ECONOMIST – Jan 28 – After Donald Trump was elected president, Maple Match, a dating app which connects Canadians and Americans, was inundated with people signing up. TrumpSingles.com is the opposite. It connects Trump's supporters. The site increased its monthly fee from $4.95 to $19.95 in December following Trump's victory. It enjoyed a bump in users even after the price increase. Match.com, Bumble and Tinder cater for everyone. That has left lots of room for "niche" providers. Making money is difficult, however. It is hard for new businesses to charge subscription fees while building brand awareness. "To be successful, niche dating sites need critical mass and a mobile platform," says Mark Brooks of Courtland Brooks, an online-dating consultant.
Category: Courtland Brooks Press
For Online Dating Sites, A Bumpy Road To Love
NY TIMES – Dec 24 – JDate was created in 1997; ChristianMingle was added in 2001. Spark Networks, the parent company, eventually grew to ~30 dating sites, but the crown jewel has always been JDate. Since 2011, Spark Networks has been led by a rotating array of chief executives — four over five years. According to Spark Networks' 2015 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the number of paid subscribers to its Jewish networks declined to ~65k last year from 85k in 2012. Its total for all networks dropped by ~55k people, to under 204k. Some of the decline could reflect Spark's management turnover, but it is also indicative of the challenges facing the online dating industry. "It's never been cheaper to start a dating site and never been more expensive to grow one," said Mark Brooks, a consultant for the Internet dating industry who also runs Online Personals Watch. Part of the problem, he said, is that 70% of Internet dating in the US is now on mobile. "It used to be 10% of those who registered converted to paid," Mr. Brooks said. "Now it's more like 2 to 3%." Some also see a move toward ever more niche sites like MouseMingle.com (Disney lovers) and GlutenFreeSingles.com. Spark Networks already offers niche products, but Lisa McLafferty, Spark's new chief revenue officer, says its aim is now to "refresh the brand."
by Alina Tugend
See full article at NY Times
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Hundreds Of Dating Services Are Helping New Yorkers Find A Date
Match.com’s Profits Down As Britons Turn To Free Dating Apps
THE GUARDIAN – Oct 29 - Match.com operating profits plunged by 80% to £1.6M in the year to 31 December. Turnover was also down more than 10% at £38.2M as apps such as Tinder changed the nature of online dating. "The industry is in a bit of a crusher," said Mark Brooks, analyst at consultancy Courtland Brooks. "The mobile medium has come of age and over 70% of Internet daters in the UK are just using their smartphones. It's an amazing transition that has truly roiled the dating industry. If Match is suffering, their competitors are suffering more."
"Smartphone growth is an opportunity more than a challenge," continues Brooks. "Laggard dating companies that have not created compelling mobile experiences are dying. Most old school incumbents have stumbled in this respect." Research firm Mintel predicts that despite the current upheaval the UK online dating industry will grow from £165M to £225M by 2019.
by Zoe Wood & Sarah Butler
See full article at The Guardian
The League Brings Invite-only Dating App To Chicago
KCBS Radio Interview With Mark Brooks
So, how old is older?
Actually the fastest growth groups are the 25-34 and 55-64. Both groups have more than doubled over the last year or so in terms of usage on mobile dating apps.
Are there are enough older folks on there to make it worth their while?
Well, there are a lot more 25-34, but the 55+ range is the fastest growing segment.
Why do you think this is?
People are using their mobile devices more in that age group, so there is a natural progression of people warming up to the idea of meeting more friends and romantic partners.
I can see older folks going online to try and find dates, but isn't Tinder mostly known for being a hookup site?
They will graduate from this eventually, but it's very simplistic. Tinder became very successful, because it is very simple and came at just as the industry was staring to make things more complicated.
The other end of the market is more meaningful oriented dating, with eHarmony and POF positioning themselves as more serious. People will tend to want to have more meaningful relationships. There is a saying that, "men will lie about wanting a long term relationship, while women will lie about wanting a short term one," so it will really be up to the women to decide if they want to continue to use Tinder, or if they will they drive usage to the more sophisticated services.
Is it more men joining Tinder than women in the older category?
The older category runs more toward women in general. Once we get into the 50+ range, the guys tend to hide more for some reason. In the younger range we tend to see more guys, while the older range is less active.
What do you think the future will be of dating?
I don't think people want to put the time into creating a profile or answering 200 questions. They want to have it be fairly effortless. So, as I look further into the future, I think computers and all these apps we're putting little pieces of ourselves into, that we are allowing to get to know us better, they should feed into a central character profiler. Look at systems like Acxiom, which is a huge marketing database that has a lot of information gathered over the years about individuals, and companies likes Google that have also positioned themselves to know us very well. Ultimately, I think single people will demand more because they don't want to fall in love with the wrong person. So, the value will be there for them to work with the leading dating services and give them more information that will help them do better with compatibility profiling.
