IDATE – Jan 2 – LovePlanet was founded in 2005. It grew fast and was acquired by RBK in 2006. Maksim Khramov joined the company in 2007. LovePlanet is currently a part of Mediamir. Mediamir specializes in promotion of internet sites and other entertainment products.
Q: What is LovePlanet?
A: LovePlanet is a freemium dating site.
Q: How many offices are there at LovePlanet?
A: LovePlanet has several offices. Our headquarters are in Moscow. The largest part is based in St. Petersburg, where LovePlanet was actually founded.
Q: How many employees are at LovePlanet?
A: 20 people in total.
Q: What markets LovePlanet serves?
A: We mainly target the Russian speaking audience. A significant portion of our users live in the Ukraine and Belorussia.
Q: How large do you see the Russian online dating market?
A: Mamba and LovePlanet annual revenue is ~ 1 Billion rubles ($31M).
Q: What is LovePlanet advertising % of revenues?
A: ~20% of our total revenue, and is constantly rising.
Q: How many members are at LovePlanet.ru?
A: We have ~17M registered users.
Q: Are you mobile?
A: At the moment ~5-10% of our audience use an HTML version adapted for a mobile screen. Together with html version, we are developing and building applications for iOS and Android.
Q: For the Russian speaking residents where are the market opportunities for growth?
A: We see growth in the other cities of Russia.
Q: Are you planning on entering the EU market?
A: We would be happy to work in other markets as well such as Europe or America. However, it's a challenge since business models differ greatly.
Q: Do you use Facebook connect for increasing conversions?
A: We see the tendency of Internet users migrating to social networks. We are working in this direction at the moment and recently we have developed the application for “Vkontakte.ru” network.
Q: How many payment systems does LovePlanet accept?
A: To pay for our services you can use practically any payment system working with Russian market: credit cards, “Qiwi” terminals. You can also pay with Sberbank or with a wire transfer. The major part of payments is done via SMS service now.
