Category: FriendFinder

Anonymous Calling For The Internet Dating Industry – What Exactly Is Going On?

Posted on June 3, 2013

Anonymous callingOPW – May 28 – Anonymous calling and chat service provider offerings in the internet dating space have been a bit of mystery. PrivateCall by Phone Matrix made a strong case for anonymous calling but then faded. Jangl got off to a strong start, and then got folded into JaJah. JaJah successfully partnered with eHarmony, FriendFinder and Match. Then Match partnered instead with Twilio. ICallU is now on the scene and working with Seeking Arrangement and SugarDaddyForMe.

Dating sites' needs appear to have remained the same – their users want to communicate with one another without immediately divulging their personal information. What are telephony providers doing wrong? Could it be that the increasingly prevalence of messaging apps like WhatsApp and TextNow, combined with online daters' collective comfort with contemporary lines of communication, is diminishing the need for text- and voice-based telephony services? Let's discuss. Please comment if you have knowledge and an opinion.

(btw, Spikko are our new client, and have a solid offering on a proven platform for anonymous/private calling).

Sean Christian To Speak At iDate Mobile In LA

Posted on May 30, 2013

Ffn logoWEBWIRE – May 28 – Sean Christian, VP of Sales for FriendFinder Networks, will speak at iDate Mobile dating conference. The event takes place on June 5-7, 2013 at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Mr. Christian will debate with thought leaders on the final panel that covers the mobile dating business.

See full article at Webwire

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The 20 Most Useful Dating Websites

Posted on May 25, 2013

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – May 10 - Online dating is now one of the most popular ways to meet a new partner and there are ~1400 sites in the UK alone. 

  • Match.com
  • MySingleFriend 

  • eHarmony
  • Friend Finder
  • JDate 

  • Gay.com 

  • Christian Connection – the largest, and longest established subscriber based UK Christian dating site.
  • Muddy Matches – For Single Farmers, Rural Singles, Equestrian Singles and Country Friends could be the place for you.
  • Zoosk
  • Telegraph Dating
  • Lovestruck.com – for dates in your lunch hour. 
  • Parship 

  • Shaadi.com
  • Saga Connections – for people over 50.
  • Dating Vegetarian
  • Dating Direct
  • Flirtbox
  • Love Arts – for singles who love arts
  • Dating For Parents
  • Green Singles

See full article at Telegraph.co.uk

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)

See all posts on FriendFinder              See all posts on Fling
See all posts on AdultFriendFinder       See all posts on SexSearch

FriendFinder Reports 2012 Financial Results

Posted on April 17, 2013

Ffn logoPR NEWSWIRE – Apr 2 – Q4 2012 revenue was $74.5M. Net loss was $9.6M. Revenue for the year 2012 was $314.4M. Net Loss $49.4M. "Our marketing spend has resulted in improved operating margins and 15% YOY increase in conversion of members to subscribers," said Anthony Previte, CEO. "We have also experienced additional operational success as a result of our recent consolidation of our General Audience and Mobile segments", he said. ~30% of Adult Dating members and 20% of Live Interactive members registered via mobile devices.

See full article at NY Times

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Outsourcing The Algorithm Of Love To Online Dating

Posted on February 14, 2013

Ffn logoFORTUNE MAGAZINE – Feb 14 – There are thousands of sites out there, many with an incredible degree of specificity in their target audience. The personals sites for The Onion and Salon are both powered by a service called FastCupid. That company is a property of FriendFinder Network. FriendFinder Networks, formerly called Penthouse Media Group, operates ~40K sites. FriendFinder does not mix together all the profiles of all its branded sites. Because people from BigChurch.com for Christian singles for example, may not get along with those from another, say, Bondage.com. Many established online dating operators eschew the practice altogether, but it's fairly common, particularly in the U.K. where it's standard practice. Today, four companies control 77% of the $1.22 billion online dating market, according to research from IBISWorld. IAC controls 41% of the market, eHarmony is next, with 23.5%, in third place is Zoosk at 7.7%, followed by Spark Networks at 4.9%. Despite the competitive advantage conferred by niche markets, big data-driven dating clearinghouses may be the way of the future for much of the online dating industry. "Strategically, bigger is best," says Brooks, industry analyst and editor of Online Personals Watch. "If you consider what would be the perfect model for an Internet dating site, in theory it would have all the people in the world who are single on it, and you could find your perfect match within a day's work." A single major U.S. service that controls more than 50% of market share is "inevitable," Brooks says. In theory at least, a bigger pool means more happy matches, even if they're from unlikely sources. Data confirms: "It's kind of a waste of time anyway asking people what they want anyway," Brooks says. "Because they don't really know."

