Category: Courtland Brooks Press

Profile Wingman: Profile Editing & Coaching

Posted on July 19, 2013

Profile wingman logoOMAHA.COM – July 18 – Nanci Kavich and Marcia Kapustin give clients the right words to best market themselves online to prospective companions. Their startup, called Profile Wingman, offers a mix of editing and coaching. Mark Brooks, longtime industry analyst end editor of Online Personals Watch, said: "Daters need help. They don't really know what they want. And they don't really describe themselves very well.”

by Erin Grace
The full article was originally published at Omaha.com, but is no longer available.

Harmonic Convergence At Home

Posted on July 17, 2013

Tastebudsfm logoTHE DEAL – July 16 – Londoners Julian Keenaghan and Alex Parish met in a band, got into Web development and started Tastebuds in 2010. Tastebuds is a music-oriented dating site, where individuals connect through rankings of up to eight favorite bands or artists. The site has ~100K users in 100 countries, although it has yet to launch officially in the U.S. Tastebuds Media raised $600K. "This is loosely in-between social networks and Internet dating," explains Mark Brooks, who runs Online Personals Watch. Of all shared interests, music is one of the most defining. "If you're interested in Anthrax, that suggests a whole batch of characteristics or lifestyle," Brooks says. Brooks estimates the market worldwide is ~$4 billion. Match.com boasts ~25% market share in the United States followed by Zoosk ($40M revenue) and eHarmony ($250M rev.) Movies give music a run for its money. "Film is very similar to music, and hard-core movie fans compare to hard-core music fans," said Dana Loberg, co-founder of MovieLaLa.com, a social discovery site centered on the movies. MovieLaLa.com's revenue model is based on generating data that, Loberg believes, studios will pay for. That data will enable distributors to market movies more effectively.

by Matt Miller
See full article at The Deal

See all posts on Tastebuds.fm

FriendFinder’s Forbearance Continues

Posted on July 11, 2013

Ffn logoTHE DEAL – June 24 – FriendFinder Networks Inc. has received a third extension on its forbearance agreement with its lenders, and probably not the last one. The extension now is July 1. FriendFinder needs a good solution to shrink its hefty $455M debt burden. It has a debt-to-assets ratio of 110.8%. When industry analyst and consultant Mark Brooks visited FriendFinder's headquarters earlier this month, he found that "FriendFinder was business as usual, and the talk was of business expansion. I've seen many idating offices over the years," Brooks said. "I got a good sense of good morale at FriendFinder."

by Lisa Allen
The full article was originally published at The Deal, but is no longer available.

See all posts on FriendFinder

Online Dating: Proceed With Caution

Posted on July 9, 2013

Online dating flowers from screenCONSUMERSDIGEST – July 8 – Carole Markin went on a date with a man whom she had met on Match.com. She was raped. Later she found that the man had a history of violence. Match.com now screens its users against the National Sex Offender registry databases and started to do so after Markin sought a court order that required the company to screen. According to FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 4,467 people reported being the victim of such crimes in 2012. That’s down from 5,663 in 2011. Niche dating sites market themselves by claiming that they have created a safer microcommunity of people. However, they aren’t immune to the fake profiles. Experts say online dating services are pockmarked with abandoned, inactive or fake profiles. Mark Brooks, an online-dating-industry analyst, estimates that ~10% of profiles are fake on some dating sites. Brooks warns that users shouldn’t believe that just because they paid a membership fee that they are buying a seal of approval on a potential mate. He says consumers pay for the cultivation of a community and access to knowing which people in a specific area are “single, available and motivated.” He tells us that automated software has made it easy to start an online dating service and that a lot of unmanned services exist. Conducting a background check is an imperfect solution because the databases are incomplete. “We don’t want to give a false sense of security to anyone,” says Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match.com. “Match.com is no different than society. If you go out to a bar and meet someone that you don’t know, you should be careful.”

