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.
