OPW – June 10 – Subscription Site Insider, in partnership with Courtland Brooks, is about to publish a new landmark study: The Dating & Matchmaking Site Benchmark Report. If you are in or allied to the online dating industry, please take our quick anonymous survey. Everyone who participates will receive our Executive Summary with 10 tables and charts of the latest business data, plus our exclusive analysis in exchange. Thanks in advance for your participation.
Month: June 2011
Relationship Formation on the Internet
INTERNET DATING SCIENCE – June 8 – Internet Dating Science, a new service by Courtland Brooks, summarizes the best academic papers so you can improve your idating site, and help users make better connections.
Study: Relationship Formation on the Internet: What's the Big Attraction?
Authors: Katelyn Y.A. McKenna, Amie S. Green and Marci E.J. Gleason, all of New York University
The authors of the study wanted to know whether personally meaningfully relationships can and are being developed online. They found that if people tend to be more open online, then they are likely to develop a deeper sense of connection. 75% of all types of relationships that had been initiated online were still intact 2 years later, the study says. More specifically, 71% of romantic relationships were intact with 52% of people saying that the relationship had become closer and stronger over time.
Dr. Brenner: Based on this information, you should:
1. Emphasize the power of meeting online.
2. Encourage expression of one’s real self among your members.
3. Offer members multiple methods of communication.
4. Educate members that inauthentic expression of one’s self will likely lead to frustration and disappointment.
Sky-mobi Partners with Jiayuan
BENZINGA – June 9 - Under the terms of the one-year agreement, Sky-mobi will collaborate with the largest Chinese dating site Jiayuan to develop a Sky-mobi-Jiayuan dating software app to be operated on Sky-mobi's Maopao mobile social network. The program will offer a wide range of dating and social networking features.
by Allie Wickman
See full article at Benzinga
eDarling Founders Launch betterDate
PRESS RELEASE – June 9 - It took the Affinitas GmbH only two years to become one of Europe’s leading online dating enterprises. Now it has announced another service for singles, which is scheduled for the end of June. The new portal named betterDate is launched with the slogan “Einfach bessere Dates” (“Simply better dates”) and is supposed to reach the broad public through a TV campaign. Similar to eDarling, in the medium term, betterDate will be financed through premium memberships. During its launch, though, the service will be free of charge.
Kicking Registered Sex Offenders off Online Dating Sites
PRESS RELEASE – June 9 – Although, many believe that dating sties should be held responsible for conducting background checks of their members; bConcerned.com feels that the individuals who are deceptively using dating sites should be held accountable for their actions.Founders of bConcerned.com, Greg and Marcello, feel that by introducing a petition to make it a criminal act, to be a registered sex offender and a member of a dating site, not only brings awareness to dating safety but also creates a safer environment for members of the online dating community. The petition drive will begin in conjunction with a free Online Dating Safety Seminar being presented by bConcerned.com.
Jiayuan Announces First Quarter 2011 Financial Results
PR NEWSWIRE – June 8 - Q1 2011 Highlights:
– Net revenues were RMB 68.4M ($10.4M), 198.4% increase YOY
– Operating income was RMB 16.5M ($2.5M), compared to an operating loss of RMB 1.1M in Q1 2010.
- Jiayuan had 4.7M average monthly active user accounts during the quarter, representing an increase of 89.0% from 2.5M in Q1 2010. The number of average monthly paying user accounts was 882,471, representing an increase of 188.2% from 306,163 in Q1 2010.
– Operating income was RMB 16.5M ($2.5M), compared to an operating loss of RMB 1.1M in Q1 2010.
- Jiayuan had 4.7M average monthly active user accounts during the quarter, representing an increase of 89.0% from 2.5M in Q1 2010. The number of average monthly paying user accounts was 882,471, representing an increase of 188.2% from 306,163 in Q1 2010.
Matchmaking Pre-Session at iDate Los Angeles
PR ZOOM – June 8 - Julie Ferman of Cupid's Coach & eLove host a special 3+ hour pre-conference session for Matchmakers at iDate. The session is designed to assist matchmakers in improving their business models. The session will cover:
– The State of the Art of Personal Matchmaking;
– An overview of the various business models currently in operation;
– The challenges present in the matchmaking industry today as well as the opportunities for collaboration and joint-ventures.
Japanese Disaster Sparks Rush to the Altar
FT – June 8 – In 1971, Japan had 10.5 marriages for every thousand citizens. By 2009, that number had fallen to 5.9, partly because later generations were less willing to enter the kind of arranged marriages. O-net, Japan’s largest dating service, said the number of couples meeting on their site rose ~20% after the crisis. Inquiries to the dating service shot up 30%. "People are afraid to be alone after the earthquake,” said Kazuhide Unozawa, president of Prime Marriage, another dating service, which in May saw a 50% increase both in new memberships and marriages between members.
by Michiyo Nakamoto
The full article was originally published at Financial Times, but is no longer available.
No eHarmony with Asian Men
HUFFINGTON POST – June 8 - According to a survey of racial exclusion patterns in Internet dating, the most excluded categories are Asian men and black women. American women would rather opt for black men than Asian males (including East Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi. At the outset, Asian men are far fewer in numbers than black or Latino men, which restricts their exposure, availability and access to white women. They are also culturally alien to white women in a way that black or Latino men are not. It is also interesting that the reasons why Asian women are sought after by white men who care to date or marry outside their racial confines, are conversely the reasons why Asian men are probably excluded from white female preferences. Several studies found white men prefer Asian women because they are seen as "homely" — obedient and faithful — as compared to Asian men, who are possibly unappealing because of their reputation for being domineering, hierarchical and illiberal. Unlike Asian women, Asian men tend to be much more authoritarian, conservative, religious and profess fealty toward their cultural values that are often incompatible with Western mores.
Six Reasons to Rethink Your Online Dating Site
![Online-dating-sites_thumb[1]](https://i0.wp.com/onlinepersonalswatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/6a00d834515c5f69e2014e8900aba4970d-800wi.png?ssl=1 "Online-dating-sites_thumb[1]")
STARTUP PROFESSIONALS – May 26 – Online dating sites usually fail. The simple reason is that everyone expects quick results. Online Dating is a tough and oversaturated market to enter at this stage. Here are six key reasons, from a business perspective:
1. Direct competition is huge.
2. No longer a growth market.
3. Entry cost is very high.
4. Intellectual property is tough. It’s hard to invent and patent more “scientific” methods on how to match people.
5. Social networks. “Social networking” is really the new term for dating, with mega-sites like Facebook, and the hyperlocal site Foursquare.
6. Sophisticated search engines. Singles will soon be able to search cyberspace for their ideal partner, without the need to join any dating site.
If you expect to get any traction in this market, you need some real innovation.
by Martin Zwilling
The full article was originally published at Startup Professionals, but is no longer available.
Comment from Sam Moorcroft from ChristianCafe.com:
"I agree. The vast majority of entrepreneurs in this business lose their shirts and bail. Few existing dating sites actually make profit for their owners. They should become affiliates of those of us who have made it, as they'd stand a better chance of making money that way. Many of them have enough traffic to be affiliates."