I’ve compiled recent bits of information about Match.com, along with related stories and insights, let’s review.

Match by the Numbers

Let’s take a look at the most recent numbers for 4Q 2007.

• Higher revenue per subscriber.
• Revenue up 14% from $79.4 to $90.6 million.
• Paid Subscribers grew 1% to 1,285,500
• Operating Income Before Amortization flat at $20.9 million.
• Operating Income down 22% to $16.2 million from $20.7 million.

Revenue growth was driven by a 14% increase in revenue per subscriber. International subscribers grew 11%, while worldwide subscribers grew 1%. Flat Operating Income Before Amortization is primarily due to higher marketing costs compared to the year ago period. Operating income for the current period reflects amortization of non-cash marketing of $3.9 million and an increase of $0.6 million in the amortization of intangibles.

Enter new Match Chief Executive Thomas Enraght-Moony. The Match CEO blog seems to have disappeared, where did it go?

Make sure to read Match.com eyes social networks for subscribers. Enraght-Moony states that Match is getting a lot of new subscribers from Myspace. So did True.com, and where are they now? Just because Myspace is driving traffic, then where is the subscriber growth? I’m not talking about aggregate visits per month, I’m talking about people plunking down credit cards.
From the consumer’s perspective, ranking paid dating sites based on traffic makes little sense and is actually more of a disservice as these days you can’t do anything on a paid site without paying yourself.

For free sites, traffic is a useful measurement, but consumers don’t know what compete and Comscore are and instead watch tv, listen to radio or get recommendations from their friends when selecting a dating site.

In 2003, Match had a feature called Match Friends, not to be confused with the new “Match my friends” feature which debuted recently. (Blogher has lots of details about “Match my friends”).

At the time, Match Friends was thought to be a logical extension of the service. Why would Match want to lose subscribers after they found a date? The idea was to create a friend network and keep them coming back. This was at the very beginning of Friendster and the social networking boom. IAC, Match’s parent company, offers services which dovetail nicely with life.

Meet your mate on Match. Find concert tickets on Ticketmaster. Get a mortgage at Lending Tree then go on vacation via Expedia, and so on. Talk about owning a large chunk of the relationship timeline.

Those were the heady days of massive growth in the personals industry, when Tim Sullivan was CEO of Match. How quickly things change.

Match.com comes to Facebook

Match knows that Myspace and Facebook and other social nets are walking off with millions of dollars in revenue every month. Having failed at creating arguably the first social network, Match is now looking to market their services to social network users.

The first application Little Black Book, launching on Facebook soon, will link FB users with Match daters.

Little Black Book lets Facebook users sign up to see the other Facebook users who hope to date someone. Once they’re signed up, users of Little Black Book will receive potential matches among Facebook users and non-Facebook users who are signed up with Match.com. (Yahoo News).

Kristy McKnight, vice president of product management at Match says in effect that marketing to social networks is important. I concur and hope to see the lines between dating and social nets continue to erode.

Jason Stockwood, head of the UK arm of Match:

As the market leader, our biggest strategic challenge is to grow the category and our experience tells us that social networkers have a high propensity to try online dating, which makes this a natural move for us. Match.com shares many of the same characteristics as a social network – both are about bringing people together.

That is a decent attempt at describing the relationship between dating and social networking circa 2005. Dating sites are now the lamprey eel attempting to feast on the salmon called social networking.

What does it say about social networking when Bill Gates, who just bought $240 million into Facebook, has abandoned the service after supposedly spending 30 minutes a day on the site prior to the cash infusion?

In mobile dating news, Vodafone is to be the first operator to make use of Facebook’s new Mobile Operators Platform, and has also signed a deal with dating site Match.com. (Via The Register).

Researching Match via search engines is always interesting. The same big-name media outlets publish the same PR verbiage, while very few scribes take the time to pick up the phone and dig a little deeper. No wonder reporters complain about the same old Valentine’s Day stories. I try to balance the news with appropriate (and sometimes not) commentary, otherwise you would be reading about online dating via Google Reader, which is now included at the top of this blog.

