Category: Singlesnet

Will Match Acquire Yahoo Personals Or Singlesnet?

Posted on February 17, 2010

Match.com logo dalsi OPW – Feb 17 – Match acquired 27% of Meetic in February last year and then acquired People Media for $80 million in July, 2009.   They took a piece of the German market last week by partnering with Neu.de.  Diller showed interest in Yahoo Personals back in April 2009.  Sometime soon, perhaps Match will announce a deal to power Yahoo Personals USA.  Match already powers Yahoo Personals in key European markets.

The real question is, how can you possibly compete with the behemoth Match?  Its has niches with People Media, Europe with Meetic and Yahoo Personals, and growth this season is looking very strong.  I hear concerns about growth stalling for second tier dating sites. However, Piper Jaffray predicts U.S. spending on online dating will reach $1.7 billion by 2013, with $1.2 billion being spent in 2008.  Meanwhile, Forrester expects the market to reach $1.6 billion by 2013, up from an estimated $957 million in 2008. – Mark Brooks

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Nov 19th, 2009 – 4 mins

Posted on November 13, 2009

This is the news for the week of November 6th through November 12th, 2009. We hope you enjoy the new weekly news format. Here is the news we covered for this week:

  • October Online Dating Rankings from Hitwise
  • Earnings Reports from Spark Networks and Meetic
  • Number of Senior Online Daters on the Rise
  • Interview with Steve Odom, founder of Gelato

Worlds Top Dating Sites

Posted on September 24, 2009

PARADIGM SHIFT – Sep 24 - Here are the top dating sites in the world, from the latest Comscore July 2009 report.

Topdatingsites1

 

The most interesting trend over the last year is the growing difference between usage at paid sites verses free sites and hybrids like Singlesnet. If you combine total visits at Singlesnet and Plentyoffish in the US,  those 2 sites combined already have more monthly visits than all pure paid sites combined.

The full article was originally published at The Paradigm Shift, but is no longer available.

See all posts on PlentyofFish
See all posts on Singlesnet   

Free Sites Don’t Appeal To Lower Income Users

Posted on February 13, 2009

Plentyoffish logo THE PARADIGM SHIFT — Feb 13 – We will still grow at least 80% organically this year but I don't think all that much is because of the recession. Most of PlentyofFish users are higher income and aren't really effected by the current economic problems. 

Hitwise demographic stats for 4 weeks ending  2/7/2009
12.36% of singlesnet users are under 25
10.15% of match.com users are under 25
9.65% of  Plentyoffish users are under 25
7.28% of downtoearth  users are under 25.

Hitwise income statistics for 4 weeks ending  2/7/2009.
4.11% of singlesnet  users make over $150,000 a year.
5.05% of match.com users make over $150,000 a year.
6.23% of eharmony users make over $150,000 a year
12.37% of Plentyoffish users make over $150,000 a year.

The full article was originally published at The Paradigm Shift, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Singlesnet       See all posts on Plentyoffish
See all posts on Match.com      See all posts on eHarmony
See all posts on Downtoearth

Why Pay When Dating’s Free Sites Beckon?

Posted on February 6, 2009

Online dating dve mysi a srdce BUSINESS WEEK — Feb 6 – In December, free sites accounted for ~25% of all traffic to the top 10 U.S. dating sites, up from 15% a year ago, according to Hitwise. During the second half of 2008, PlentyofFish was the most-trafficked dating site in the U.S., according to Hitwise. "We are going to double our staff this year," said Markus Frind, CEO of PlentyofFish.com. "The economic downturn doesn't affect me." OkCupid.com says growth picked up in Sep, as the economic decline accelerated. Some paid sites are getting hurt more than others. Traffic to Yahoo Personals fell 15% in Dec from a year earlier, according to Hitwise. In the same period, eHarmony's traffic dropped 61% and True.com's tumbled 68%. At the same time, traffic to Match.com jumped 31% while Singlesnet.com's traffic rose 16%.

The full article was originally published at Business Week, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Plentyoffish               See all posts on True.com
See all posts on YahooPersonals          See all posts on Singlesnet
See all posts on eHarmony                  See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on OkCupid

PlentyofFish.com #1 Dating Site In USA

Posted on November 21, 2008

Hitwise logo OPW — Nov 21 — We have just updated Hitwise US online dating rankings for October. PlentyofFish.com is now the #1 dating site in the US followed by Singlesnet, Yahoo Personals and Match.com. PlentyofFish.com is also the #1 dating site in the UK according to Hitwise.

