why they like the service, eHarmony chose to let music and images tell their stories. The company plans to spend $25 – $30M in online and offline advertising for the campaign through the rest of the year. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

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Founder Of CouplesSpark.com Develops A ‘Marriage Ref’ For The Web

Posted on August 16, 2010

Couplesspark logo WASHINGTON POST – Aug 15 - Let's say you and your significant other have
some intractable argument you can't resolve. She wants a dog; you're
disgusted by pet hair. They can now turn to CouplesSpark.com, a new
relationship site launched by Kunmi Ayanbule. After noticing the
Internet didn't have much to offer people already in relationships, he
set about creating a new site. Ayanbule's intention was to offer a
conflict resolution feature, in addition to resources such as restaurant
recommendations and expert advice. When Jerry Seinfeld's reality show
"The Marriage Ref" debuted this spring, Ayanbule rushed to launch
CouplesSpark.com because both operated on the same concept: A group of
strangers can solve that domestic dispute better than the two of
you. Since April, 250 conflicts have been posted on CouplesSpark.com for
public viewing. In each disagreement, both sides present their case.
Visitors then vote on which mate's argument they agree with and offer
insights, advice and comments. FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST

eHarmony Brings The Love To iPhone, iPad

Posted on August 16, 2010

Eharmony-logo THE NEXT WEB – Aug 14 - eHarmony has released a universal iOS app. According to the App Store description, the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad app
for eHarmony users lets you:

– View your matches
– Receive match updates
– Upload photos
–
Communicate with your matches
FULL ARTICLE @ THE NEXT WEB

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British Singles Play The Waiting Game

Posted on August 16, 2010

Parshiplogo PRESS RELEASE – Aug 13 - Over two thirds of UK singles will take the
active initiative of going online dating over the next 12 months, but
they are not looking for a quick fix: they have patience and are
prepared to wait a while to meet their ideal partner, according to a new
survey by Parship. 75% of the UK’s 15M singles haven’t had any type of
relationship in more than 18 months, while over half (52%) have not had
anyone special in their life for more than three years. (39%) – the
highest proportion in Europe – don’t expect to meet a potential partner
within the next two years; this makes a startling comparison with single
people in Denmark, the most optimistic group in Europe, 82% of whom
believe that the next two years will bring true love. FULL ARTICLE @ RESPONSE SOURCE

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Spark Networks Reports Second Quarter 2010 Financial Results

Posted on August 13, 2010

Sparknetworks MARKET WIRE – Aug 12 – Revenue for Q2 2010 was $10.3M, a decrease of 8% compared to $11.2M for Q2 2009, and a decrease of 2% compared to $10.5M in the prior quarter. Net income for Q2 2010 was $923,000, or $0.04 per share, compared to $1.9M, or $0.09 per share, for Q2 2009. Average paying subscribers for the Company, as a whole, decreased 2% YOY to 160,239. Revenue for Jewish Networks was $6.7M a decrease of 6%. Revenue for Other Affinity Networks was $2.8M, a decrease of 16%. Revenue for General Market Networks was $298,000, a decrease of 57%. Average paying subscribers for Jewish Networks were 89,055, an increase of 8% compared to Q2 2009.

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

Mark Brooks: JDate up, everything else down. You can see a detailed overview of Spark's trending numbers on the right bar under Financial Pages. We also list Match, Meetic and Snap Interactive and will be listing EasyDate soon.

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