by Dianna Dilworth
See full article at Consumer's Digest

See all posts on Match.com

FriendFinder Needs A Loving Embrace

Posted on May 7, 2013

Ffn logoTHE DEAL – May 7 – FriendFinder has ~$455M in debt outstanding. The company obtained forbearance agreements with the majority of its lenders. Those agreements were extended from their original February deadline through May 6, and so far, FriendFinder is mum on its next step. Mark Brooks, who runs Courtland Brooks, has a solution in mind. "FriendFinder is a good company with bad debt," Brooks said. "At some stage, patience will run out, and the lenders will have to take that company over and run it themselves. I'd love to see Conru more involved. I'd love to see him back at the helm," Brooks said. "He runs a tight ship." Brooks praised Conru's combination of innovation and focus. AdultFriendFinder.com faces stiff competition from Global Personals's Fling.com, and SexSearch.com. "It's really a two-horse race at this point," Brooks said about AdultFriendFinder and Fling. "But SexSearch is going in for the kill." Looking at the usage charts for these websites, Brooks remarked, "It looks like Fling.com is eating FriendFinder's lunch," crediting a new CEO who has done great things for Fling's business. Fling's unique views spiked to 8.2 M in April from 3.3M in January. AdultFriendFinder's views cratered to ~6M in April from 9.2M in January. SexSearch.com's numbers, meanwhile, have jumped to 2.3M in April from 146,841 daily unique views in January. Brooks believes online dating sites should be expanding their mobile offerings, since more users are now accessing dating sites from their mobile phones.

by Lisa Allen
See full article at The Deal (the article is under subscription now)

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Broaden Your Scope

Posted on April 27, 2013

Anastasiadate logo nov 12MENSHEALTH – Apr 25 – International online dating, has been gaining popularity in the past 5 years, according to AnastasiaDate, which has seen a 57% member increase during that time. While the average online dater likes to travel less than 20 miles, the international dater typically treks 2,000, says Mark Brooks, AnastasiaDate’s Chief Strategy Officer. And that opens the door to new women, new experiences, and a new mindset. But while traveling the world and meeting gorgeous girls sounds like paradise, it’s not quite a reality, unless you have tons of cash, and a super-flexible job. A 2011 study found that, on average, New Yorkers stay within a 4-mile radius every day, while people in Los Angeles are tied to a 5.5-mile range. "Even if you stick to your city, you’ll meet new people in different neighborhoods with different routines than you", says Michael Cunningham, PhD, a professor at the University of Lousiville.

by Cassie Shortsleeve
See full article at MensHealth

See all posts at AnastasiaDate

International Online Dating – Questions Answered By Mark Brooks

Posted on April 26, 2013

Mark Brooks2THE PRIVATE MAN – Apr 22 - Mark Brooks is both an online dating industry expert as well as the chief strategy officer for AnastasiaDate.

Q: Define international online dating, and differentiate it from the “mail-order bride” concept. 
A: The term “mail-order bride” is quite derogatory to women and doesn’t reflect our brand intentions properly at all. We are not in the mail-order bride business. Many users of AnastasiaDate want to meet for love and for serious relationships.

Q: What are some of the demographics of those who choose to use international online dating? 
A: 65% of AnastasiaDate's women are in their 20s or 30s. The average age of the men is 41. 

Q: Are women in the Anglosphere (U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand) also deciding to use international online dating?
A: Yes, we’re seeing the growth of international online dating here.

Q: What are the top 10 international online dating websites?
A: Here are rankings from Experian/Hitwise:

  1. AnastasiaDate – 16.00% marketshare
  2. Chnlove – 11.38%
  3. AmoLatina – 9.81%
  4. LatinAmericanCupid – 8.99%
  5. CharmingDate – 8.05%
  6. iDateAsia – 4.87%
  7. Dream-Marriage – 4.09%
  8. ForeignLadies – 3.79%
  9. AForeignAffair – 3.74%
  10. CherryBlossoms – 3.26%

AnastasiaDate saw traffic rise 220% over last year.

Q: What motivates men/women to select international online dating over local online dating?
A: People are looking for love and relationships that are different. Men who date internationally tend to be more technologically advanced.

Q: Have you seen resistance to international online dating?
A: It’s been a controversial subject in the past, but I believe by 2020, it will be a more mainstream topic.

Q: How has the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) impacted international online dating?
A: IMBRA set out necessary regulations that do aim to protect women from abuse, and I believe the regulations are keeping people safe.

Q: Do you envision any further U.S. regulation on international online dating?
A: To me, IMBRA covers good ground, and self-regulation also makes sense, of course.

