Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

comScore: Community Sites and Online Personals Gain

WEB HOST DIRECTORY -- May 16 -- With a 24% increase versus March, the gay/lesbian community sites ranked as the top-gaining category overall for the month, led by Planetout.com with 767,000 visitors (up 17%), Adam4Adam.com with 348,000 visitors, and BigMuscle.com with 238,000 visitors (up 92%). Women’s sites enjoyed a 7% increase in April, led by iVillage.com (17 million visitors, up 9%). Personals sites gained in April (up 5% versus March), led by True.com with 4.9 million visitors (up 10%), Yahoo! Personals with 4.8 million visitors (up 14%), and Singlesnet.com with 3.9 million visitors (up 23%). FULL ARTICLE @ WEB HOST DIRECTORY

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch

TRUE Spices Things up With Truespice.com

OPW -- TRUE has succumb is offering a piece of spice with brand extension TRUESpice.com. They've been throwing 25k uniqes at it per day since the beginning of April. (See Quantcast graph. Lavalife is broadly known as a casual dating product. Mate1 offers 'intimate dating.' SexSearch leads the way as the most full on sexy of the sex dating sites. I wonder how far TRUE is willing to go with their sexy ads? - Mark Brooks

COMMENT: Meir, CEO of Date.com, enlightened me that TRUESpice.com is actually an Azoogleads splash page.

Avoid Online Dating Scams

WCPO -- Apr 16 -- According to RomanceScams.org, "We have had people who lost their houses, their cars, their jobs. Because they are so into this person they would do anything." Now, dating sites are finally taking action. eHarmony.com and Match.com now list warning signs that a romeo may be a con artist. True.com conducts background checks on members. RomanceScams.org and DontDateHimGirl list people to avoid. Be diligent and suspicious of anyone who comes on aggressively at a dating site and are outside the us, or short on cash. FULL ARTICLE @ WCPO

TRUE Sues Again

PR NEWSWIRE -- Mar 29 -- TRUE filed a civil lawsuit in Texas against a convicted felon and registered (child) sex offender in Florida, Edward Alvin Hodges, Jr., for misrepresenting his felony status when attempting to access TRUE's members. The felon was prevented from communicating with members due to TRUE's proactive policy that requires background screenings on all of its communicating members.  According to the Department of Justice's Criminal Offender Statistics,  ~67% of convicted criminals released from prison are rearrested for a felony or serious crime. In addition to background and marriage screenings, TRUE has developed a member safety program, led by former Dallas police chief William Rathburn, that further protects members each day by identifying and removing scammers and other fraudsters; reviewing e-mails, profiles and photos; and monitoring chat room discussions. TRUE also employs a number of private investigators and former policemen from major cities around the country who lend their expertise in support of TRUE's prosecution efforts.

Compete.com February Rankings

OPW -- Mar 26 -- Since November 2006, Match.com moved up from 4th place to take first spot in February 2007 with 19.6 million user logins, pushing Y! Personals, Singlesnet, eHarmony and PlentyofFish down one spot. BlackPeopleMeet and Manhunt.net enter the top 10 at #7 and #9 respectively. 

Compete.com also provided OPW with data for the average visits per month for February 2007. 

1. Manhunt.com - 13.37
2. PlentyofFish - 10.46
3. BlackPeopleMeet - 7.94
4. Gay.com - 7.15
5. Cupid.com - 6.88

Check Date's Background Online

WASHINGTON POST -- Mar 25 -- Kimberly Hall was twice betrayed by men she met dating online. Both turned out to be married. So she started doing background checks on her dates using Intelius.com. Singles now draw on a growing arsenal of security and research tools - from services that verify identity and background to companies that provide temporary phone numbers as a barrier to stalkers. Few dating sites conduct their own background checks on members and only one seeks to verify marital status. 31% of American adults say they know someone who has used a dating Web site, and nearly 60% of Internet users said they think a lot of online daters lie about their marital status, (Pew Internet & American Life Project study, 2006). At True.com 2% of applicants are rejected because they are convicted felons. 3% flunk because they are married. Trufina verifies age, identity and address. Jangl offers free temporary phone numbers for eBay customers and dating singles. Tossable Digits offers a similar service. Intelius provides name, address, age, marital record and criminal background check. FULL ARTICLE @ CANTON REP

Mark Brooks: HonestyOnline.com also offers background checks, tailored to the needs of online dating sites.   Jangl and Vumber.com provide two way anonymous calling services.

