PR NEWSWIRE – June 6 –
First Quarter 2011 Highlights
– Income from operations increased 52% YOY to $19.7M
– Adjusted EBITDA increased 33% YOY to $27.2M
- Net loss decreased from $0.60 per share in 2010 to $0.27 per share in 2011
– Raised $50M in gross proceeds from IPO
Q1 2011 Revenue was $83.5M, gross profit was $56.8M. On May 11, 2011, FriendFinder completed its IPO, and issued 5M shares of common stock at a price of $10.00 per share.
ACTUS TÉLÉPHONIE – June 5 – SmartDate, a dating site with 3M members, has launched an app on Android. The app is free.
WLD – June 2 – WhiteLabelDating.com partner site PlentyMoreFish.com have continued their TV campaign, made by Nick Forshaw. This new campaign will be unleashed across a selection of Sky and comedy channels over the next two weeks.
See all posts on WhiteLabelDating.com
See all posts on PlentyMoreFish.com
INTERNET DATING SCIENCE – June 2 – Internet Dating Science is a new service by Courtland Brooks. We take the best academic papers and summarize them in plain English so you can improve your idating site, and help your users make better connections. Here is our first summary:
Study: The Social Demography Of Internet Dating In The United States
Authors: Jessica Sautter, Rebecca Tippett and S.Philip Morgan all of Duke University
In 1999 2% of American singles had used idating, 25% by 2002 and the business had grown to $304M a year. The industry passed $1 billion in 2008 and will grow 10% through 2013. In 1970 40% of U.S. women and 35% of men were single. In 2003 48% of men and 45% of women were single. Higher income, and higher educated Americans are more likely to be single. Divorcees are most likely to be internet daters.
Mark Brooks: Based on this information, you should:
1. Target your ad spends at internet power users who use multiple services and activities on portals.
2. Target your social network advertising at people who have friends who have mentioned internet dating.
3. Survey users when they leave your service to find out why they are leaving, and if they are happy.
ASSOCIATED PRESS – June 2 – Dating online the second time around – after divorce or the death of a spouse – isn't always second nature among the nation's 78M boomers. They often have unrealistic notions of how to hunt for love and companionship, said Pepper Schwartz, a sociology professor. In addition, Schwartz said, "Men are very interested in women being self-sufficient. Women are deathly afraid of becoming nursemaids. Boomers ages 55 to 64 are the fastest-growing age group since 2000, jumping 43% to ~35M. On eHarmony.com, people 50 + are one of the fastest growing segments. The same goes for Match.com, with 25% of its members are between 50 and 65. Boomers on Match have grown 89% in the last five years.
by Leanne Italie
The full article was originally published at Miami Herald, but is no longer available.
BUSINESS INSIDER – June 1 - Clique is a new a dating site that launched at last month's New York Tech Meetup. Singles are encouraged to sign up per usual but the site doesn't work without unavailable friends signing up too. Those in relationships sign up as "wingmen" and match single friends up, just like they would at a party. The most engaged users on Clique are female matchmakers, not daters. Clique will not make users pay for accounts. Instead, the site will make money from broadening access to daters (users can pay to see friends of friends of friends) and from group deals that will help couples plan dates.
TORONTO SUN – June 2 – According to Ian Andrew Bell, Tingle creator, some key problems with traditional online dating are pathetic response ratios for men and the fact that singles are cloistered in front of computer screens instead of out on the town, where social interactions are actually taking place. Dating apps like Tingle, Skout and Grindr solve the age-old problem of deciphering (a) Who in this bar is single? (b) Who in this bar is actively looking? and (c) Who in this bar is straight or not straight?
PRESS RELEASE – July 1 – The readers of About.com nominated and then voted Shaadi.com as the best Matrimonial Web site in the 2011 About.com Reader's Choice Awards. Now in its fourth year, the About.com Readers' Choice Awards honor the best products, features and services across more than a dozen categories, ranging from technology to hobbies to parenting and more, as selected by its readers.
GATHER – May 31 - Manhunt.net boasts millions of men looking for dates, friends, and hookups. It was founded in 2001 by Jonathan Crutchley and Larry Basile after the original telephone-dating venture "MANHUNT" had been a success. Unlike a traditional dating service such as Match.com, Manhunt.net is a sex-oriented destination. Many married men appear on the site as well. Naturally, the site can't be held responsible for people cheating of their own accord, unless Manhunt.net is intentionally giving them the means to do it. A free search option allows men to browse those located near them, and in doing so, see their interest in "Married Men."
by Chris Sosa
The full article was originally published at Gather, but is no longer available.