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

See all posts at AnastasiaDate

The Mail Order Bride Boom

Posted on April 9, 2013

FORTUNE MAGAZINE – Apr 9 –

AnastasiaDate.com is a "premium international dating" service for singles looking for love abroad. Premium international dating is a new name for what's traditionally referred to as the mail-order bride business. The company made $110M in 2012. In 2013, it projects it will make $140M. The site's traffic grew 220% in 2012. It now has 4M users. According to Experian, the top 10 premium international dating sites drew 12M visits in March, 29% increase YOY. "People are realizing that there's a bigger world than Match.com," says Chief Strategy Officer Mark Brooks. The company will have to overcome the deep stigma. The practice conjures images of women desperate to marry out of failing economies; and of unappealing American men looking for a traditional mate to keep the house clean. Brooks sees international dating today as being on the cusp of respectability — in much the same way online dating was in its early stages. AnastasiaDate.com is also trying to clean up its act. "We are very, very sensitive to reputation now", says Brooks. The company is planning a crackdown on its local partner agencies who pay women to interact on the site. The site's most active users are American men 35-60 years old, making ~$100K. To interact on the site, they can buy credits. IM chatting costs one credit/minute. There can also be real safety risks for women. A pair of high-profile murders of foreign brides prompted the enactment of federal legislation in 2005 to protect women brought to the U.S. via The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act. "The industry has grown to appreciate it," he says. "It was designed to provide a very high level of comfort and safety to female members of international dating sites, which is, of course, of utmost importance to us."

by Anne VanderMey
The full article was originally published at Fortune Magazine, but is no longer available.

See all posts at AnastasiaDate

Why Match.com Is Taking Part Of Its Business Off-Line With ‘The Stir’

Posted on February 17, 2013

Match.com logo dalsiMINYANVILLE – Feb 14 – In May, Match.com launched "The Stir" — a program of local dating events that bring together Match members for activities like cooking classes, bowling nights, and happy hours. Match.com is bringing in about 24% of Q4 revenue from 2.8M paid subscribers. Match members who pay for the service get an invitation to a Stir event, and they are allowed to bring up to five people as guests. In January, Match threw ~400 events in 80 different cities. In 2012, the company held ~1,600 events with ~150K attendees. Mark Brooks, an online dating consultant based in Europe who covers global businesses, says there’s no question that Match has to do events. “Where else can they grow? There’s really two distinct kinds of singles: those that go out to meet people, and those that like to idate.” Right now, The Stir’s only significant cost is hiring a facilitator to check people in at the event. “This is not adding anything much to their bottom line that’s measurable,” Brooks said. “What it’s doing is reinforcing the brand and getting people to talk. But to truly get people to embrace the events, they have to be a success – bad events could be deadly for the brand, Brooks said. If they walk away from those events thinking, ‘Oh God, I didn’t see anybody I was remotely interested in,’ then Match has failed.” One way Match can control the dating event is by having an active host. If Match’s event strategy doesn’t succeed, it could be undermined by companies like HowAboutWe. “What’s incredible about HowAboutWe is that they’re helping people define themselves by what they’re interested in doing,” Brooks said. “The problem with the dating industry is people don’t know how to write about what they’re looking for until they meet that right person. I bet 80% of people on HowAboutWe have tried Match.com,” Brooks said.

by Anika Anand
See full article at Minyanville

See all posts on Match.com 
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With Apps Dating Got Easier

Posted on February 15, 2013

Spark irish dating siteIRISH TIMES – Feb 14 – Companies such as AnotherFriend, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and Spark each boast millions of messages, chats and other measures of mobile dating success. “The dating industry is moving massively towards mobile technology, with a huge percentage of users going mobile and using apps,” according to internet dating analyst Mark Brooks. Brooks says location-based mobile technology has had to broaden its scope though, to provide the vicinity as opposed to the exact location of users. “Women didn’t want to give away their exact location and GPS technologies were able to do that, showing where a person was within three metres. Now the more successful mobile dating apps provide vicinity-based services using GPS.” Brooks believes the next step in mobile dating is for the app to ask users how the date went. AnotherFriend.com, a dating site which acquired Maybefriends.com last year, has ~90K active users in any three-month period. ~20% of the site’s users log on from their smartphones, with traffic to the dating site’s app peaking at commuting times. Brian O’Neill, founder of Irish dating site Spark, says: “Some 25%of our 15K users now access the site via their smartphone.” POF has also seen massive growth in terms of apps, with 50% of the site’s Irish users now using the iPhone and android apps on a regular basis – a 250% increase in usage of the site’s mobile apps since 2011.

by Pamela Newenham
See full article at Irish Times

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