TRUE Riles $700 Million Industry

HERALD TRIBUNE -- Mar 20 -- In part because of its provocative ads, True.com, based in Irving, Texas, has become one of the most visited sites in the $700 million-a-year online dating industry, attracting 3.8 million people last month. True's rise has been controversial. The company has riled competitors like Match.com and Yahoo Personals, which say that True's lowbrow advertisements clash with its high-minded lobbying and legal efforts.

Just In - Nielsen//NetRatings February U.S. Rankings

OPW -- Mar 16 -- We've just updated the internet dating rankings. The changes are: Match moves down from #1 to #3 and MSN Dating (powered by Match) moves up one spot to #4, kicking Singlesnet down one spot to #5. eHarmony moves up two spots to #6 pushing Mate1 and American Singles down one spot. - Mark Brooks

Online Dating Under Scrutiny

HNT -- Mar 6 -- The Senate budget committee Monday advanced a proposal to require online dating services to tell customers whether criminal background screenings are done of members using the site to look for dates. The bill now heads to the Senate floor, over the objections of a group of online companies whose lobbyists said the proposal won't prevent child predators and could soothe people into thinking they're safer online than they are. Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, a coalition of e-commerce companies and tradegroups, such as America Online, eBay, Oracle, Orbitz and Yahoo, said more than a dozen states have considered but not passed such laws. DelBianco said the bill is designed to favor True.com. "Personally, I think you have to be crazy to date on the Internet," said Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex.

Mark Brooks: Your comments please...

Spring Break Flings on TRUE.com

PR NEWSWIRE -- Mar 6 -- TRUE surveyed its members (502 responses) to learn whether singles would rather meet a lifetime partner or just a spring fling during Spring Break 2007. 30% wanted a spring fling, 29% chose casual dating, 24% wanted a long-term relationship, 16% wanted to find just a friend, 2% wanted to find someone to marry. 86% were open to dating someone long-term after meeting them during Spring Break. FULL ARTICLE @ PR NEWSWIRE

Mark Brooks: TRUE has been disparaged in the online personals community for it's racey advertising. It does seem at odds with it's position as a scientifically based dating site...which kinda implies that it's focused on helping people find long term serious relationships. Sex + LTR. The fact is, racey adds convert will. Click throughs are higher and conversions are stronger, in general. Hence, TRUE is being agressive with it's ad spends. The post here mentions that they spent $52 million Jan-Nov last year.   

Male/Female Quantcast Ratios of Top Dating Properties

OPW -- Feb 26th -- Here are the male/female ratios, most popular age range, and proportion of visits from 'regulars' and 'addicts.' Ranking courtesy of Hitwise. Ratios, age range and addiction levels courtesy of Quantcast. '100' represents the 'internet average.'