Dating Sites Hang On Despite Increasing Competition

Posted on September 23, 2008

Idate_logo_2008 IDG SERVICE — Sep 23 — Owners and companies running dating Web sites are meeting Monday and Tuesday at the Internet Dating Conference in London to discuss challenges in their industry. The top dating sites in the U.K. for June were PlentyofFish, followed by Meetic, Match.com, Gaydar.co.uk and GirlsDateForFree, according to comScore. In North America, the top sites in June were PlentyofFish, Singlesnet, eHarmony, Match.com and Yahoo Personals. The number of page views for dating sites are falling, and people are spending less time but revenues are growing. The main revenue model is subscription. Other dating sites are offering premium services used by traditional matchmaking companies. A site in China, Zhenai, charges $200 a year for access to its online site and team of match matchers who work with singles over the phone. That's far less than fees charged by traditional matchmakers, which can cost $5,000 or more a year, said Mark Brooks, who runs a consultancy focusing on social networks and dating sites. FreeDating.co.uk is free, and makes money by showing ads. It's the same model used by PlentyofFish, a relatively simple site that debuted in 2003 and has surged to the top spot in the U.S. and U.K. markets. FULL ARTICLE @ PC WORLD

See all posts on PlentyofFish                 See all posts on Singlesnet
See all posts on Meetic                          See all posts on eHarmony
See all posts on Match.com                    See all posts on Yahoo Personals
See all posts on Gaydar                         See all posts on Zhenai
See all posts on GirlsDateForFree

Nielsen Internet Dating Rankings Update

Posted on September 16, 2008

Nielsen_online_logo_nove OPW — Sep 16 — We have updated Nielsen Online U.S.A. internet dating rankings. Yahoo! Personals, Match.com and Singlesnet maintained their 1st, 3rd and 4th position respectively. TRUE ousts MSN Dating from it's 5th position. PlentyofFish jumped from #9 to #7. AOL Personals went down to #8 from #7. Mate1 and MSN Dating slide off the top 10.

Let’s Say You Want To Date A Hog Farmer

Posted on April 28, 2008

Farmers_only_upoutavka NY TIMES — Apr 27 — A growing number of people have found love on dating sites that pair members based on a specific shared interest or background, like Nerdsatheart.com, DateMyPet.com, STDmatch.net and Veggielove.com. "Singles are increasingly eager to narrow the audience and really target their needs," said Mark Brooks, a consultant who keeps his own blog, OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. "It's the same reason why Procter&Gamble makes so many detergents. We are all drawn to things that cater to our very specific desires." According to Hitwise there are now 1,378 U.S. dating sites, up from 876 three years ago. Mr. Brooks estimates that 44% of those sites in the U.S. are niche sites, up from 35% in 2006. Large companies like Match.com, eHarmony, Yahoo Personals and SinglesNet.com have the general market cornered, Mr. Brooks said, "the only real entrepreneurial opportunities left in the online dating world lie in the niche market." FarmersOnly.com has attracted 90,000 members so far, 50,000 in the last year alone. One month's membership costs $15.95. Mr. Brooks said the most successful niche sites pair people by race, sexual orientation or religion. The 20 most popular dating sites this year as ranked by Hitwise include JDate, Christian Mingle and ChristianCafe.com, Manhunt, Love From India, Amigos, Asian People Meet, and Shaadi. "A few years ago, a company called Spark Networks was putting major funding into its general dating site, American Singles," Mr. Brooks said. "But when executives saw that the Jewish market was huge and relatively untouched, they switched gears and ratcheted up JDate." FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES. Also in THE LEDGER

Niche Dating Sites Grow Steadily As Mainstream Ones Flail

Posted on April 25, 2008

Online_dating_super_obrazek TECH CRUNCH — Apr 24 — In the internet dating space, bigger is not always best. According to the latest U.S. numbers from Hitwise, the top niche dating sites are steadily gaining market share while their big mainstream counterparts stagnate. In March 2008, the top 5 overall sites held 7% less market share than they did in 2007 (Plentyoffish and Singlesnet were the only sites to buck this trend individually). Meanwhile, the top sites (Adam4Adam, Manhunt, Gay.com, BlackPeopleMeet, BlackSingles, BlackChristianPeopleMeet, ChristianMingle, JDate, and ChristianCafe.com) from the top five major niche dating categories made considerable gains. The biggest niche in terms of total traffic is casual dating, which consists of sites like Fling, AdultFriendFinder, and SexSearch. While the top 10 mainstream dating sites gained only 0.01% of total Internet traffic over the past year, the top three casual adult sites gained 0.07%. That's a hefty 56% increase in the traffic. (Authored by Mark Brooks)
FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH