Category: eHarmony

Dr. Warren’s Lonely Hearts Club

Posted on February 14, 2006

Eharmony_5BUSINESS WEEK — Feb 20 — EHarmony is now celebrating its sixth year.  Traffic rose 8% in December, to 1.3 million visitors, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.  Subscribers pay up to $59 a month for the service, which Warren claims resulted in 16,000 marriages last year.  eHarmony's has an $80 million annual advertising budget. The half-a-billion-dollar-a-year online dating industry has slowed to 6% annual growth from 70% a few years ago.  On Feb 6, he introduced a new online service designed to help married couples stay that way. EHarmony's "marriage wellness program" has a 310-question quiz designed to determine the relationship's strengths and weaknesses and 20-minute follow-up exercises, for $239 per couple. Plans include an IPO to provide funds for international expansion and the launch of new products such as counseling for parents. Warren is not a big believer in the idea that opposites attract (even if they do, he argues, they won't last). No one under 21 can join, because marriages between younger people are twice as likely to fail, he says. Nor will he allow people on his site who have been divorced more than three times. Warren won't match taller women with shorter men, because he believes that's a difference difficult to overcome in a relationship. And he won't fix up same-sex couples.

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

Online Dating Population Flat

Posted on February 13, 2006

Yahoo_personals_2RED HERRING — Feb 10 — JupiterResearch said, "it’s not clear where daters are looking for mates but it doesn’t seem online social networking communities pose a significant threat."  A mere 14% of online daters not subscribing to a service reported using social networking sites. Yahoo is the top dating site on the web, according to 19% of participants in a survey conducted by GMI Poll. Match.com comes in second, with 14%, followed by eHarmony.com, with 5%. Among the prospective daters, 42% report success when using the sites.

India’s Internet Population Explosion

RED HERRING — Feb 10 — The number of Indians getting online continues to swell, according to the Internet & Mobile Association of India. By the end of 2005, the number of Internet users in the country hit 38.5 million, up 54% from 25 million in 2004.

New CEO at eHarmony: A Sign of an Upcoming IPO?

Posted on February 10, 2006

Eharmony_4BUSINESS WEEK ONLINE — Jan 10 — eHarmony has a new CEO. Long-time CEO Greg Forgatch, married to a daughter of Dr. Neil Clark Warren has stepped down "to pursue other interests." This executive change marks the end of eHarmony operating like a family-run business and could mark the beginning of eHarmony as a public company.  The new CEO, Jaynie M. Studenmund has established relationships with various banks and has been a board member since August 2005.  Studenmund was the COO for Overture Services, now part of Yahoo!, and prior to that, president and COO of PayMyBills.com. 

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

eHarmony Names Jaynie Studenmund President and CEO
LA BUSINESS NEWS — Jan 11 — Studenmund brings 25 years of executive operating and marketing experience.  She has managed businesses ranging from $100 million to $1 billion in revenue. Earlier in her career, Studenmund was a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton and she holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College.  

The full article was originally published at Daily Business News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: eHarmony raised $110 million in VC money in 2004.

TrueDater Adds MySpace and eHarmony

Posted on February 10, 2006

TruedatercomBUSINESS WIRE — Feb. 8, 2006–TrueDater added MySpace, eHarmony, HotorNot, PlanetOut, and BlackSingles.  Last year Truedater was featured on Wired.com, Time Magazine, Newsweek and NBC's The Today Show. It's free, anonymous and is supported by ads and sign-ups for dating sites. A majority of TrueDater members are women. The site encourages members to review those who are "TrueDaters" as well as those who exaggerate or mislead. Nearly half the reviews on the site are positive endorsements.

Mark Brooks: Greatboyfriends and Greatgirlfriends are alternative spins on this idea. 

Online Dating Service Turns Attention to Married Couples

Posted on February 8, 2006

EharmonymarriageLA TIMES — FEB 6 — eHarmony launches an Internet service aimed at strengthening marriages Monday.  "We call it a marriage wellness service," said founder Neil Clark Warren, 71.  eHarmony Marriage is not a substitute for counseling, Warren said, but a customized program to deal with routine conflicts.  The fee: $75 per couple. Additionally, a series of instructional, online videos hosted by Warren can be added to the package, bringing the total to $239.