1 Singlesnet 
Male 112, Female 88, age 45-54, 91% of visits from regulars and addicts LINK
2 Yahoo Personals
Male 114, Female 85, age 45-54, 78% regulars and addicts LINK 
3 TRUE
Male 116, Female 83, age 45-54, 77% regulars and addicts LINK 
4 Match
Male 100, Female 99, age 45-54, 94% regulars and addicts LINK
5 eHarmony
Male 73, Female 125, age 25-34 and 35-44, 95% regulars and addicts LINK 
6 Plentyoffish
Male 112, Female 87, age 45-54, 98% regulars and addicts LINK
7 Mate1
Male 97, Female 102, age 45-54, 74% regulars and addicts LINK
8 Blackpeoplemeet
Male 94, Female 105, age 35-44, 96% regulars and addicts LINK
9 Manhunt.net
Male 177, Female 24, age 35-44, 99% regulars and addicts LINK
10 Adam4Adam
Male 170, Female 31, age 35-44, 99% regulars and addicts LINK
11 American Singles
Male 120, Female 89, age 45-54, 82% regulars and addicts LINK
12 Gay.com
Male 171, Female 30, age 35-45, 96% regulars and addicts LINK
13 Hot or Not
Male 122, Female 78, age 18-24, 95% regulars and addicts LINK
14 MSN Match
Male 103, Female 97, age 45-54, 71% regulars and addicts LINK
15 Cupid
Male 110, Female 89, age 45-54, 95% regulars and addicts LINK

eHarmony clearly has more guys than girls. Given the raunchy TRUE advertising, one would expect a higher representation of males than the 116 scored here.  I think this is because TRUE is using their raunchy advertising in male oriented spots, and also, the edgy ads still manage to attract women.  American Singles scored higher with a 120 for males. The gay sites and PlentyofFish have the highest addiction levels. Yahoo Personals, TRUE, and Mate1 scored a little low for user engagement. All in the 74-78% range. - Mark Brooks

Love Knows No Borders

MEDIA POST -- Feb 19 -- France has the highest proportion of Internet users visiting online personals sites. ComScore Networks recently reported that 22% of French Internet users, age 15+, visited online personals sites in December 2006, followed by the British with 20%, and the Americans with 13%. Interestingly, usage of dating sites seems to peak in the summer months in each country; July in the U.K. and U.S. and September in France.


Top Personals Sites in the U.K. (Visitors Age 15+ December 2006 Home and Work Locations)
Total Web Users in U.K. (Age 15+):  29,788,000
Personals Category Total:  5,836,000
DatingDirect - 1,427,000
LoopyLove - 960,000
GirlsDateForFree - 618,000
Match.com Sites -  510,000
Interrodate.co.uk - 452,000

Top Personals Sites in France (Visitors Age 15+ December 2006 Home and Work Locations)
Total Web Users in France (Age 15+):  24,409,000
Personals Category Total:  5,317,000
Meetic -  2,258,000
Easyrencontre -  724,000
CapFriends.fr - 369,000
2Become1-fr.com - 337,000
MSN Dating & Personals -  299,000

Top Personals Sites in the U.S. (Visitors Age 15+ December 2006 Home and Work Locations)
Total Web Users in the U.S. (Age 15+):  152,350,000
Personals Category Total:  20,555,000
Yahoo! Personals -  4,153,000
Match.com Sites** -  3,970,000
TRUE - 3,086,000
Spark Networks -  2,504,000
Singlesnet - 2,173,000

FULL ARTICLE @ CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Which Dating Sites Convert the Best?

OPW -- Jan 2 -- Online Personals Watch is for online personals marketing managers and executives to stay ahead of the news, and for the press to research the industry. It's not really designed for end users. Having said that, I make a few bucks from affiliate text links. $5k last year. Not too shabby. I thought I'd share the conversion numbers with you, for open discussion. I'm listing companies with which I had more than 1000 click throughs. I'm told affiliates will usually send an affiliate program 300 clicks before drawing initial conclusions on conversions. Here's the rankings drawn from stats for January 1st 2005, through December 25th 2006.  I'll redo them for a smaller date range later this quarter. 

