Category: MeeticAffinity

An Interview with Director of Meetic France

Posted on September 13, 2011

Pierric duthoit 01AMOUR – September 6 – Pierric Duthoit is the Director of Meetic France. He co-founded and directed the Womanjournal.ru site, a Women's Web Portal in Russia.

Q: What do you think about the acquisition of Meetic by Match ?
A: It is good news for us and for the Americans, with the pooling of expertise in a market with many players. 

Q: In which international markets does Meetic operate?
A: Meetic is active in 16 countries in Europe and available in 13 different languages. 

Q: Can you talk about Meetic Affinity compared to the older Meetic?
A: Members of Meetic Affinity complete a questionnaire that will help them understand themselves better and to get to know other members. 

Q: What about competition with SmartDate, Badoo, Facebook, Zoosk?
A:  Badoo speaks of "network meeting".  Facebook is not in the category of"dating". Zoosk and Smartdate tend to expand the category, which is more beneficial for us as the leader in this market.

Q: Will Meetic search to consolidate its position in other markets?
A: We always want to consolidate and improve our positions.

Q: How do you see the market of dating and matchmaking in 10 years?
A: Dating will be even more mobile.

See full article at 01Amour (in French)

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Interview With Marc Simoncini

Posted on December 14, 2010

Meetic logo LES ECHOS – Dec 14 – Marc Simoncini, the CEO/Founder of Meetic explains why he is going to retain his shares in Meetic and unveils his plans for the next three years. 
 
Q: What made you change your mind about the sale?
A: We talked with four potential buyers and no offer reflected the development potential of Meetic. It wasn't the right time. 

Q: What are the main axes of development?
A: First we will continue to develop Meetic Affinity, a site that has made 5M Eur in revenue in 2008 and 25M in 2009. Also at the end of the Q1 we will release a Meetic app on the iPhone, Android, Nokia, and Windows 7 phone. 
 
Q: What are your goals in terms of membership numbers?
A: Today, Meetic has ~1M users. To achieve the revenue goals we have to increase the number of users 40%.  
Q: What resources do you have for future acquisitions?
A: We had 28M Eur in cash as of Sept. 30, at the end of the year we should have ~40M, no debts. Potentially, we may redeem any of our European competitors.
 
Q: Even in Germany?
A: Germany is highly competitive market where we're still number two. We are waiting for opportunities. It is interesting to see that dating sites in Germany spent 100M Eur in TV advertising this year. Meetic spends ~100M across Europe.
 
Q: What is your position now in Meetic?
A: I remain the CEO.

The full article was originally published at Los Echos, but is no longer available.

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Face Value: Marc Simoncini

Posted on December 9, 2010

Marc simoncici meetic ECONOMIST – Dec 9 – Marc Simoncini is the founder of Meetic, Europe’s biggest dating site. Mr Simoncini comes from upwardly mobile stock. His grandfather was a poor farmer. His father worked his way up the ranks of France Telecom. In 1986 his father lent him $3,000 to start his own business. After a false start he founded Opsion, an IT-services firm. It took him 14 years to repay his debt to his father. In 1998 he created iFrance, an internet portal which was sold for €182M (then $165M). Mr Simoncini had the idea for Meetic during dinner with three friends who had all recently divorced or separated. When he lost his fortune, Meetic became his job. In 2008 he launched Meetic Affinity, a matchmaking site, which is more expensive. He says he has done what he can for Meetic and is looking to sell his 23% stake, which is valued at ~€100M, by the end of the year. Apart from Meetic, he has invested in Winamax, a poker website. FULL ARTICLE @ ECONOMIST

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Meetic’s Profitable Growth Strategy For 2010

Posted on January 8, 2010
Meetic logo PRESS RELEASE – Jan 8 - After 8 years in existence, in 2009 Meetic’s sites recorded 6.5M unique visitors in Feb and Mar, and 800M page views (Comscore). Meetic will build its 2010' growth strategy around two objectives:
– use of the strong reputation of the Group's brands acquired in each of the countries in Europe in which it operates
– segmentation of its services between Dating (Meetic), Matchmaking (Meetic Affinity), Flirting (Peexme) and premium introductions (Meetic VIP)
Peexme, the social networking and dating site targeted at users aged 18-25, has been available since July 2009. The website will benefit from a strong viral growth thanks to Facebook. The full Peexme app on Facebook will be available in early 2010, and will be followed by a version for the iPhone. Meetic VIP is an invitation-only premium dating site developed and tested during 2009. Its commercial launch will take place in France in early 2010.
Read the full press release HERE.

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Meetic: 2009 Target: 20-25% EBITDA Margin

Posted on January 6, 2009

Meetic logo PR NEWSWIRE — Jan 5 — Meetic will focus on profitability in 2009. Meetic allocated ~15m Euros exceptional ad expenditure in 2008, mainly for offline branding to increase the profile DatingDirect, Neu.de and the matchmaking service MeeticAffinity. The Group is confident that it will gain a significant share of the European matchmaking market in 2009 and generate EBITDA margin of 20% to 25%. In '08 the Group disposed of its Chinese operations (eFriendsNet, Yeeyoo). Investments in Latin America, which are currently marginal, will be maintained.

The full article was originally published at MSN Money, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Search and communication features are not enough for paid dating services now. You need to differentiate by improving and branding your 'matchmaking' technologies. That's how you can differentiate and charge a premium. Create a black box with magical matchmaking services. Find a camera friendly spokesperson. 

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