Category: All UK & Europe

European Internet Dating Convention in Prague

Posted on September 27, 2005

Idate_2006_1Last Thursday and Friday I attended the European internet dating convention. Here are the pics. The conference was better attended than last year with 65 attendees and was more heavily attended by European dating companies. Last year half the attendees were American dating companies. Execs from U.S. notables Date.com, Match.com (UK based exec), and adult sites Sexsearch and Iwantu were present. Here’s a smattering of info for you from some of my favorite presentations:

Alex Burmaster is Jupiter Research’s new European online dating analyst
– Germans are most likely to be online daters
– British men are most willing to pay for online dating
– Pre-screening to provide matches is the most popular feature to help find love online

Jan Becker, CEO of German leader Friendscout24
– There are 11 million singles in Germany with 1 in 3 single in big cities
– 43% of European users on the web have used online dating (Statistisches Bundesamt 2005)
– Top sites are be2.de and Parship.de for high end ‘introductory type’ (personality profiling) services

Christian Vollman, CEO of iLove
– iLove had over 2 million uniques in May 2005 according to Nielsen Netratings
– iLove bills mainly via SMS billing
– Their mobile JAVA application has been downloaded 12,000 times so far

Nick Davis, Marketing Director for mobile enabler Mobestar
– Most European providers have recently launched 3G services. Japan is experimenting with 4G
– There are 10 million European 3G users with 18 million expected by 3/06

Eythor Arnaulds is VP at mobile enabler Enpocket
– ‘EDEN’ is Enpocket’s Dating Engine, receives 2 million hits per day, has 22 operators worldwide and powers Match on an exclusive basis in the U.S.
– Airtel in India has 700,000 paying mobile dating members averaging 600 messages per user!

Final Panel Session
– Match is now operating in 32 countries in 19 languages; most significant markets being U.S., Germany and France
– Parship.de is the German leader for personality profiling based services (personality profiling)
– Parship.de charges 179 Euros for 6 months!
– In Europe, the credit card does not rule. One service collects just 30% of it’s payments via credit card

Other notable presentations include
– Frederic Bien, Director of Flirt.com
– Richard Exon, Bus Dev Director for Bartle Bogle Hegarty gave an excellent presentation on TV advertising

Marc Lesnick, the internet dating conference organiser, ran a speed-networking session as an experiment on the second day.  We’ll see more speed-networking sessions at future events.  Socials in the first evening and a Prague penthouse party on Friday evening completed the event very nicely. 

The next iDate is the big one: See you in Miami Feb 1-2.

UK Dating Affiliate Program with a Difference

Posted on September 26, 2005

Love2flirt_1PR WEB — Sept 22 — Love2flirt UK Dating announces the launch of its affiliate program where affiliates are paid for every new user that signs up, whether they pay or not.  Love2flirt payout $0.45 or £0.25 for every new registration.  RELEASE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: This is a smart tactic for a new site clawing it's way to critical mass on a budget.  However, larger, more establised online dating sites convert better and can support the cost per paying customer model.   

Falling In Love Online

Posted on September 14, 2005

EMARKETER — Sept 15 — Intel's recent report on digital lifestyles in Europe found that in some countries, as many as 13% of those with computers have tried Internet dating. A report from Nielsen//NetRatings, "21st Century Dating: The Way It Is," found that one in every three Internet users in the UK would use the Web to meet a potential partner. Alex Burmaster, an analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings, says "Two of the leading online dating services in the UK have both attracted over half a million unique visitors in May and June 2005." Women are more likely to be looking for friendship or shared interests. Men are more likely to be looking for a long-term relationship, intimate relationship, short term relationship or marriage, although the men were also four times more likely to be looking for a no-strings fling than women. "Men choose their dates based on looks but women, on the other hand, put far more emphasis on personal characteristics and descriptions." Interestingly, even though 33% of respondents admitted to lying to some degree on their profile, men were more likely to use a photograph taken in the last 12 months and to tell the truth. Women, to quote the report, were "more likely to be creative with the truth."

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

A Speedy 60-Second Guide to Dating

Posted on August 23, 2005

WESTERN MAIL — Aug 20 — 15% of single people in Britain are looking for new ways to meet 'the one', and are using speed and internet dating.  Researchers at Ohio University say it takes just three minutes for most people to decide whether they were going to fall in love, remain friends, or never speak with a person again. Men spend almost 10 times as much buying drinks and meals for potential partners than women.

The full article was originally published at IC Wales, but is no longer available.

