WSJ – Nov 22 - U.S. growth has slowed in the past few years at
eHarmony.com, which has annual revenue of ~$250M. eHarmony must constantly advertise. In August, it started a $30M ad campaign. Mr. Waldorf was an early investor in eHarmony and served on its board from the beginning. He was named CEO in 2006.
Q: How has the economy affected your subscription base?
A: On days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 100 points or more, eHarmony saw ~2% increase in the number of pages people viewed on the site
Q: So why is growth slowing in the U.S?
A: Still a lot of people who, before they make a decision to use eHarmony, want to exhaust all the other alternatives.
Q: Do the Census findings that marriages are on the decline spell problems?
A: I don't think anything in the data indicate that fewer people are looking for long-term, quality relationships. If anything, I think there's been an increase in the rate of cohabitations.
Q: Why keep same-sex matches separate from the regular site?
A: It lets us target that demographic specifically.
Q: You've been expanding overseas. Does your matching technology change when you go into different countries?
A: You have to redo the matching algorithm. There are some cultural aspects around relationships that can change.
Q: Are some international markets more difficult?
A: The biggest challenge is customer acquisition. In other countries, eHarmony doesn't have the benefit of brand recognition.
Q: How can you address that?
A: Last year, we were about to launch continental Europe ourselves. Instead we invested in eDarling. They know how to operate in multiple countries with so many different languages and regulatory issues. In Asia, we will look seriously at partnerships.
Q: Are you making money overseas?
A: In Australia, which is our first non-North American market, we are getting to kind of break-even, which is great.
Q: Are social-media websites like Facebook a threat?
A: There's room for all of us.
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WSJ – July 5 – Chinese online dating market is expanding fast. According to Oppenheimer & Co., there were 19M visitors to Chinese dating sites in 2010, only a fraction of the estimated 156M single adult Internet users. That number is expected to increase to 60M by 2015. Market leader Jiayuan, which claims 44% of sector revenue, operates a fee-for-results model. Second- and third-place rivals Zhenai and Baihe require an upfront fee or provide a personality matching service. Internet consultancy iResearch projects total revenue from China's online dating will expand from $74M in 2010 to $290M in 2015.
