MARKETWATCH – Oct 30 – IAC recorded stronger revenue, especially from its online dating portfolio. Match.com revenue grew 13% YOY to $201M in Q3. Operating income was ~65M, up 16% YOY. Total paid subscribers increased 17% YOY.
Category: Match.com
Speed Date USA Is Suing Match.com
LAW360 – Oct 23 – Speed Date USA Inc. filed a $5.65M suit against Match.com, accusing the dating site of prematurely breaking off a two-year contract and misappropriating its trade secrets. Match.com canceled 86 events. The suit also alleges Match.com terminated the contract upon learning Speed Date's trade secrets and used them to run its own speed dating events.
Pew Study: Americans Turn To Match.com And eHarmony
ASSOCIATED PRESS – Oct 21 – 38% of single Americans have used an online dating site or mobile dating app, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. 59% of Internet users agree that online dating is a good way to meet people, up from 44% in 2005. Match.com is the most popular dating site, just as it was in 2005. No. 2 this year is eHarmony. 29% of respondents say they know someone who has been in a long-term relationship or married someone they met online, compared with 15% in 2005.
The full article was originally published at News Channel 5, but is no longer available.
Dating Sites Depend On Algorithm
WASHINGTON POST – Oct 21 – When Aaron Schildkrout co-founded HowAboutWe.com, he wanted it to be something different than the other dating sites, which relied on mathematical calculations to match singles. But now HowAboutWe depends on formulas. “We need to get smarter about who we show you", Schildkrout said. HAW team created an algorithm that combines a users’ profile info with their behavior on the site. Match.com President Amarnath Thombre says what users often say they are looking for is not always the kinds of profiles they view. Match.com implemented a user-action-driven algorithm in 2009. AshleyMadison.com's algorithm is frequently adjusted to reflect aggregate user behavior and individual preferences. In 2002 married women searched for married men, but today, ~12% are interested in single partners.
by Mohana Ravindranath
See full article at Washington Post
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Deepak Kamra – The Love VC
PANDODAILY – Oct 7 – Deepak Kamra has been an investor with Canaan for 20 years. He invested in Match.com in 1995, Bharat Matrimony in 2006 and Zoosk, earning him the nickname The Love VC. He’s been keeping his eye out for Match.com 2.0, for Web 2.0 and the 21st century. He believes he’s found it in Zoosk. He passed up Ok Cupid, which didn’t have the revenue, and eHarmony, which was too limiting to daters.
by Carmel DeAmicis
See full article at PandoDaily
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Can Facebook Spread The Love For Dating Sites?
WALL ST. CHEAT SHEET – Sep 30 – Facebook shares have climbed ~80% since July, and reported 53% increase in revenue quarter-over-quarter. During the last quarter, Facebook had 819M monthly active users which represented a 51% increase YOY. One area that can still benefit from Facebook’s surge is online dating. IAC’s online dating division generated ~$713M in 2012. A few other popular companies in the online dating scene include MeetMe, Spark Networks and Snap Interactive. Snap's AYI app is currently integrated with ~25M Facebook connected profiles and has been downloaded ~70M times. AYI users can view friends, their information, and learn about them. Someone will be more willing to trust what they see if that person has a friend in common. Currently, the AYI app has 2M monthly average users and 76K active subscribers. Snap Interactive appears well positioned to begin gaining momentum once investors take notice. Although online dating hasn’t been one of the exciting areas for investors over the past couple of years, Snap could change that with its innovative and fresh look at online dating.
by Tom Meyer
The full article was originally published at Wall St. Cheat Sheet, but is no longer available.
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Match.com Increases Its Stake In Meetic From 80.8% To 87.5%
PR NEWSWIRE – Sep 25 – Match.com has acquired all remaining shares held by Marc Simoncini, Meetic's founder, which represent 6.7% of the capital. The average price was €29.5M (€18.75). Match now owns 87.5% of the capital and 88.6% of the voting rights of Meetic. Mr. Simoncini has resigned from Meetic's board of directors. Match intends to launch a voluntary simplified public tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Meetic at a price of €18.75 per share.
See full article at PR Newswire
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
IAC: How Attractive Is Match Business?
ISTOCK ANALYST – Sep 23 – Founded in 1993 and launched in 1995, Match.com is now one of the most recognized online properties in the world. Since its acquisition in June 1999 by IAC, Match has expanded its business portfolio to include PeopleMedia (2009), Singlesnet (2010), OkCupid (2011), Meetic (2011), Twoo (2013) and more. Match is the second-largest segment at IAC by revenue, comprising 26% of IAC's total sales in 2012. The segment's revenues have grown 78% over the past two yearsm largely driven by acquisitions. Tinder has yet to be monetized, and could offer meaningful upside in the future.
The full article was originally published at iStock Analyst, but is no longer available.
Match.com To Use Facial Recognition For Better Matches
MASHABLE – Sep 16 – Dating sites are collecting an enormous amount of data about how people look for a partner. "We keep refining our algorithms," said Amarnath Thombre, president of Match.com. "We take historical data into account, as well as distance, and what people say they want in a partner and who they are pursuing." In the future, Match.com wants to use facial recognition technology, which allows users to highlight the features they are most attracted to so the site can provide them with better matches. HowAboutWe's focus is on offline. "It's difficult to predict chemistry online," said Aaron Schildkrout, HowAboutWe co-founder and co-CEO. "That's why we focus is on actual dates. It’s only after you achieve significant liquidity in a market that you can build a useful algorithm."
UK Dating Sites Found Body To Clean Up Industry
MARKETING WEEK – Sep 9 – UK's leading dating sites including eHarmony, Guardian Soulmates, Match.com, MySingleFriend, Dating Factory, Lovestruck, FreeDating, are founding members of the Online Dating Association (ODA), a new industry initiative. Members of the ODA will sign up to a code of conduct which insists that members are transparent with consumers over pricing models, whether they are billed on a repeated basis, data privacy, and the authenticity of dating profiles on its site.