I’ve been on at least 10 media calls over the past several days. Nobody is asking about dating trends for 2009. Reporters want to know about white label dating providers, video and niche sites this year. No questions about background checks, which was last year’s hot topic.
Reporters are tired of writing about the same Valentine’s Day stories. The amount of practically useless press releases sent out this week is staggering. Dating coaches with boring stories, survey’s of 25 people about what flavor of edible underwear they prefer and “When to break up with your loser boyfriend” rule this year.
Once reporters understand the difference between white label dating and dating software, they tend to ask a lot of questions about how profiles are shared, value of shared databases, and what it’s like as a member to not exactly understand exactly where your profiles lives. A bright point in a seemingly endless conversation about online dating this week. Glad some people are paying attention.
Reporters, a few topics for your stories this week:
Video will continue to grow in 2009 (lots of money raised to support marketing efforts). So will speed dating (same), so will free dating sites, at least for 12 months, before free white label dating sites emerge and start to eat away at the free dating market.
Niche sites based on sexual preference, age, religion and interest are always big stories. Several people are asking about Penthouse owning BigChurch.com.
Mobile is growing, finally, but mainstay dating sites continue to avoid it like the plague. Upstarts are taking all the momentum away from large dating sites, they are smarter, faster and “get it” in ways large dating sites simply don’t, or won’t or can’t.
It’s ok to say that $900 million is peanuts when it comes to dating revenue. Just because Match and eHarmony make hundreds of millions doing an ok job doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. Complacency breeds competition which is going to steal market share like nobody’s business, although it will take a while.
Last year journalists asked about True.com, Mate1 and SinglesNet. True.com is a shell of it’s former self. See what all of the T&A advertising got you? Mate1 is hanging in there, but several missteps have killed traffic.
SinglesNet was #1 a year ago, right now between the legal complaints about billing and a drop of about 2 million visitors a month, it’s anyone’s guess how long this brash upstart will stick around the top 10.
Match is attempting to go after PlentyOfFish. DowntoEarth could kill off Match if they are not careful, or it could limp along in mediocrity, the jury is out for at least a year on this one. One thing that is amazing, they have more profiles than most of the online dating industry after 60 days.
Networks of dating sites are stronger than standalone sites, especially when they drive traffic across the network.
Backgroundchecks are more interesting to reporters than to singles. Still, nobody but eHarmony offers them. Portable credentials are where it’s at. Who wants to pay Match $30 for a verified photo and a “I’m not an axe murder” logo when a reputation badge that can be used as a widget on multiple dating sites and social networks is so much more useful?
Joining a new dating site takes too long. Expect Facebook Connect and it’s new datasharing system to make joining new sites a snap, as long as you don’t have to muddle through a test.
The online dating industry busy season ends in a few days. Let’s give them something new to write about for the rest of the year.