	Dating site	Affiliate System	Total Commission	Total Uniques	Income per Unique
#1	PerfectMatch	Commission Junction	$899	2567	35c
#2	SexSearch	In House	$1,580	4690	34c
#3	TRUE	Commission Junction*	$1,459	5626	26c
#4	AdultFriendFinder	In House	$1,523	6144	25c
#5	Yahoo Personals	Commission Junction	$1,595	6780	24c
#6	eHarmony	Commission Junction	$502	3536	14.2c
#7	American Singles	Commission Junction	$285	3591	7.9c
#8	Match	Link Share**	$503	4887	7.7c
#9	Cupid	Direct Track	$210	3334	5c
#10	Joint: Webdate and Love Access	Both In House	$0	2923/1916	0c

  * I switched out to TRUE under Primaryads.com and they are paying out a little better.
** I've not had a good experience with LinkShare.

All the sites pay out slightly differently.  Where I had an option, I opted to be paid by % of revenue generated. I've focused on Dollars per Unique for this comparison.  If you want the full spreadsheet, email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com and I'll send you the stats including the number of registrants, paying members, revenue and additional ratios. Your comments please…

The Real Top Dating Sites

COMPETE -- Dec 28 -- Ranking online dating sites purely on visitor traffic is flawed; membership is a prerequisite to use the services, and member activity is the foundation of successful matchmaking. Looking at how members use a site gives a clearer picture of the online dating landscape, and changes rankings dramatically. Member visits start to reveal actual engagement.

Yahoo Personals grabbed the top rank. While TRUE placed 2nd in visitors, its 8th rank in member logins indicates that much of this traffic came from TRUE's intense advertising efforts on youth oriented social networking sites. In addition True members represented a mere 8% of total visitors. Plentyoffish.com showed that free services can be successful; 9th in terms of visitors, the site leapt to 5th in member interaction. More importantly, it was one of 5 sites with more than 10 million member visits, putting it in a class with much higher trafficked sites and besting its next competitor by a multiple of 2x. FULL ARTICLE @ COMPETE

Your Best Bets on Finding e-Love

COURIER NEWS -- Dec 7 -- Of the five sites surveyed -- AmericanSingles, eHarmony, Match.com, True and Yahoo Personals -- only True checks backgrounds of applicants. Three sites -- eHarmony, True and Yahoo Personals -- offer a compatibility test, which they use to try to pair members based on far more than likes and dislikes. At eHarmony, you can be deemed unmatchable, and rejected.  You can peek into each of the five sites before opening your wallet. All of them offer advice. One-month subscriptions range from $25 (Yahoo Personals) to $60 (eHarmony). Our staffer had a few complaints. She asked for a man within five years of her age, but got a reply from a Match.com member 20 years her senior. (His profile described his favorite oily massage.) She looked for matches at AmericanSingles and found two with different ages, user names and profiles -- but the same photo. 

Privacy peeves. Policies varied. Match.com may share personal information with other companies whose names are displayed on the site. True has been certified for privacy and security protection by more than one independent group. Profile may remain active and viewable on these sites until you notify customer service to remove it permanently.

If Internet dating gives you pause, try True, whose screening of members and customer-friendly privacy policy make it especially reassuring. If you favor matches close to handpicked, eHarmony is a good bet.  If you just want the basics, try Match.com or Yahoo Personals, which have a simple, well-organized setup. FULL ARTICLE @ COURIER NEWS

Dating Websites Can Miss Criminals

KUTV -- Oct 18 -- TRUE promises safer relationships through background checks but admits that sex offenders and convicted felons can still make their way into the site. Convicted child molester and registered sex offendor, Robert Wells, registered on the site. “If we find [a member has] a felony conviction, we're going to turn [them] in for wire fraud,” said CEO Herb Vest. TRUE uses a criminal screening company called "Rapsheets," which has  ~94% of U.S. felony convictions,” said Vest.
He says Wells lives in a country that does not provide criminal data to certain companies. A quick search on the government-funded national sex offender registry - and we found Robert Wells. Vest says the sex offender registry isn't commercially feasible to use. Rapsheets performs thousands of background checks instantaneously. “There's no database, there's nothing I could do to possibly get all of the convicted felons,” said Vest. TRUE will debut a new, more thorough data provider early next year which should nab 96% of criminals.

