WIRED – July 17 – For dating startups, resistance against IAC is futile. Many of the companies that do come along with a new idea, like HowAboutWe, inevitably fail or surrender to IAC. Zoosk, which filed its S-1 with the SEC earlier this year, is one exception.
Category: Zoosk
Facebook Continues To Ban Smaller Dating Sites’ Ads
BUSINESS INSIDER – June 5 – Match.com, Zoosk and eHarmony advertise heavily on Facebook. However Facebook doesn't allow smaller, niche dating sites to advertise. "It's impossible to gain traction as a new dating site today without access to Facebook ads", says CEO of a dating site who has $500K to spend on ads, but Facebook declines to take his money. Facebook first activated a ban on small dating sites back in January. Facebook was going to revisit the policy after Valentine's Day but has since decided to extend the ban.
Zoosk Moves Beyond Virtual Gifting To Real Gift Delivery
FORT MILL TIMES – May 29 – Zoosk announced a limited release delivery service, beginning today in most U.S. states, which allows users to deliver flowers, chocolates, and teddy bears to potential matches. A new “ship a gift” button notifies the recipient, who can accept the gift and provide a shipping address, or decline. Zoosk has 27M+ members in over 80 countries.
The full article was originally published at Fort Mills Times, but is no longer available.
Zoosk In Numbers
SEEKING ALPHA – May 1 - Zoosk has encouraging financials. Its 2013 revenue was $178.2M, up 63% from 2012. Its loss narrowed sharply to $2.6M in 2013 from $20.7M a year earlier. At 168 employees, revenue per employee is ~$1M. Zoosk was founded in 2007, and has attracted ~$60M in VC backing. About half of Zoosk's users are outside the U.S. It has ~26M members, including 650K subscribers.
IAC To Grab 27% Of US Online Dating Market In 2014
INVESTORS.COM – Apr 28 – IAC is expected to grab 27% of the estimated $2.2B market for U.S. dating services in 2014, according to a new IBISWorld report. Online dating account for 49% of the U.S. dating service industry, followed by mobile dating (26%), matchmakers (14%) and singles events (7%). Match revenue is predicted to rise 11.5% to $605M this year. eHarmony is forecast to have U.S. revenue of $310M this year, up 6.9%. Zoosk will generate $114M. IBISWorld expects the U.S. dating service industry to grow at an annual rate of 4.2% from 2014 through 2019.
by Patrick Seitz
The full article was originally published at Investors.com, but is no longer available.
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What To Watch Before Falling In Love With Zoosk
SECFILINGS.COM – Apr 21 - Zoosk has 26M members, 650K are subscribers. With a focus on data-driven analytics, the company’s behavioral matchmaking engine learns from clicks, messaging and other interactions to deliver connections that are predicted to result in mutual attraction. Zoosk focuses on mobile. In 2013, 41% of their first-time subscriptions were made on mobile devices. Zoosk grew its revenues by 63% from $109M to $178M between 2012 and 2013, but reported net losses of $20.7M and $2.6M, respectively.
The full article was originally published at SecFilings.com, but is no longer available.
Zoosk Relies Heavily On Spam
BUSINESS INSIDER – Apr 17 - Zoosk recently filed to go public on the NYSE. It grew 44% from 18M registered users to 26M. In its filing, Zoosk acknowledges that email and text message campaigns are an important means to drive member and subscriber engagement. "We send a large volume of emails and text messages to members and subscribers notifying them of a variety of activities on our platform."
Zoosk Files For $100M IPO
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 17 – Zoosk just filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC, announcing its plans to raise $100M in an IPO. Zoosk posted a net loss of $2.6M in 2013 on revenues of $178M. As part of the filing, Zoosk provided details of its global business, which includes 26M members worldwide and 650K paying subscribers across 80 countries. That’s up from the 18M registered members and 483K paying subscribers a year earlier. Zoosk had raised $60M since 2007.
by Ryan Lawler
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Zoosk Adds Safeway EVP And CMO Diane Dietz To Board Of Directors
BUSINESSWIRE – Mar 26 - Zoosk appointed Safeway Executive VP and CMO Diane Dietz to its Board of Directors. Dietz will provide guidance to drive subscriptions across Zoosk’s mobile and online dating platforms.
Zoosk Priority Inbox Ranks Messages Based On Compatibility
BUSINESSWIRE – Mar 20 - Zoosk is releasing its new Priority Inbox feature that uses Zoosk’s Behavioral Matchmaking technology to prioritize messages. The feature ranks messages in members' inboxes based on compatibility.