Website Unveils New Concept in Online/Offline Dating

Posted on August 19, 2005

ImpulsedatingREVOLUTION — Aug 16 — Impulsedating.com combines real-life encounters with online matchmaking. Users join the site, order impulsedating profile cards, and then give them to attractive strangers, who will be able to log on to the site and find out more about their suitor and get in touch if they are interested. After a month's free trial, the site costs £2.50 to subscribe to.

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

Mark Brooks: Interesting spin.

Mobile Flirting Without Frontiers

Posted on August 5, 2005

BERLIN — July 26 — "iLove Handyflirt" is the first software product that enables simultaneous real-time chatting between up to 9 people, with no need to pay for expensive text messaging. iLove customers can order "iLove Handyflirt" and test the advantages of iLove both online and on their mobile phones. Subscribers create their own profiles, update them as needed, and send their data to the iLove online server. Users can contact any iLove member who is online. Up to 25,000 at peak times. RELEASE @ ILOVE

YooMedia Launches Video Phone Dating Service

Posted on August 5, 2005

SHARECAST — Aug 4 — The Dateline 3G service, operated by YooMedia's Dateline subsidiary, will allow 3.2m subscribers to search for their ideal partner using the video capability on their mobile handset. Managing director Neil MacDonald said, "The mobile phone is the obvious device for people interested in dating to use and the video clips really make the experience work."

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

Mark Brooks: Well ahead of it's time, but video dating (or as webdate would like it to be known, webdating), is the future. Location based services and mobile phone 'webdating' is the next step.  Very exciting stuff.  Check out my recent interview on CBS on mobile phone dating.

Internet Now Third Most Popular Way to Get a Date

Posted on August 5, 2005

NET IMPERATIVE — Aug 3 — One in three Internet users say they would now use the Web to meet a potential date. Nielsen//Netratings questioned 3,400 people (58% men/42% women) and found that the Internet is now the joint third most popular method for getting a date. Finding a date at work was an equally popular method, while pubs/clubs and through friends were the most favoured methods overall, with 53% each. Online dating was also comfortably ahead of more traditional dating agencies, classified ads and speed dating events in terms of popularity. Alex Burmaster, European Internet analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings said: "Internet dating and personals websites are already attracting over three and a half million people per month in the UK, and our research shows it’s growing at an enormous rate – both DatingDirect.com and Match.com have almost doubled their audience in 12 months." 33% admitted to lying to some degree on their profile, with women more likely to do this than men.

Mark Brooks: Pretty much what you’d expect. Online dating will always take a comfortable back seat to (the preference for) real world introductions. In reality, as the science of personality profiling comes of age, it may well eventually overtake bars and clubs for the sheer volume of introductions. The future of online dating rests on the laurels of those pioneering the next generations of personality profiling and communications methods (i.e. webcam based dating).

Internet Now Third Most Popular Way to Get a Date

Posted on August 5, 2005

NET IMPERATIVE — Aug 3 — One in three Internet users say they would now use the Web to meet a potential date. Nielsen//Netratings questioned 3,400 people (58% men/42% women) and found that the Internet is now the joint third most popular method for getting a date. Finding a date at work was an equally popular method, while pubs/clubs and through friends were the most favoured methods overall, with 53% each. Online dating was also comfortably ahead of more traditional dating agencies, classified ads and speed dating events in terms of popularity. Alex Burmaster, European Internet analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings said: "Internet dating and personals websites are already attracting over three and a half million people per month in the UK, and our research shows it’s growing at an enormous rate – both DatingDirect.com and Match.com have almost doubled their audience in 12 months." 33% admitted to lying to some degree on their profile, with women more likely to do this than men.

Mark Brooks: Pretty much what you’d expect. Online dating will always take a comfortable back seat to (the preference for) real world introductions. In reality, as the science of personality profiling comes of age, it may well eventually overtake bars and clubs for the sheer volume of introductions. The future of online dating rests on the laurels of those pioneering the next generations of personality profiling and communications methods (i.e. webcam based dating).

Sky One launches Online Dating Service Through DatingDirect

Posted on August 5, 2005

SkyonedatingREVOLUTION — Aug 2 — Sky One signed a deal with DatingDirect.  Visitors to Sky One's website will be able to search for their perfect partner on the Sky-branded dating section using DatingDirect's database of 2.5m potential partners.  Sky One joins Daily Mail, ITV and Channel 4 in launching its own online branded dating proposition through DatingDirect.  "This is a great addition to our portfolio," Darren Richards, CEO and co-founder of DatingDirect, said.  Launched in 1999, DatingDirect now has more than 580,000 users, 140,000 more than its closest competitor, according to research by Nielsen/Net Ratings.

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

Mark Brooks: In the ever more competitive online dating space, these kinds of partnership deals are golden. Europe is still prime territory.  Fyi FriendFinder acquired Spring Street Networks recently.