Mashable mentions Copenda and Lovest, interesting.

Match.com has ramped up its user acquisition efforts with attractive new features, in its efforts to refocus attentions on its own service and further growth for the coming year. And with the ability to integrate more directly with existing social networks, will Match.com’s new Little Black Book feature, which could be rolled out across multiple networks thanks to Open Social and other open platform movements, mean a possible demise for third-party engines like Copenda and Lovest?

First off, Match isn’t going anywhere near OpenSocial for at least 12 months. OpenSocial is still too new and Match has their 2008 roadmap firmly in place.

A look into the rear-view window shows the carcasses of various dating search aggregators that have come and gone over the years. I think the current crop of players has a much better chance at success, but only because dating sites like Match are up against the wall and most include social network profiles, which often don’t hide behind logins and paywalls. Back in 2003 major dating sites laughed at dating search aggregators. Who needs them, we’re fine on our own. Not any more.

Mashable has the goods on Copenda and Lovest. More on these aggregator plays later.

Funny how the same comments from Dontdatehimgirl are showing up on most of the social networking blogs talking about OpenSocial. Busted! Their videos are funny, seems like they are taking a play out of the Lonelybloggers playbook. DDHG is turning into a portal, and will make money off advertising even though I don’t think people really trust such a site. Reputation management needs to happen on the dating site itself, it’s simply too easy to game the system. This could be an interesting side-business for Iovation after they partner up with background check companies.

International

As I suspected, the dating game differs, depending on the country.

The company’s site in Japan includes information on a person’s blood type in their member profiles. It also offers income verification to prove just how much that attractive lawyer or architect really earns in a year.

Advertising

Match.com launches viral campaign: The 2008 ‘Don’t wait for Cupid and Fate’ campaign, incorporating major TV, radio and tube advertising combined with online activity, introduces the characters, Cupid and Fate.

Abbie Cranage, Match.com’s marketing and partnerships manager:

Our online game provides an effective medium to reach an attractive 25-35 year old female audience in a new environment for internet dating. By engaging players in a fun gaming experience, our Cupid and Fate characters will remind singles that relying on them alone, is no sure way to find love.

After years of playing fun Orbitz games, I gave Cupid and Fate a C grade, at least compared to my new favorite flash game, Dolphin Olympics. I like the “avoid chocolates and roses and seek beer and burgers” anti-Valentine’s Day sentiment which is all the rage (ironically), but it’s 2008 and a variation of Breakout is all they could come up with? Maybe the British will go bonkers over it. I still think it misses the mark.

I got a spam email on Match today. You know the type, “I’m too busy to check my Match email, contact me at my_yahoo_address.com.” When went to report the person, I got a message that said the user no longer exists. Why isn’t that mentioned in my inbox? Waste of my time, although perhaps they were removed the second before I sent in the report?

Continuing my exploration, I see the value-added services listing. I added them all up and it came out to an additional $17.37 per month for 6 months, which equals an additional $104.22 on top of the basic subscription. I pay in 6 month increments at $16.99 per month, which means the add-ons are actually more expensive than the base service itself.

Unless of course you are using Match Platinum, which will run you $1,500 to $3,500, depending on the level of service. I called Match Platinum a year ago to find out more, here’s the resulting blog post. Chemistry.com, sister service to Match, announced they were going to hire matchmakers two years ago.

In 2003, Online Dating Magazine noted Match’s pricing:

1 Month = $19.95 (first 3 days “free”)
3 Months = $39.95 (first 3 days “free”)
6 Months = $59.95 (first 3 days “free”)

I found these prices at Subscription Connection, which alas does not provide the date the data were gathered.

The latest Match pricing I have is $29.99 per month. Dating sites have so many different pricing plans, it’s difficult to keep up withe the changes. Eharmony, famously expensive at $50, is now offering three months for the price of one. That doesn’t come across as reassuring. If you’re doing so well, why the special offers?