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

See all posts on FriendFinder     See all posts on Spark Networks
See all posts on eHarmony        See all posts on Zoosk

Let’s Get Digital: An Oral History Of Online Dating

Posted on October 25, 2012

Cupid digitalBULLET – Fall 2012 –

JON BOEDE, CO-FOUNDER MATCHMAKER: In 1984, my friend and I were running [dating] bulletin boards. The Internet obliterated the bulletin board world. Boede converted the business to a website. Lycos bought for $44.5 million. By 2004 there wasn’t much left of it.

GARY KREMEN, FOUNDER MATCH: I started Match in ’93. I needed to get married. I wrote some software that matched people through email and attached profiles. Kremen partnered with VCs who sold Match.com to Cendant for $7m in 1998. Nine months later, Cendant sold it to IAC for ~$50m.

JONATHAN CRUTCHLEY, FOUNDER MANHUNT.NET: Jonathan was a successful Boston real estate investor. In 1992, he bought half of a popular gay telephone chat line that became Manhunt.net. Phone-line revenues peaked ~year 2000. We organized events at gay bars and advertised in gay newspapers in new York and Philadelphia.

ANDREW CONRU, FOUNDER FRIEND FINDER: In 1993 I started WebPersonals.com. It had ~150k members by the time I sold it in early ’95. Conru then focused on FriendFinder. People started uploading risqué photos. I put a link on the site: “If you’re looking for erotic relationships, click here” to a duplicate of the site, AdultFriendFinder. Conru sold for $500m in 2007.

MANDY GINSBERG, PRESIDENT MATCH: I don’t know how to prove it, but there’s been a shift. We started to see a lot more people who felt comfortable putting out personalized things, commenting on things, uploading their own pictures of things.

SAM YAGAN, CO-FOUNDER OKCUPID: We’re helping erode the stigma for the entire industry. I think it helps that we’re free, which makes it all seem less intentional.

MARKUS FRIND, FOUNDER PLENTYOFFISH: The reason for our success is that we actually helped people meet. Our mobile traffic was around 6% in the under-30 category. Now it’s sitting at 70%.

The future of online dating might very well be its own demise, a movement toward a place where the distinction between meeting in the real world and meeting online no longer exists.

by John Ortved
The full article was originally published at Bullet, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Match.com             See all posts on FriendFinder
See all posts on Matchmaker.com    See all posts on OkCupid
See all posts on POF.com                See all posts on Manhunt

FriendFinder In Deadline As Sex Doesn’t Sell

Posted on August 31, 2012

Ffn logoBLOOMBERG – Aug 30 – FriendFinder Networks, that has $511M of debt, was given three months by its bondholders to turn around a business that has never reported a profit. Bondholders have given the company until Nov. 14 to raise cash. Andrew Conru is the company’s biggest creditor, with ~$243M of bonds. Asked whether he would consider converting some of his second-lien notes to equity to lessen the company’s debt burden, Conru said he is “currently investigating all options.” AdultFriendFinder.com accounts for ~65% of the company’s revenue. The firm lost $31.1M last year and reported interest expense of $86M.

UPDATE: FriendFinder has released their response to Bloomberg article. "FriendFinder has received no such demand or notice from its bondholders. FriendFinder was either in compliance or had waivers for all of its debt covenants as of June 30, 2012."

by Zeke Faux
The full article was originally published at Bloomberg, but is no longer available.

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FriendFinder Closing 5000 Co-branded Sites & Q2’12 Results

Posted on August 15, 2012

Ffn logoPR NEWSWIRE – Aug 14 – “We remain focused on our growth strategy and continue to undertake the necessary steps to optimize our business. As part of this effort, we have begun the process of closing 5,000 co-branded sites, which we expect to be fully completed by the end of the year,” said Anthony Previte, CEO. Q2 revenue was $81.1M, negatively impacted by less than expected new subscriber growth but was positively impacted by the Live Interactive Video segment’s continued growth. Loss from continuing operations was ($7.4M), or ($0.24) per share. The loss from discontinued operations, which resulted from the closure of all JigoCity operations, was ($3.1M) or ($0.10) per share.

The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.

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FriendFinder Networks Sheds JigoCity Unit

Posted on August 7, 2012

Ffn logoXBIZ – Aug 7 – FriendFinder Networks is dumping its JigoCity division and selling it back to its original owner for $1. FriendFinder last September acquired BDM Global Ventures, parent of JigoCity, in a stock deal that was worth about $4.3M when FriendFinder's stock price was more than double what it is today – 90c as traded on the Nasdaq today. JigoCity, which focuses on "daily deals," operates in such foreign markets as Australia, Brazil, China, Singapore and Taiwan. Recently, it was pulling out of the Hong Kong market. FriendFinder said it would be able to cancel 4.1M of 6.4M warrants with strike prices ranging from $7 to $18 a share issued during the acquisition.

by Rhett Pardon
See full article at XBiz

Mark Brooks: I've seen multiple idating sites start daily deals sites and bail on them now. We just bailed on running Daily Deals Observer. The industry seems mired, and not that interesting really.

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.