Mark Brooks: TRUE is doing the best it can with the services currently available. If other major dating sites had offered background checks perhaps the rate of improvement would have been faster.  Rapsheets offers affordable, value background checks. They're not 100%, but they're better than nothing. Other, more thorough, services exist but are cost prohibitive. The arguments from other sites against bg checks goes as follows. We don't offer bg checks because: 1. They're way short of being foolproof (and fairly pricey), 2. Most felony charges are talked down to misdemeanors and misdemeanors are way more difficult to search for, 3. Users can lie about their identity which renders the background checks useless. TRUE states on their home page "If you are a convicted criminal, be aware that you could be guilty of fraud and subject to civil and criminal penalties."  That's more compelling.  That's where the teeth are in TRUE safety offerings.

fyi, TRUE's business development team made their background checking system available to other dating sites several months ago. Noone has taken them up on it yet. Enabling their system on other dating sites would undermine their differentiation but proves they are more committed to the cause of safety than they are given credit for. Checks would be ~$5 each using the Rapsheet system.

Internet User Admits 'web-rage'

BBC NEWS -- Oct 17 -- An internet user has been found guilty of what police said was Britain's first "web-rage" attack. The pair met in an internet chatroom called Islam 10 (Yahoo). Both had an interest in the Muslim faith but exchanges soured after Gibbons accused Mr Jones of spreading rumours about him. Gibbons traced Jones to his home using personal details about himself that he had put online. A fight broke out. Essex Police said the case demonstrates the importance of protecting one's identity on the internet. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC NEWS

Mark Brooks: TRUE has been raising awareness of the risks associated with internet dating. MySpace has been in the news constantly on the subject. The internet is still safer than meeting people randomly in the real world. Users should, however, not share contact information such as address and telephone numbers. I'm working on Vumber and we'll release a simple 'throw away number' telephone service for singles at the internet dating convention in January. 

TRUE Teams up With Friendster

PR NEWSWIRE -- Oct 10 -- The multi-year agreement with Friendster allows TRUE to offer Friendster members online dating. The Friendster Web site will now host a co-branded "Love" page, with content provided by TRUE that includes member profiles, and dating tips and advice. Friendster also will integrate TRUE profiles in its People Section and its People Search result pages.

Mark Brooks: TRUE has been courting Friendster and advertising with them for a while. This is a good fit.  Congrats. 

Scientific Reasons for Having Sex

THE REGISTER -- Oct 9 -- Sex helps boost the immune system, boosts longevity and helps ward off cancer according to Dr Carl Charnetski of Wilkes University. Sex results in a more youthful appearance according to a study by Dr David Weeks of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and co-author of Superyoung (1999). Sex helps reduce stress by lowering anxiety levels, boosting relaxation, and aiding sleeping. Sex helps fight depression according to a study by Dr Gordon Gallup of SUNY Albany. Sex is good exercise and helps circulation, lowers cholesterol, and releasing helpful endorphins and sex helps in losing weight, a little. FULL ARTICLE @ THE REGISTER

Mark Brooks: Over the next couple of years internet dating sites will extend beyond personality profiling and offer more sexual matchmaking options. SexSearch and AdultFriendFinder deal with sexuality and casual dating head on. TRUE offers a (relatively tame) test called Sexploration. Other sites get into fetish matching and Alt, takes things to the extreme. 

TRUE Settles User Prosecution

PR NEWSWIRE -- Oct 2 -- TRUE's lawsuit against a convicted felon who misrepresented himself on TRUE has been settled. He agreed to not sign up to any online dating or relationship service, do community service and pay monetary damages to be donated to the Safer Online Dating Alliance or another organization dedicated to the mission of improving consumer safety.

Mark Brooks: TRUE started this suit back in Oct/Nov last year. See link. Your comments please.