Most dating site review sites are thinly veiled affiliate sites and not worth the time to read, although some intrepid souls with super-affiliate dreams have created a new group of review sites that are more up to date and feature better reviews. For the record, I trust ConsumerSearch more than all review sites combined, especially when it comes to parting with hard cold cash.

Online Dating Review is a site I just found out about. I like the comparison chart but the articles are stale, circa 2006. Here’s what’s wrong with review sites. They focus on features, and people don’t give a damn about features, they want to know which site… nevermind, I’m working on it.

New Match Email Features

Last week I came across some new Match email features. I can’t find the screenshots I took, and while poking around the site to try and remember what I saw (God forbid they announce new features, boy do I sound like a broken record?), I see the feature “View your removed profiles.” I never notices that before, could have been there for ages.

The help link says “Remove from searches” is a subscriber-only feature. I am a subscriber and I’m logged in. Fix please.

Match offers Windows Liveâ„¢ Alerts, do people use this feature? Similar to the Userplane always on notification system.

Jobs

Match is looking for a pricing manager and a Market Research Director and a New Business Director.

Finally, a look at the original creator of Match.com, Eric Klein. Use the search feature in the sidebar to find out more about the man responsible for Match. I cannot make this stuff up.

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Chemistry.com PR head Tina Couch has left the building. I enjoyed working with Tina and her team on the chemistry.com blog project earlier this year. Best of luck to Tina in her new endeavors.

Think you have what it takes to jump into the battle with eHarmony? Chemistry.com PR Director auditions are now open.

Speaking of PR, this morning I had a good conversation with Allison Clark, the new Senior Manager, Public Relations at Match.com. Kristin Kelly, who had been at Match since 2004, has also exited stage left.

Dating site executives, have your PR, marketing and communications directors subscribe to this blog. Email, RSS feed or plain old bookmark options available.

Is you site doing something that Online Dating Insider readers would find interesting? Send in your press releases and keep those comment coming. Sometimes I get tired of hearing myself talk. What’s on your mind?

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Check out the error message I caught on Match. “This persons picture is too sexy to display.” I’ve never seen this before.

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There are scores of companies focused on connecting people on the Internet. But what about people without computers, or prefer to communicate by phone?

Ccube, in Cupertino, CA, is making it easier for billions of people without computers to communicate. To use the CCube Service, one only needs a phone. after a brief web-based signup process – which will not be necessary in future versions of the service, all search and conversation will be phone-based.

I spoke with Ccube CEO, Mahesh Lalwani to learn more about the service and how Ccube is different from other anonymous calling services.

Lalwani started out the conversation by mentioning Tom Friedman’s book, A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, in which Friedman talks about 10 “flatteners� that have leveled the global playing field.

Lalwani thinks Click, Call, Connect, the concept behind CCube, is another flattener to add to Friedman’s list. Ccube combines Lalwani’s speech technology and telcom experience to make matching and finding people based on shared interests extremely simple.

Putting together a working anonymous calling system is not difficult. What’s interesting about CCube is that anonymous calling is just the beginning.

There are two primary differentiators between Ccube and other high-end anonymous calling systems. One is the features.  Concepts like call windows are useful when scheduling times you are available to talk throughout the, making it easy of the service without worrying about someone calling you at 2am.

Trying to win the anonymous calling arms race based on features is an uphill battle. The signup process needs to be dead simple and the value proposition clear to users right up front. Then it’s up to the marketing and business development team to go partner with as many communities as possible.

Or in CCube’s case, throw out a free ‘Call Me On Ccube’ widget that gets  embedded in web pages, blogs, email and classified ads and let the users come to you. Building the Ccube community around a web-based, and soon phone-based directory of people. This is a much different model than say Jangl, which is relying on Match to drive adoption via the same “call me” buttons used by Ccube. (Update: Jangl is now the number 2 service on Facebook.)

The ability to search for people by keyword, geographic location, interest or other attribute is the real value of Ccube. Listening to audio descriptions of sofa’s on Craigslist or brunettes over 5’5″ within 100 miles is where Ccube really shines. Match.com had voice profiles years ago and Craigslist may allow some anonymous calling services but Ccube is a meta- directory where categories of daters, sellers and affinity groups can find each other.

Ccube currently offers both free and subscription levels of service for US phone users, including:
Free – 30 minutes per month
$7.00 – 250 minutes per month
$20.00 – 1000 minutes per month

Bring in one friend and receive 10 minutes in addition to the free 30 minutes.

Ccube is a small startup which needs funding and lots of traffic in order to succeed. From what we know so far, Ccube’s success could be a phone call or two (million) away.

No related posts.

Match gets animated, via Adrants. I think these ads must be a hoax, they are insane. Reminds me of a Tim Burton film.

In the more-sane department, Match CEO blog has photos from the “Rejected” commercial shoot.

Related posts:

1. It’s Okay to Look at Match.com
2. I’m Late to the Match.com CEO Blog Party
3. EHarmony Cries Foul

Jangl on TypePad, and Tagged.com. Jangle is blowing up, is Myspace intergration next?

Microsoft and Match partner. MS to offer Instant Messaging capabilities to Match members. Hopefully this works better than the old Match chat app which was rendered mute by everyone’s pop-up ad blockers.

Chemistry.com: Come as you are.

eharmony chooses Strongmail. Why is most of the recent eHarmony news about it’s technical infrastructure?

Let’s Grab a Drink: What kind of beverage are you?

Classmates.com launches dating service. True is an advertiser, and Yahoo used to be onthe site as well, will they remain on the site?

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Match.com has announced that CEO Jim Safka has stepped down. Current Match Chief Operating Officer, Thomas Enraght-Moony will assume the title of Chief Executive Officer.

Safka was with Match for a little over 2.5 years. Enraght-Moony joined Match in November 2004 as senior vice president and general manager of North America before becoming COO in May 2006.

Safka has been named Chief Executive Officer of a new entity tasked with identifying new business opportunities for IAC, Match’s parent company, ranging from start-up ventures to existing entities in various stages of development. The new company will actively seed and incubate new concepts and leverage the strength of the overall IAC network to get them launched.

Good luck to Jim in his new position scouting out new lines of business for IAC. I’m looking forward to speaking with Thomas Enraght-Moony as soon as he’s settled in.

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It’s been a busy week: tax season upon us, the girlfriend back from a month in Australia and several projects all coming due at the same time, with new ones starting up. Regular posting will resume next week.

In the meantime, some links:

New York Times on online and speed dating. Interesting reports of online dating behaviror.

Adrants on Match advertising. I remain frustrated watching Match grovel for traffic.

Suit against DontDateHimGirl.com is thrown out. Tasha Cunningham’s rate-a-date site, now with more than 27,000 profiles, lives to see another day.

I’ve been working on the next version of How to Build a Dating Site. Here are some of the links I’ve been reading in preparation for writing the story.
The Infrastructureless Software Company
Free is a tactic, not a business model.
Amazon S3
AWS and your data center
Monster Muck Mashup - Mass Video Conversion Using AWS
Digg’s Senior System Admin Ron Gorodetzky on How to Handle Network Growing Pains
Elgg social networking platform.
More women on nice dating sites.
KickApps
Consumating Goes Open Source

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Job of the Week: Durex, maker of fine prophylactics, is looking for condom testers. Guys, please don’t crash their servers. Via Everyone’s Guide to Online Dating.

Simulating Dating: Nintendo’s Days of Memories dating simulator “is a collection of love simualtor games pitting players against ladies with slighty enlarged features in a bid to score through gestures, virtual dates and gift giving.” Via Cubed3.

Russians Spend $34 Million Dating Online. The Mamba company, which cooperates with major portals Mail.Ru, Rambler and Km.Ru, is estimated to control over 85 percent of the online dating market. Nine million of online profiles, four million of which are active.

Match video ads get personal. Your local time is displayed in the video ad. These night vision ads are creepy and the women look kind of sleazy. Guess that’s what the kids like these days, a la Paris Hilton ‘s sex video. I would love to see the click-through rate of these ads and the profiles of the people who sign up for Match.

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