CNET NEWS – Mar 2 - A man is caught red-handed by his blue-bodied wife. He is in bed with another woman. His wife is not happy. His wife, in fact, begins to assault him. She slaps him, as he and his other woman try to escape. It is a commercial for AshleyMadison.com, the site that helps married people hook up with other married people. AshleyMadison thought ABC's Oscars telecast next Sunday would be the perfect place to advertise its wares. ABC, according to AshleyMadison, has decided this woebegotten attempt to encourage social instability does not contain content appropriate for Oscars night. This very same spot has been approved for airing during the Oscars telecast in Australia. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS
Category: Outlets – CNet News
Virtual Goods Funding Tops $69 Million
CNET NEWS — June 14 – Start-ups peddling virtual goods raised $69m in funding in the first quarter of 2009.
First quarter 2009 financings:
* IMVU – $10,000,000
* ngmoco – $10,000,000
* Nurien – $10,000,000
* Offerpal Media – $15,000,000
* Ohai – $6,000,000
* OMGPOP – $5,000,000
* OneSeason.com – $3,500,000
* Scrapblog – $4,000,000
* Viximo – $5,000,000
* Three Melons – $600,000
The full article was originally published at CNet, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Viximo is helping iDating and social networking companies capitalize on virtual goods, and are a sponsor of Online Personals Watch and Social Networking Watch.
IAC – The iPhone Is Our Crystal Ball
CNET NEWS — June 11 – IAC's CEO, Barry Diller, doesn't believe that the poor economy will make it more difficult to get people to pay for things online. While much of the "new IAC" relies on advertising revenue, Diller declared that strictly relying on advertising as a business model is not sustainable. "I absolutely believe that the Internet is passing from its free phase into a paid system. "Look at the iPhone, Diller said, "and the wild success of its App Store." "The iPhone is a great example of what's going to happen," he pointed out. "One of the greatest barriers to buying things is the steps that it takes." FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS
Mark Brooks: The iPhone is a game changer. Use rs of iPhones monetize FAR better, and access information on the internet and (dating) apps more than on any other phone. Overall the idating market is doing well despite the down economy, but the highest growth numbers, in terms of uniques, are being found at the fr ee end of the idating spectrum. Case in point see the Compete graphs for, Plentyoffish, OKCupid, DateHookup. Interestingly, a number of the free sites that I reported on, in this TechCrunch article, are flagging. Namely MatchDoctor, Mingle2, and Webdate. IAC's free dating site DownToEarth peaked in March and is headed decidedely South, according to Compete.com. (Full Disclosure: Plentyoffish and Webdate are long term clients of Courtland Brooks)
Is Craigslist The World’s Biggest Bordello?
CNET NEWS — Mar 6 — Chicago Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Thursday sued the popular Internet classified service, accusing Craigslist of being one of the largest sources of prostitution in the country. Dart said that the kind of sex services being advertised on Craigslist frequently involves minors as well as people forced into prostitution against their will. A Craigslist spokeswoman said that criminal acts are rare at the site. She added that Craigslist helps law enforcement track down criminals every day. Craigslist has pledged to implement new measures, such as requiring anyone who posted an ad in the exotic services section to provide a valid credit card and phone number. The idea is that anyone planning to break the law will be reluctant to identify themselves.
The full article was originally published at CNet News, but is no longer available.
SpeedDate iPhone App Makes Love Search Faster
CNET NEWS — Feb 3 — Online speed dating service SpeedDate announced on Monday the availability of its free iPhone application. The app allows access to SpeedDate members' profiles, which you can connect to by sending a "wink" or a quick "flirt." The free version doesn't allow to save potential dates, search based on screen name, or filter searches with more details. SpeedDate offers a seven-day free trial. After that it will cost $59.99/month.
The full article was originally published at CNet News, but is no longer available.
IAC Misses Q4 Expectations
CNET NEWS — Feb 3 — IAC/InterActiveCorp turned a profit in the Q4 but took
a 7% revenue hit, amid a sharp downturn in its advertising and media
business. Match.com revenue fell a modest 3% to $88.1m over the same period
a year earlier. Despite the revenue decline, worldwide subscriber growth
increased by 5% in the quarter, reaching its highest level of paid
membership. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS
HotorNot.com Comes To The iPhone
CNET NEWS — Jan 22 – HotorNot.com, the social rating site has a new, and free iPhone app out. It lets you pass judgment on others by scoring them anywhere from 1 to 10. It also lets you tap into its "Meet Me" network where you can get in touch with other registered users to set up dates.
The full article was originally published at CNet News, but is no longer available.
Heavy Layoffs At PlanetOut
CNET NEWS — Jan 14 — A third of the staff were laid off this week at PlanetOut. On January 8, PlanetOut issued a press release announcing that it was merging with its competitors Here Networks and Regent Entertainment Media, the publishers of LGBT magazines The Advocate, Out, and HIVPlus.
The full article was originally published at CNet, but is no longer available.
FriendFinder Not Likely To Find Pals On Wall Street
CNET NEWS — Dec 24 — Friend Finder Networks, the company formerly known as Penthouse Media Group, is filing an IPO (underwritten by Renaissance Capital, based in Moscow) to pay off almost a half a billion in debt, to stay alive. The $460m IPO will go to paying off FriendFinder's ~$450m debt. For the nine months ending September 30, FriendFinder had revenue of $243m, operating income of $17.6m and a net loss of $32.3m. In its prospectus:
Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on our ability to raise additional capital, including from this offering. As of September 30, 2008, our balance sheet had…$420m in short-term debt… $411m of which had been reclassified from long-term debt, due to our failure to comply with certain covenants and restrictions in the agreements governing our 2005 Notes and 2006 Notes… We do not currently have sufficient cash to repay this indebtedness if our debt is accelerated and if the noteholders instituted foreclosure proceedings against our assets.
FriendFinder averaged 1 million paying subscribers a month for the first nine months of September 30 good for 77% of Internet revenue. Net revenue per subscriber was $19.06 a month. The monthly churn rate is 18% for the nine months ending September 30, down from 19.6% at the end of 2007.
Various neglected to collect taxes in the EU. The company says:
After our acquisition of Various, we became aware that Various and its subsidiaries had not collected VAT from subscribers in the European Union nor had Various remitted VAT to the tax jurisdictions requiring it. We have since registered with the tax authorities of the applicable jurisdictions and have begun collecting VAT from our subscribers in the European Union and remitting it as required.
The full article was originally published at CNet News, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: The IPO is underwritten by Renaissance Capital a Moscow based investment bank. Huh? On the other hand, adult site membership is up, user churn is down, and ARPU is $19.31 a month. Your comments please.
MySpace Ruling Could Lead To Jail For Lying Online Daters
CNET NEWS — Dec 1 — The
MySpace suicide case concluded last week, with the jury finding Lori
Drew guilty of three misdemeanor counts of gaining unauthorized access
to MySpace. Web site terms of
service, which end users universally ignore, suddenly have teeth:
violating them is a federal hacking offense, punishable with jail time.
The days of being able to freely lie on the Web could be coming to an
end. This could mean serious trouble for people who lie about their
age, weight, or marital status in their online dating profiles. All those people who have lied about their age or weight in an
eHarmony profile would now appear to be computer hackers. And if
you gain 30 pounds after posting your profile and don't promptly update
your profile–yep, jail for you. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.