Category: All Worldwide (non UK/Euro/US)

The Brimming Melting Pot

Posted on August 4, 2006

IndiaNEW DELHI — July 7 — ~21.4 million Indians use the net once a month or more, up ~21% over 2005. Add in occasional users and the total comes to ~25 million urban Indian internet users. Assuming some marginal usage in the rural areas as well, the all India penetration should be ~2.25%. 46% of regular net users access the net (non-exclusively) from a cyber café.  53% are accessing it from offices and 40% from homes. 

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

Mark Brooks: China and India are burgeoning markets for online personals…with some significant and unique challenges. Modes of payment are right at the top of the list of challenges. Mobile phones are a preferred method. Both Shaadi and Bharat Matrimonial have opened offices which provides a means to more easily accept cash payments…along with more personalized service. The lessons they learn from these real world services could be very valuable in developing new concepts for matchmaking/personals services in the USA and Europe. Yahoo has interests in both Shaadi and Bharat Matrimonial now. Match, your move. 

Yahoo Hitches Indian Wedding

Posted on August 2, 2006

BharatlogoRED HERRING — Aug 2 — Yahoo and Canaan Partners have invested $8.6 million in Bharat Matrimony, a leading Indian personals site. Canaan led the round, which was the first outside funding for Bharat Matrimony, a nine-year-old company whose matrimonial service focuses on serious relationships rather than dating. This is Yahoo's first investment in India other than in its own development center in Bangalore. Bharat Matrimony claims to have facilitated more than 500,000 marriages, including that of CEO Murugavel Janakiraman. "We will use the funds for expansion as we target the Indian diaspora in the U.K. and Southeast Asian countries," said Mr. Janakiraman. It charges $10 to $15 per month for its services and provides 40 physical stores for customers without Internet access. It also runs jobs, real estate, autos, and general classifieds sites, and will put the new funding toward developing these verticals as well as opening hundreds of stores. In March, Sequoia Capital India, then called WestBridge Capital, invested $8 million in People Interactive, which runs a matrimony portal, Shaadi.com. As of Tuesday night, Yahoo India Matrimony was still syndicating personals from Shaadi.com, even though it's a close competitor of Bharat Matrimony.

Mark Brooks: I'm most interested to see how Bharat's roll out of more physical locations in India goes. Singles will pay more to get more services. Great Expectations, The Right One/Together Dating, Table for Six and It's Just Lunch lead the way in high end service oriented matchmaking/dating services for the masses. However, they still only reach a small portion of the potential market that online dating sites are captivating. Online services fall short for service. Singles don't want online dating. They just want to date suitable, potential suitors. A sizable portion of the online dating market want a little more handholding, more service, and will pay for it if it leads to more (good) dates. I don't think they will pay $3000+ a year, en masse. I do think they will pay $500-$1000 a year. That price base would support some phone based assistance and matchmaking. Let's see what happens this year, with Yahoo learning from Bharat.

Hackers Steal Russian Dating Site Database

Posted on July 3, 2006

I just came across this news piece from January….

MambaMOSNEWS.COM — Jan 25 — A database containing on-line correspondence of at least two million users of Russia's biggest dating service Mamba.ru was been stolen by hackers and is on sale, local media reported. Spam message advertising states that politicians, businessmen, pop stars and famous sportsmen can be found among its users. The sellers claim all the site's intimate letters can be found on the DVD they offer.

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

Chinese Online Dating Valued at US $4.5m

Posted on June 27, 2006

Chineselovelinks_r12_c20CHINA DAILY — June 26 — iResearch valued the Chinese online dating market at 37 million yuan (US$4.5 million) for 2004 and 91 million yuan (US$11.2 million) for 2005, and predicts it will grow to 653 million yuan (US$80.5 million) in 2008. 117 boys are being born in China for every 100 girls, far beyond the normal ratio of 104-107 to 100. For Marc Lesnick (of idate2006.com), the statistic means Chinese Internet dating will grow even more. One of the delegates most captivated by the two-day conference was Mark Brooks, a US-based online dating industry analyst and editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com.  "I know the American market very well, and the European market somewhat, but the Asian market was a mystery to me," he said. "The US market is coming to a point of maturity now, whereas the situation in China now is how it was in the USA a few years ago. People are starting to trust it more, and seeing that it is a secure vehicle for finding the ideal match." FULL ARTICLE @ CHINA DAILY

