THE PROVINCE – Feb 1 – Markus Frind typically sees a 23% jump in sign-ups at POF between Boxing Day and the Wednesday after Feb.14. ~3.5M people log into the site every day, many of them visiting several times. POF’s 70M registered users make it the world’s largest dating site. PlentyofFish was born in 2003. Frind ran the company by himself for five years until it reached $10M in annual revenue. Today, he employs ~75 people. He won’t disclose how much revenue his private company makes but answers “of course” when asked if it makes money. He has put aside $30M for acquisitions.
by Paul Luke
See full article at The Province
POF has grown into a behemoth. Its also growing gangbusters abroad. Match has to stop this juggernaut by out-innovating and acquiring companies to ‘block and tackle’ POF. Otherwise iDating becomes known as a free experience, and Match revenues will end up declining. Which wouldn’t be good for the Match Group IPO.
POF has grown into a behemoth. Its also growing gangbusters abroad. Match has to stop this juggernaut by out-innovating and acquiring companies to ‘block and tackle’ POF. Otherwise iDating becomes known as a free experience, and Match revenues will end up declining. Which wouldn’t be good for the Match Group IPO.
Regarding your prediction, I think there’s a reason why free hasn’t “won” yet, and it’s not because of acquisitions or innovations. Advertisers – whether affiliates, search engines, etc – get more money advertising for paid services than free ones, so that is what they have continued to promote and will continue to promote. Free sites win by being viral. Paid sites win by monetizing most effectively. They will always beat free sites at monetizing, so there will always be room in the ecosystem for both.
The sad thing as I constantly harp is that monetization isn’t aligned with quality of consumer experience. What can we do about it?
Regarding your prediction, I think there’s a reason why free hasn’t “won” yet, and it’s not because of acquisitions or innovations. Advertisers – whether affiliates, search engines, etc – get more money advertising for paid services than free ones, so that is what they have continued to promote and will continue to promote. Free sites win by being viral. Paid sites win by monetizing most effectively. They will always beat free sites at monetizing, so there will always be room in the ecosystem for both.
The sad thing as I constantly harp is that monetization isn’t aligned with quality of consumer experience. What can we do about it?