March 2015 – Page 7 – Online Personals Watch

Jiayuan’s Q4 2014 Financial Results – Revenue Up 30%, Net Income $3.1M

Posted on March 6, 2015

PR NEWSWIRE – Mar 5 – Jiayuan's Q4 revenue was RMB172.8M ($27.9M), a YOY increase of 29.9%. Q4 net income was RMB19.2M ($3.1M), compared to RMB25M in Q4 2013. Net revenues for full year 2014 were $99M, a year-over-year increase of 24.6%. Net income for full year 2014 was $3.2M. Online services contributed 61% of net revenues. Personalized matchmaking services contributed 34.7% of net revenues, events and others 4.3%.

See full article at MarketWatch

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Mark Brooks: Let me just repeat that number. 35% of net revenues are from Matchmaking. Now you know why Match bought 20% of Zhenai and then picked up Three Day Rule. They're experimenting with reaching the well-heeled and motivated with Three Day Rule. At the other end of the market they've captivated the easily distracted entry-level daters with Tinder. Do you feel the wagons circling?

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Luxy – Tinder Without The Poor People

Posted on March 6, 2015

CBS GLOBAL – Mar 5 – Luxy, a new dating app is requiring its users to have at least a six-figure salary. “It works a lot like Tinder, except this is Tinder minus the poor people,” said Darren Shuster, spokesperson for Luxy. In order to join, men must make at least $250K a year (which must be verified with tax records), and women have to be attractive.

by Cate Cauguiran
See full article at CBS Global

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Spark: A Dating App Designed To Be Used On The Tube

Posted on March 6, 2015

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Mar 5 – Spark is a new dating app that aims to connect people in places such as the Tube. It works both with and without an Internet connection. The app can cleverly function over Bluetooth. When users see someone attractive they open the app, find their profile and send them a Spark. The Tube crush will need to be signed up to the app too, so its usability ultimately depends on how many people create an account. The recipient will only receive the Spark once they have parted ways, saving any potential embarrassment. 4K users signed up before it launched last Sunday. That's still some way behind Tinder's estimated 50M users, but it's a positive start. Although the app was primarily designed with the Tube in mind, it has been rolled out across the UK and is already proving popular in Bristol and Manchester.

by Sarah Biddlecombe
See full article at Telegraph.co.uk

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Spark Networks Reports Q4 2014 – Net Income $3.9M

Posted on March 5, 2015

MARKETWIRED – Mar 5 – Q4 revenue was $14.3M, 17% decrease YOY which was primarily driven by a 22% decrease in average paying subscribers. Spark Networks cut marketing expenses 60%. Christian Networks accounted for the majority of the decrease, reflecting the Company's strategy to reduce and reallocate direct marketing investments in the segment. Q4 net income was $3.9M, up from a net loss of $3.5M. CEO Michael Egan stated, "We are now in the "walk" phase of our "crawl, walk, run" plan. Our "run" plan is to reinvigorate profitable subscriber growth by year end."

The full article was originally published at Spark.net, but is no longer available.

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Critics Challenge The ‘Science’ Behind Online Dating

Posted on March 5, 2015

SF CHRONICLE – Mar 4 – There is no evidence that dating sites do anything much more than increase the pool of potential partners", said Eli Finkel, a psychologist at Northwestern University who studies relationships. Or, as Stanford sociologist Michael Rosenfeld put it, “The algorithms for matching at dating sites are mostly smoke and mirrors.” eHarmony was founded by a clinical psychologist who felt most marriages that ended involved people whose personalities were too different. A research has found both similarity and complementarity have little impact on relationship quality at all. And people are terrible at figuring out what they actually want in the first place. Finkel and his colleagues also issued a challenge to dating sites: Submit their algorithms to clinical review. “No one was interested in working with us,” said Finkel.

by Kristen V. Brown
See full article at SF Chronicle

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Domains For Sale

Posted on March 5, 2015

OPW – Mar 5 – Here's a few more domains for sale at reasonable prices. Email wellrecognized@gmail.com to buy.

LargeChat.com – $300
NetSingles.org – $200
Albanysingle.com – $300
Dinnerchat.com – $300
Watchtalk.org $300
Dateglobe.com $300
CubaSingles.com $350
WestPalmSingles.com $350
NolaChat.com $350
GeniusChat.com $350
SeniorCitizenChat.com $350
InsiderChat.com $350
ExclusiveChat.com $350

See all domains & sites for sale

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The League’s Has Now 100,000 People On The Waitlist

Posted on March 5, 2015

BUSINESS INSIDER – Mar 4 - The League is a new, exclusive dating app that only lets in the "most interesting" singles. The only way to get in is by applying to a long waitlist that's approaching 100K people, or with a VIP pass from someone who's already a member. A League member or employee recently posted a listing on Craigslist, offering a VIP ticket for $100. The listing has been pulled by the company. The app raised $2.1M.

by Alyson Shontell
See full article at Business Insider

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Jiayuan.com’s Proposal Of “Going Private” And Departure Of Director

Posted on March 3, 2015

PR NEWSWIRE – Mar 3 – Jiayuan.com's Board of Directors has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter from Vast Profit Holdings Limited that proposes a "going-private" transaction involving the acquisition of all of the outstanding ordinary shares of the Company not already owned by Vast Profit at $3.58 per share. Vast Profit completed its acquisition of 8M ordinary shares of the Company from Aprilsky Ltd. on Mar 2, 2015. Ms. Gong resigned from her position as a director of the Company, effective immediately, and will no longer hold the position of Co-Chairman of the Board. Ms. Gong will continue to serve as a consultant to the Company.

See full article at MarketWatch

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

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Tinder Is Building Out Its Ad Product

Posted on March 3, 2015

RECODE.NET – Mar 3 – Tinder has also approached potential ad partners, including Facebook and Twitter. Twitter owns mobile ad network MoPub, and Facebook has multiple ad networks that Tinder could use. Brian Norgard, co-founder of messaging startup Tappy, which Tinder acquired in January, is now Tinder’s VP of Advertising Products. Norgard and Tinder co-founder Sean Rad worked together previously at Adly, a brand marketing company Rad founded in 2009. Rad is still CEO, but IAC is actively hunting for a replacement, at which point Rad will stay on as President. It is also possible those plans were pushed back.

by Kurt Wagner
See full article at Re/Code

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Tinder Plus Will Be More Expensive For People 28+

Posted on March 3, 2015

PINKNEWS.CO.UK – Mar 3 – According to the Evening Standard, Tinder Plus will cost £3.99 for users under the age of 28 and £14.99 if they are older. The company’s founder Sean Rad said: “These features aren’t something that everyone is going to want to use, and we don’t want everyone to use them.”

by Gaz Jeffries
See full article at PinkNews

See all posts on Tinder

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