Mark Brooks: eHarmony's quick response to Dr Phil joining forces with Match.com. 

The Internet’s New Social Order

Posted on January 30, 2006

Eharmony_3THE NEWS FACTOR — JAN 26 — Web sites specifically built to put people in touch with one another — are booming in terms of participation and new services. Whether you are looking for social chatter, dating, gaming, or networking with other professionals, the Internet has the forum for it, and it has become both easy and fast to acquaint yourself with like-minded people. The communities are becoming so popular that some wonder whether they could fundamentally alter the way humans interact with each other. In addition to the networking behemoth MySpace, which currently has 47.3 million members, there's Friendster, The Well, Tribe Networks, and Bebo. Smaller sites that specialize in just a few topics are springing up, too, like Yelp, an online community devoted to chat about local watering holes and entertainment.  Dating online seems even easier thanks to aggressive recruitment efforts by sites like eHarmony and Match.com; both claim eight million and credit for thousands of marriages. 

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

Cupid Deserves More Respect

Posted on January 23, 2006

Cupidcom_1PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW — Jan 22 — Engage.com allows members' friends and family to log on and act as matchmakers. Trish McDermott (formerly VP Romance at Match.com) calls it "intervention dating." Cupid.com, founded in 2001, acquired Predating, the nation's largest speed-dating company, in 2004. They triangulate their online dating service with radio promotions in more than 100 local markets and coordinate speed-dating events.  "Our view is that dating is very much a local business," says Eric Strauss, CEO. "eHarmony is great for matching somebody up with you, but if you're in Pittsburgh and they're in L.A., what good is that?"

The full article was originally published at Pittsburgh Tribune Review, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Cupid.com/PreDating will attempt the world record for the largest simultaneous speed-dating on Feb 8th

Internet Dating: A Consumer’s Guide, Part III

Posted on January 13, 2006

Eharmony_2NY PRESS — Jan 11 — TheSquare is a website much like RightStuffDating but with broader and more general ambitions. It limits membership to alumni of "elite" colleges and universities, and offers job and event listings. Its membership is several times larger then RightStuffDating. Lavalife is the tiki bar of online dating sites. Its functionality is poor, and I had such a tough time figuring out how to use its menus that I was never actually able to use it properly and never went out with anyone from it. Median age appears to be mid-20s and the focus is on photos. EHarmony members aren't permitted to search the site and selectively e-mail. The site decides who will be compatible. 

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

Donat/Wald Launches DRTV Campaign for eHarmony

Posted on November 25, 2005

Eharmony_2BUSINESS WIRE — Nov 21 — Donat/Wald has unveiled three direct response television campaigns for online powerhouses eHarmony.com, Register.com and Stamps.com.  CEO Lucas Donat says it’s the secret weapon of the new generation of dot-coms that want the branding power of offline and the accountability of ROI-positive advertising.  The new eHarmony campaign features real couples of all ages from all over the world – who met through the revolutionary online dating service.  In one story someone from the US Midwest finds a soul mate in India.  The spots show that love can thrive no matter the geographic  location or age. 

Internet Hookups Provide Little Mystery

Posted on November 18, 2005

Eharmony_1BADGER HERALD — Nov 18 — Well, after clicking 75 little (eHarmony) bubbles ranking characteristics – warm, arrogant, impulsive, attractive, perfectionist and uncomplicated – from one to seven and only being 17% complete with the profile, I gave up. F-you eHarmony. That’s not fun. On to Match.com.  I’m going to take a stand against Internet dating. It’s just another way to become impersonal and lazy, just like text messaging or when people abuse the Facebook for stalking purposes.  FULL ARTICLE @ BADGER HERALD

Mark Brooks: What’s the #1 most important decision you will make in your lifetime?  (Ans: Who you decide to marry).  You can answer/ask questions 6 months into a relationship, or you can take the online dating approach and answer/ask them for your profile.  This is what the likes of eHarmony, TRUE, PerfectMatch, Match, Tickle, Yahoo etc provide. These questions are surely worth a few hours of consideration…if you’re serious about being serious.