Revenue grew 1% from 48.2 to 48.5 million. Operating income grew 2% from 7.6 to 7.8 million. Paid Subscribers up 16% to 997,000. international subscribers up 90%
Personals revenue was flat, on a 16% increase in paid subscribers which was offset by a decrease in the average monthly pricing due to the introduction in Q2 2003 of lower monthly pricing for long-term subscriptions and an increase in long-term subscriptions as a percentage of total subscriptions. Paid subscribers were down slightly sequentially due to seasonality. Repeat subscribers continue to contribute strongly to performance. The international business excluding uDate was a significant growth driver, with subscriber growth of 90% over the prior year. Operating Income Before Amortization declined 7% due primarily to higher product development costs, increased spending on international operations and Match.com’s new domestic ad campaign that was launched in June. The company expects revenue in Q3 and Q4 to be higher than Q2 driven by growth in paid subscribers, although Q3 operating margins are expected to be adversely impacted by expenses associated with the new marketing campaign.
Only new feature of note over the last year is Intuitive Profile Flow (“IPF”), which takes the user through a path of registration, completion of basic profile, completion of the personality test, uploading of photos and finally the completion of the physical attraction test.