Dating Game Pakistani Style: Spouses, Not Dates

Posted on June 8, 2006

SahdiparYAHOO NEWS – June 7 — Shaadi uses a combination of prime-time TV and the Internet to shake up a conservative Muslim culture in which family networks usually decide who weds whom. Regular dating is rare in Pakistan. A prospective bride often endures scrutiny by many suitors before finding a husband.  Each weekly program showcases two men and one woman, introduced in a prerecorded video presentation showing their family, friends and work life. Once on the set, they are gently questioned by the hosts on their preferences for a mate. That information is fed into a computer database of 100,000 singles. They are presented with a list of possible matches to choose from, and, on the show, they phone the ones that most catch their eye, while viewers listen in.

Mark Brooks: A network of sites is offered in 15 Indian languages by Bharat Matrimony, the leader in Southern India.

Social Networking Websites Target NZ Teens in Turf Battle

Posted on June 6, 2006

Bebo_3STUFF — June 4 — Bebo.com is beating MySpace hands-down in New Zealand and giving it a run for its money in Britain. Other popular teen sites include WeeWorld.com, Friendster.com, Tagged.com, Xanga.com and Orkut.com. Oldfriends.co.nz ranked at 8th position. Benchmark Capital just put $US15 million ($NZ24 million) into Bebo. Product placements on social networking sites which was too brash or uncool could risk destroying a community. The problem of getting younger teenagers to pay for online content – where they did not have access to parents’ credit cards – can be solved by rolling out pre-paid credit cards.

13% of Australians Social Networkers

Posted on May 26, 2006

AustraliaAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL — May 25 — A telephone survey of 1013 Australian adults revealed 78% had used the internet, 13% to form online social relationships. Those forming online relationships tended to be students, young, single, comfortable with new technology.

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

Yonja? Who?

Posted on May 25, 2006

YonjaOPW — May 25 — The world of social networking extends far beyond Myspace and Friendster. Case in point, Yonja, Turkey's leading social network, and Grono the leader in Poland, Yeeyoo, hot in China, Cyworld, South Korea's titan. Check out the Handy Little Lists on the left bar of OPW for more Popular Social Networks.

…Some more info on Yonja: Offices in San Francisco and Istanbul, launched Jan 2004, 2.2 million members, #2 most trafficked Turkish Website, ~600 million page views a month, 670,000 unique logins in last 30 days, profitable.  The Turkish market is the youngest and fastest growing population in Europe with more people between the ages of 7-14 than all EU countries combined. – Mark Brooks

Money-Making Woes for Chinese Dating Sites

Posted on May 25, 2006

China_1IOL — May 24 — "How to make money is the problem for every Internet dating company in China," said Zhang Kuan, president of dating site Jiaoyou. Chinese men are increasingly moving from their home towns to large cities where they have a limited social network to find a mate, according to Jason Tian, CEO Baihe.  iResearch estimates the Chinese online dating market could reach $82-million (about R543-million) in 2008. The potential will hinge partly on a migration away from a free business model. "High quality services cannot be free," said Dr Song Li, CEO of SinoFriends. The solution, according to eFriendsNet.com (Yeeyoo.com) CEO, Marine Ma, is to blend social networking and Internet dating services. eFriendsNet (5 million users, $3m irevenue in 2005) charges a subscription fee for enhanced services such as the ability to chat with a potential date by mobile phone using a secure connection that protects both parties' identity.

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

Mark Brooks: Dr Li encouraged the Chinese dating industry to start charging for their services at the Asian internet dating convention. 

China’s Online Dating Market to Hit 653m Yuan in 2008

Posted on May 23, 2006

Chineselovelinks_r12_c20XINHUA — May 20 — China’s online dating market is expected to reach 653 million yuan (about $81 million) by 2008, with an annual growth rate of 60%, according to a recent iResearch report. The report values the online dating market at 37 million yuan (~$4.5 million) for 2004 and 91 million yuan ($11.2 million) for 2005. The US market was $520 million for 2005, and the European market, $110 million. There are more men than women in China’s 1.3-billion population. Baihe claims to be China’s largest dating site and received $11 million dollars of investment after attracting more than 5 million users in 2005.

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