Dating Apps Court Older, Wealthier Users
by Georgia Wells
See full article at Wall Street Journal
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Hinge Abandons Tinder Model
MASHABLE – Oct 11 – On Tuesday, Hinge relaunched from a free swiping app into a members-only app for $7/month. In addition to charging a fee — which CEO McLeod said helps users consider the app to be more of a commitment — Hinge has been completely redesigned. Mark Brooks, an online dating app consultant, said that Hinge’s team was smart to no longer compete with Tinder and other free apps. “There’s not much point in being a copycat. They need to be known for something, or they will end up not being known for anything,” Brooks said. “Going serious and paid is a bold move, and a good move. They won’t see as high traffic as Tinder, but I think they will see revenues, and users interested in meaningful relationships.”
Radio Interview With eHarmony CEO Grant Langston And Mark Brooks, CEO Of Courtland Brooks
Quentin: Last week Neil Clark Warren, the founder and CEO of eHarmony, retired. Grant Langston has taken over as CEO. Grant, I did an interview with you on MarketWatch – "Why eHarmony will never be like Tinder or Grindr". I know you have had a casual dating site before, called Jazzed, that did not really do great and your customer base got confused. Can you tell us about what market you are after in the online dating world?
Grant: We have been in this business for a long time and we have made a commitment to help create compatible long term relationships. It's a little bit of a disconnect to turn around and tell your constituency that we are now also facilitating very casual hookups. That is something that people pass judgments about. We learned the hard way. People that used our core business started to get confused about who we were and what our mission was.
Quentin: So when you started, were you a religious site? What was the ethos?
Grant: Dr. Warren was a psychologist for about 40 years. Towards the end of his career he started to write books about mate selection. Those books were published primarily by religious publication houses. So his audience was largely in the Christian world. When eHarmony started that was the natural constituency for the business because he had made a lot of appearances on Christian radios and had a name in that universe.
Quentin: Mark, how much do you put in all of the science and the secret sauce behind these sites?
Mark: I often get asked why use a dating site. People use dating sites because they help you get the tough questions out of the way right up front. So I really see the sites that are more focused on compatibility as being an extension of this. You are meeting people who are not only willing and able and committed enough to spend some money on the process, which says something, but you are meeting people who are willing to go through a number of questions and be a little bit more involved in the process.
Quentin: Do you think certain types of people are attracted to certain sites?
Mark: Absolutely. For example VeggieDate.com. For some people, being a vegetarian is a big part of their life. That's what they want to lead with. So I think you choose a site based on what your thing is. The thing people go to eHarmony for is more meaningful, more serious relationships.
Quentin: With sites like eHarmony, people do pay. They are showing commitment. With Tinder and also OKCupid you are matched with people and you message them but nobody ever has time to actually meet in real life.
Catey: I always thought of Tinder as a hookup site but more younger people are now finding relationships on that site.
Quentin: What do you think, Mark?
Mark: I think the bigger they get the more general their audience will be and the more range of use the service will have. The entire experience is simplified which is really the secret sauce. They went entirely to be the emotional hub of the brain. They are pure system one (Book: Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman), pure emotion. It's entertainment, a game, very sharable which also led a great deal to their success. It is moving in the opposite direction than I thought the industry would move in.
Quentin: Grant, you mentioned you were making some changes.
Grant: The bar changes all the time. One of the things that we failed to do is to keep our apps as easy as possible to use. We are always going to be more involved because we need to know more about you to do the kind of matching that we want to do. But the process that we have could use a lot of improvement. It just needs to be a lot easier to interact with it. That is my first priority in this new role.
Quentin: Mark do you think the premium sites are worth the money? $59.95… that is 6x more than your Netflix subscription.
Mark: I think it demonstrates commitment to the process. Somebody once asked me many years ago: "How much would I spend to meet a woman that I would spend the rest of my life with?" And I remember answering: "To me that's $100k? That's the most important decision I will ever make." And he said: "My club is $1k/year, and I'll give you a shot." I said: "Cool, that sounds like a decent deal". Matchmakers are charging $5k – $50k for their services, and they've done OK despite the rise of Internet dating. eHarmony is essentially bottling matchmakers' key services. But it's far more scientific. eHarmony is running rings around most matchmakers.
Quentin: eHarmony launched a matchmaking service for $5k some time ago. I think that actually implies you want to meet somebody who has the money to spend on that kind of site.
Mark: I think people will pay to not be surprised.
Catey: I think Quentin would pay for that :).
Quentin: I have had more surprises than anybody. If I could pay for a premium service where nobody fibs, I would do.
by Catey Hill & Quentin Fottrell
Listen to the interview at MarketWatch
OPW Keeps It Short And Sweet For You
DATING ADVICE – June 7 – The dating industry moves so fast these days, it can be hard to keep up. Online Personals Watch makes it easier by bringing concise and quick headlines to busy Internet dating professionals. Since 2004, Online Personals Watch has served as a go-to news resource for people making an impact in the dating industry. An expert on the business side of online dating, Mark Brooks and his wife, Irena, summarize important news stories and interview CEOs and luminaries to provide a complete daily reference of the business of love. Mark has over 15 years experience working for dating websites and apps. While Irena runs OPW, Mark runs a boutique consultancy for Internet dating companies. His clients have included PlentyofFish, Meetme, Dating Factory, and Global Personals. He's also keynoted at the industry's leading Internet Dating Conference every year since 2005. Currently he's getting his master's degree in behavioral science at the London School of Economics. He's excited to help guide the industry to achieve its true potential.