TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Mar 5 – Badoo is a social network that allows users to seek out new friends nearby. Ask its users, and they are more likely to tell you it’s a “hook-up site”. Like Grindr, the gay dating app, it uses location tracking systems in smartphones to enable customers to search for suitors close by. Badoo founder Andrey Andreev insists that the two services are miles apart. Badoo is more like a “telephone bar”, where he first hatched the idea, he says. In the telephone bar, customers are seated at numbered tables with telephones, which they use to ring up anyone else in the bar that attracts their attention. “There are more people that you don’t know than that you know,” Andreev says. “It is mainly about meeting new people for any type of adventure. According to Badoo, 12% of users have got into a serious relationship with someone they’ve met on the site, and 2% have subsequently got married. The app is free to use and there is no advertising, per se. Instead it makes its money from users effectively advertising themselves. A £1 payment will shoot them to the top of the site until the next user knocks them off – usually a couple of seconds – or they can pay to push their way up other users’ inboxes of messages by buying a virtual present. Its annual revenues now tip over $150m (£95m), and it has been in profit for the last two years. Andreev insists he has no intention of selling. “We are not sure about IPO, but never say never.
Category: Badoo
For The Best ROI, Try A Niche Dating Site
DAILY FINANCE – Feb 14 – Niche dating sites, a rapidly growing segment of the online matchmaking industry, are one way to go. Niche sites accounted for 23% of the online dating market in 2008, says Eric Resnick, director of strategy for Courtland Brooks, a marketing and consultancy firm to the online dating industry, and the owner of ProfileHelper.com, which helps people write online dating profiles. And they're up to 29% now, he says, quoting figures from Experian Hitwise. Dating experts say niche sites can better help daters zero in on what they are looking for. MarryMeAlready.com is geared toward folks in search of a permanent partner; OurTime.com (for people 50+); GreenSingles.com is for green-conscious people; Alikewise.com is for bookworms; and others. Then there sites such as Badoo or Twoo.com that are hybrid between an online dating site and a Facebookesque social network offers a free mobile app with new "interests" and "ice breaker" features.
by Barbara Thau
See full article at Daily Finance
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Badoo: Social Dating
NPR MARKETPLACE – Feb 10 – Social networks got popular and we got much more comfortable sharing our personal lives online so much that entrepreneurs are now latching onto our social networks to create social dating sites like Badoo.com. Broadcasting your private life is key to Badoo’s success. Sites like eHarmony spend millions of dollars on advertising to attract new users. Badoo doesn’t have to. Its users spread the word. Mark Brooks, a consultant to the online dating industry: "Yes they’re not paying so much to acquire users. In fact in many cases they’re not paying anything". The company says it’s on track to take in $150M a year.
Badoo: A Very Social Network
WSJ – Jan 24 – Badoo isn’t well known in the U.K. or U.S. but the service is big in France, Italy, Spain and Brazil and operates in 180 countries. Russian-born serial entrepreneur Andrey Andreev founded the service as a run-of-the-mill social network in 2006. Badoo, he says, is like a nightclub on your phone. The most popular age group is 25-34 years old, although one-third of users are over 35. This latter group spends the most money. It has 7 billion page views a month, and ~1 million users online at any time. The company is profitable and did one round of funding. $30 million from Finam for 10% of the company. It has 200+ employees.
How Badoo Got 130 Million People And $100M In Revenue
TECH CRUNCH – Dec 6 – Badoo has recently reached 130M registered users and now brings in $100M a year. Badoo would be the 4th biggest social network if it was just a social network. But Badoo adapts to the local needs of its international user base. In the UK it’s used for casual dating, in the Czech Republic it’s a marriage site, and in Indonesia burqa-clad women find self-expression on the site. While it can be tempting to gate some crucial features behind a pay wall, Badoo decided to make all of its core functionality free. While it was growing to a scale where it could support itself, Badoo took $30M in funding. Now it doesn’t need to take additional funding rounds. To reach its $100M in yearly revenues, though, Badoo lets users pay to be more visible and learn who they should try to start a conversation with.
Seeking Fun, No Privacy Attached
THE SUNDAY TIMES – Dec 4 – Users of Badoo.com can now check which of their friends have joined up using their email address. Facebook users are automatically informed which of their friends are on Badoo. The site also gives a visitor the option of checking their email contacts list to see which are Badoo members. In a 2009 study Joseph Bonneau and Soren Preibusch, researchers at Cambridge University, ranked Badoo worst for privacy out of 45 social websites, with a score of only 23%. MySpace scored marginally better with 28%, while Facebook and LinkedIn scored 53% and 70% respectively. Mark Brooks, a consultant specialising in online dating, said Badoo’s relaxed approach to privacy was a sign of the times: “One of the distinguishing features of dating sites has always been privacy. But there are advantages to people knowing who you are. The best way to meet people is through friends of friends — social dating — and that’s what Badoo is trying to emulate. This is the future. “Yes, it’s an erosion of privacy, but the younger demographic don’t care so much. Badoo is for people who are a bit less concerned about privacy.”
by Jonathan Leake
See full article at The Sunday Times (the article is behind paywall)
Badoo Has 130 Million Users
MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE – Nov 4 – Badoo claims to be the 4th largest social network in the world. Russian owned and London-based, Badoo is available in 35 languages in 180 countries on the web, and also as an iPhone, Android, Facebook and Blackberry app. Badoo has 130M members, up 62% compared to the last year.
by Tim Green
The full article was originally published at Mobile Entertainment Magazine, but is no longer available.
Badoo: No Dating Services for Now
by Desire Athow
See full article at ITPro Portal
Mark Brooks: Badoo used to be more defined as a dating site. They changed their position. Now they're a friends discovery site. Facebook is more about staying in touch with people you already know.
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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
The Secret Social Network Site Hooking up Millions Nearby
THE TIMES – Sep 5 - Badoo is a cross between a dating site and a social network, but is better known as the web's premier "hook-up service". It is most popular in Spain, other parts of Europe and throughout South America. Whereas social networks such as Facebook revolve around existing friends, Badoo concentrates on connections to strangers. Dating sites match people through their interests, but Badoo is mainly about proximity, as its app for smartphones reveals nearby users. The service is free to join and makes money through add-ons, or "superpowers" in the site's jargon.
by Murad Ahmed
See full article at The Australian
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
Badoo COO on Social Network Dating
STRATEGY EYE – Aug 19 - Badoo describes itself as a ‘meeting network’, enabling users to find, chat and flirt with each other online. Here, COO Bart Swanson talks competition in the social networking space.
Q: How do you stand out from other social networking sites?
A: We don’t believe there’s a social network out there that’s in the meeting network space. Dating sites are after people who are looking for serious relationships; Facebook is the place where you go to meet with your existing friends.
Q: What platforms are you available on?
A: We have our own platform. We have an app on Facebook. We’re also on mobile. iPhone, Android and a WAP site. iPhone is the biggest and we see 2M downloads.
Q: What is your business model?
A: Badoo is first and foremost a free service. We have two ways in which we monetize. By customers who pay for subscriptions, getting various added services such as advanced search. The other part is premium one-offs. For example, you can promote yourself. We have been profitable for the last 24 months.
Q: You’ve raised $30M in VC funding. Are you looking to raise more cash?
A: We’re trying to figure it out right now. The company does not need any cash for expansion.
Q: What do you think is the hottest trend in digital media right now?
A: Location-based services on mobile
by Sarah Vizard
The full article was originally published at Strategy Eye, but is no longer available.