ADRESSA.NO – Dec 18 – Niche dating sites are popping up in Norway. Sites for people with special interests make it easier to find like-minded. But not everyone on the Internet is looking for love. Dating site c-date is for casual encounters and relationships without commitment. One of the newest sites in Norway is Victoria Milan. VictoriaMilan is for married people seeking an affair. These kinds of dating sites are not uncommon in other countries, but is the first of its kind in Norway. FULL ARTICLE @ ADRESSA.NO
Month: December 2010
EasyDate Buys Flirt.com
BBC.CO.UK – Dec 16 – EasyDate has bought the domain flirt.com for £800,000. EasyDate has been using the flirt.com brand since August under an agreement with Belamo, the American company that registered it. Since starting to use the flirt.com domain – calling it "the naughtiest singles community by far" – it has taken 3 months to reach revenue, last month, of £250K. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC
SpeedDate Mobile With Instant Chat
PRESS RELEASE – Dec 15 - SpeedDate.com is adding real-time chat capabilities to its SpeedDate Mobile for iPhone and iPad. SpeedDate Mobile is free to download from the iTunes™ App Store, and allows singles to chat live with anyone in a growing network of ~10M people.
The full article was originally published at PR Inside, but is no longer available.
Chinese Women Want Guys With Apartment
CHINA.ORG – ~70% of Chinese women say Mr Right must have an apartment before they talk about marriage, according to a nationwide survey for The "2010 China Marital Status Report". Besides an apartment, 70% of women said a stable income and savings were a must-have for a man. 65% said a prospective husband should earn at least double their salary. However, 63% of men didn't have any requirements in regard to their future wife's income. FULL ARTICLE @ CHINA.ORG
Why You Should Pay For Online Dating
BIG THINK – Dec 15 – OkCupid’s blog is convincing readers that they should never pay for online dating. The basis of their argument is that there are just too few subscribers on fee-for-service dating sites to make it worth while. According to a study it turns out that a person’s preference for the online date is correlated with how much they had invested in the service. For example, the length of time men chose to commit to the date was 28 minutes when the cost was $0, and 49 minutes when the cost was $50. The length of time women in the study chose to commit to the online date was 13 minutes when the cost was $0, and 28 minutes when the cost was $50. FULL ARTICLE @ BIG THINK
FriendScout24 Launches iPhone App
FRIENDSCOUT24 – Dec 14 – FriendScout24's iPhone app is now available in the App Store. The app is available in Germany and the Austrian, Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch and Swiss version will follow soon.
The full article was originally published at FriendScout24, but is no longer available.
Global Personals Ranked In The Sunday Times Fast Track 100
PR NEWSWIRE – Dec 13 - Global Personals has been ranked 13th place in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100. The Fast Track 100 league table is compiled by Fast Track, the UK’s leading face-to-face networking events and research company which focuses on top-performing private companies and entrepreneurs. FULL ARTICLE @ PR NEWSWIRE
French Adultery Site To Launch In US
FRANCE24 – Dec 14 - Gleeden.com, the adultery dating site that launched in France in 2009, is set to launch in US. The site has ~500K members, mainly in Europe, of which ~250K are in France. The site's success, including its attraction for women, comes from French notions of seduction, with a quarter of women going there for nothing more than flirtation. "The US is a territory that is very puritan, but I think we'll have a certain success over there," said Teddy Truchot, Gleeden's founder, who declines to discuss how much money the site makes.
The full article was originally published at France24, but is no longer available.
Gaydar.net Launches New App
POPULAR PUBLICITY – Dec 14 – New Gaydar app is available today via the iTunes App Store. All 12M Gaydar.net profile photos have been rated by the in-house Customer Relations team to abide by Apple’s guidelines, ensuring the app’s public content is suitable for all ages.
The full article was originally published at Popular Publicity, but is no longer available.
Interview With Marc Simoncini
LES ECHOS – Dec 14 – Marc Simoncini, the CEO/Founder of Meetic explains why he is going to retain his shares in Meetic and unveils his plans for the next three years.
Q: What made you change your mind about the sale?
A: We talked with four potential buyers and no offer reflected the development potential of Meetic. It wasn't the right time.
Q: What are the main axes of development?
A: First we will continue to develop Meetic Affinity, a site that has made 5M Eur in revenue in 2008 and 25M in 2009. Also at the end of the Q1 we will release a Meetic app on the iPhone, Android, Nokia, and Windows 7 phone.
Q: What are your goals in terms of membership numbers?
A: Today, Meetic has ~1M users. To achieve the revenue goals we have to increase the number of users 40%.
A: First we will continue to develop Meetic Affinity, a site that has made 5M Eur in revenue in 2008 and 25M in 2009. Also at the end of the Q1 we will release a Meetic app on the iPhone, Android, Nokia, and Windows 7 phone.
Q: What are your goals in terms of membership numbers?
A: Today, Meetic has ~1M users. To achieve the revenue goals we have to increase the number of users 40%.
Q: What resources do you have for future acquisitions?
A: We had 28M Eur in cash as of Sept. 30, at the end of the year we should have ~40M, no debts. Potentially, we may redeem any of our European competitors.
Q: Even in Germany?
A: Germany is highly competitive market where we're still number two. We are waiting for opportunities. It is interesting to see that dating sites in Germany spent 100M Eur in TV advertising this year. Meetic spends ~100M across Europe.
Q: What is your position now in Meetic?
A: I remain the CEO.
A: We had 28M Eur in cash as of Sept. 30, at the end of the year we should have ~40M, no debts. Potentially, we may redeem any of our European competitors.
Q: Even in Germany?
A: Germany is highly competitive market where we're still number two. We are waiting for opportunities. It is interesting to see that dating sites in Germany spent 100M Eur in TV advertising this year. Meetic spends ~100M across Europe.
Q: What is your position now in Meetic?
A: I remain the CEO.
The full article was originally published at Los Echos, but is no longer available.