ARIZONA REPUBLIC – Feb 13 – Sites are more and more tailored, to the point where it's possible to look for matches among cancer survivors and people who like the same car makes. Online-dating sites are growing. Match.com reported 1.8M subscribers during the Q4, an increase of 30% YOY. eHarmony.com claims 33M+ registered users in 192 countries. Online matchmaking has become one of the most profitable online industries. Revenue grew an average of 2.6% annually to $2 billion in 2010. There are ~13,800 companies engaged in online dating and matchmaking, and they hauled in $394M in profits in 2010, IBSWorld said. FULL ARTICLE @ ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Category: eHarmony
San Francisco Home To Online Dating
NBC BAY AREA – Feb 10 – When it comes to online dating, San Francisco is at the center of the action. “We have the most fans in San Francisco, as a percentage of the population, and probably our biggest penetration of any market,” says Sam Yagan from OK Cupid. Industry leaders Match.com and eHarmony maintain a high profile in Northern California as well, but the Bay Area is also home to the next generation of dating services, like DateBuzz and Skout. DateBuzz, which launched in December, positions itself as a place where busy young professionals can meet. Skout works on on smartphones with GPS to help people flirt with each other based on proximity. The advantage of this approach is that it is quicker – people can meet on impulse. FULL ARTICLE @ NBC BAY AREA
See all posts on OkCupid See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on eHarmony See all posts on DateBuzz
See all posts on Skout
Some eHarmony User Information Stolen
CNET NEWS – Feb 11 – eHarmony is advising some of its customers to change their passwords after being informed of a security breach. eHarmony said it had repaired the vulnerability and was notifying customers who may have been affected. Although the site did not reveal how many customers were affected, it did say it was less than 0.05%t of its user base of 33M users since its inception. The hacker from Argentina also reportedly approached eHarmony with an offer to sell his security services to the site to fix the flaw–an offer the dating site said it declined. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS
We Were Not Hacked, Said eHarmony
EHARMONY BLOG – Feb 10 -Some data was obtained without authorization from an ancillary informational site we operate, eHarmony Advice, which uses completely separate databases and web servers than eHarmony.com. From one eHarmony Advice database, the hacker obtained a file that included user names, email addresses and hashed passwords. User names and passwords are needed to gain access to the message boards on the eHarmony Advice site.
The full article was originally published at eHarmony blog, but is no longer available.
Social Media Sites May Be Ready For Romance
CNBC – Feb 8 - Dating has always been a “social” activity, but could social networks win over the dating crowd? “To some degree the answer is yes,” says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at the NPD Group. Social networking could solve many of the complaints of traditional dating sites he says. “It can be almost like a full time jon", says Cohen. “People need to weed through the potential matches and that’s a big investment of time.” Facebook could have an advantage over dating sites, because love can be found when you’re not even looking for it. And then there are the companies that are adding the love element. The Facebook app Are you Interested reportedly has ~13M users, which rivals the number of users for Match.com and eHarmony. This month Badoo.com announced that it has passed 100M users, mixing social networking and online dating. FULL ARTICLE @ CNBC
See all posts on Badoo See all posts on AreYouInterested
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Greg Waldorf Joins Accel As CEO-In-Residence
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 1 – Accel Partners is announcing today the addition of former eHarmony head CEO Greg Waldorf as CEO-in-residence. Waldorf spent eleven years at eHarmony and five as CEO before leaving the company a couple of weeks ago and landing at Accel as of today. As Accel CEO-in-residence, Waldorf will be succeeding LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and former Googler Singh Cassidy who went on to found Polyvore. When asked what his number one piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs is Waldorf said “pick your partners wisely.” FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH
eHarmony CEO Gregory Waldorf Resigns
BLOOMBERG – Jan 19 – Gregory Waldorf, who has run internet dating site eHarmony for nearly five years, will step down from his CEO position. eHarmony's president and COO, Greg Steiner, will assume the role of CEO on an interim basis while the board searches for a permanent CEO. “As eHarmony begins its second decade, the time is right for me to step down,” Waldorf said in the statement, without providing a specific reason for leaving. This leadership change may delay an IPO for eHarmony, which has been a constant consideration according to Waldorf. eHarmony is valued at about $600M according to SharePost Inc.
The full article was originally published at Bloomberg, but is no longer available.
eHarmony Selects Omnicom’s OMD For Media Efforts
ADWEEK – Jan 17 – eHarmony has chosen to replace incumbent, Ocean Media, with OMD to handle its media chores. The transition will take place over the next 90 days. The 10 year old matchmaking company spends approximately $90 million a year on advertising according to ad tracker Kantar Media. Neither eHarmony, nor OMD would comment on the deal. eHarmony is estimated to have generated $250 million in revenue in 2009.
The full article was originally published at Adweek, but is no longer available.
Single Dads Have Little Value In Dating World
THE STAR – Jan 12 – ~ 70 % of childless Canadian women seeking love on eHarmony decline to be matched with men who have children. “Children add an extra layer of challenge to dating,” says Dr. Gian Gonzaga, senior director of research and development for eHarmony Labs. “The concern women have is that they can never be the only person in his life because there is a child who is going to take some of his attention.” eHarmony membership data shows 63% decline matches with single moms. FULL ARTICLE @ THE STAR
Mark Brooks: When singles with kids date, they need to fall in love with both the man/woman they're dating AND they're kids. Perhaps eHarmony should profile the kids as well. Its a package deal.
Match And eHarmony Go Head-to-head To Attract Consumer Love
MARKETING WEEK – Jan 11 – Match is promoting its ’Affinity’ service through a series of unscripted documentary-style TV advertisements. At the same time, eHarmony is running a TV, radio and print campaign promoting its “real UK success couples” and its UK country manager says the company is likely to trial a crowdsourced ad in its next TV promotion. Advertising of online dating sites has evolved, according to Match managing director Karl Gregory, changing from humorous ads trying to dismiss online dating taboos to more emotional marketing. The UK online dating industry is predicted to be worth 150m GBP annually by 2014, according to Mintel and currently harbours over 1,400 dating websites. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKETING WEEK