June 2012 – Page 7 – Online Personals Watch

Romance Is Big Business At IAC

Posted on June 6, 2012

INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY – June 5 – In last year's third quarter, Match.com bought a 20% interest in Chinese dating site Zhenai and upped its stake in Europe's No. 1 dating site, Meetic, to 81%. IAC's core personals business, which includes Match.com, Chemistry.com and the People Media unit's targeted dating sites, grew sales 17% to $108.9M, driven by a 12% boost in paid subscribers to 1.8M. IAC's online personals segment is its most profitable business. This month, Match.com will start to roll out the Stir, a service that brings single people together in organized local events. As a part of an ongoing beta test, Match.com has organized 60 Stir events across 10 U.S. markets.

by Marilyn Much
The full article was originally published at Investors Business Daily, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Match.com See all posts on Zhenai
See all posts on Meetic See all posts on People Media
See all posts on Chemistry.com

Match.com Takes A Step Into The Real World

Posted on June 6, 2012

MEDIABISTRO – June 4 – After beta testing an offline events in ten U.S. markets, match.com is ready to officially roll out “The Stir.” The Stir events will range from the casual happy hour at a bar to something more structured such as cooking classes.

by Richard Horgan
See full article at Mediabistro

See all posts on Match.com

Zoosk Is Introducing Couple Profiles

Posted on June 6, 2012

ZOOSK BLOG – June 4 – Zoosk is introducing Couple Profiles, a new feature that allows users who are in a committed relationship to create a scrapbook of their relationship. Now every user can create an Individual Profile – as well as a Couple Profile if he/she is in a relationship.

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

See all posts on Zoosk

Double-dip Recession Boosts Cheating Websites

Posted on June 6, 2012

DAILY MAIL – June 4 – Experts believe that divorce, which costs ~£13K, is behind the shift towards wide-spread infidelity. Illicit Encounters.com claims that since the economy worsened they have welcomed 27K new members – a 200% increase on the previous year. 'Having an affair is treated almost as a practical, rather than a romantic, decision.' The pursuit of sexual excitement, boredom with marriage and the need of an ego boost were other reasons men gave for cheating, according to he UK Adultery Survey 2012 by undercoverlovers.com. Meanwhile women were more likely to be seeking emotional fulfilment. IllicitEncounters.com boasts ~670K members, which is 3% of the UK's married population.

by Sadie Whitelocks
See full article at Daily Mail

See all posts on IllicitEncounters
See all posts on Undercoverlovers

A Little Nudge: Online Dating Coach

Posted on June 6, 2012

WASHINGTON POST – June 4 – Erika Ettin is the founder of A Little Nudge, an online dating assistant. A Little Nudge offers three packages. For $195, Ettin pens a tailor-made profile and offers photo consultation. For a step up, customers can also get eight hand-picked matches per week, 20 ghostwritten e-mails initiating contact and unlimited dating advice for $325. For a “platinum nudge,” at $595 a month for three months, the firm will schedule dates, offer coaching and handle all pre-date communication.

by Danielle Douglas
See full article at Washington Post

IvyDate Raised $1.5 Million

Posted on June 5, 2012

BUSINESS INSIDER – June 1 – Beri Meric and Phillipp Triebel, cofounders of IvyDate, raised $1.5M in funding from a bunch of angel investors, including some un-named investors that have put money into Spotify, Uber, and Facebook. IvyDate is an exclusive online dating club with an admissions committee that decides who can and who can't be part of the community. 30K people have so far been given the nod.

by Marcus Moretti
See full article at Business Insider

See all posts on IvyDate

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Dating Shanghai-Style Draws 38,000 Hopefuls

Posted on June 5, 2012

BUSINESSWEEK – June 1 – 38,000 singles and parents attended the Shanghai’s largest matchmaking event last weekend as the city seeks to revive a birth rate that has collapsed to half the level in Japan. The number of children the average woman in the city will bear over her lifetime was 0.79 in 2010, about half the national level. That compares with the 1.42 rate for Japan and 2.08 in the U.S. In Shanghai the number of couples tying the knot in the first four months of the year fell 10% to 41,282. ~2K couples were successfully matched at last year’s event. This year, parents studied profiles of single men and women in dozens of matchmaking booths around the park. A typical poster read: 1.67 meter female working in a research field, born in 1983, looking for 1.77 meter male born after 1977.

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

WhiteLabelDating.com Mobile Traffic

Posted on June 5, 2012

WLD BLOG – June 1 – With the mobile market worth £152 Billion in 2011 (and predicted to grow to £425 Billion by 2015); the world of mobile is big business. According to Google, mobile dating queries are growing 123% YOY. Mobile traffic from the WhiteLabelDating.com South Africa network has increased by +225% (Jan- April 2012). Mobile traffic from Australia has nearly doubled since the January launch.

See all posts on WhiteLabelDating.com

Got News?

Posted on June 5, 2012

OPW – June 5 – We protect sources. We're looking for insider news and tips. Got something interesting? We will not share your contact information with anyone. We respect embargoes, and we absolutely will honor your privacy. Send your news directly at tips@onlinepersonalswatch.com.