Online Dating Industry Journal

April 30 Only - 20% Off Advertising

5/1/08 Note: This offer has now expired. Out of the four available package plans only ODM02 and ODM03 now remain (at regular price). The other two will not be available until at least June 1, 2008. There will be no more discounts offered for at least three months.

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Good for today only - April 30, 2008, you can get 20% off any advertising that you book through Online Dating Advertising. Simply pick a package, book it, and we'll subtract 20% from the total cost. Here are the packages:

View All Add Packages

ODM01
Targets singles and online daters.

ODM02
Targets singles and online daters.

ODM03
Targets people/executives who work in the online dating industry.

ODM04
Targets singles and online daters.

Packages must be booked by 11:59pm on April 30, 2008 to be eligible. Your ads will run for the month of May (unless you book a three month package, then they'll run for May, June, and July!

View Online Dating Commercials

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Online Dating Magazine's Online Dating Industry section has published several TV commercials from PerfectMatch.com, Match.com, and Chemistry.com. You can see the commercials by clicking here then scrolling down a little until you see "Dating Service TV Commercials" in the right hand column.

Here are direct links to each service's commercial page:

PerfectMatch.com Commercials
Match.com Commercials
Chemistry.com Commercials (includes the infamous Rejected by eHarmony spots)

Online Dating Magazine is also fans of spec commercials (commercials produced not for airing, but to show off a director's talents in hope of gaining work). One of the magazine's favorites is a spec commercial done for Match.com.

Online Dating Magazine's Online Dating Industry Guide a place where people who work within the online dating industry (or those thinking of breaking in) can gather insight into the industry.

Chemistry Versus Compatibility in Online Dating Matching Systems

(Online Dating Industry Journal) In this week's Office Hours with Dr. Jim column (at Online Dating Magazine), Dr. James Houran discusses chemistry versus compatibility in online dating matching systems. Here's a blurb from the column:

"My own research using advanced scaling techniques derived from modern test theory, as well as the literature with which I am aware, all points to a cognitive view of romantic compatibility, which stresses partners’ dynamic reinterpretation of their social, emotion and sexual realities. In past publications and academic conferences, I have defined it as 'a holistic pattern of shared beliefs and values, mutually beneficial similarities and differences across personality traits, demographic preferences, and a cognitive set that motivates and sustains both erotic and companionate love in each partner'..."

Click here to read the entire article.

Number of Polish People Moving to Ireland Spawns New Dating Service

(Online Dating Industry Journal) With 250,000 Polish people living in Ireland and more moving their regularly, new services are targeting the population, including online dating services. Ireland online dating service AnotherFriend.com has announced that it has opened a new version of its online dating service, just for Polish people living in Ireland. AnotherFriend.com was translated and given a Polish domain extension - AnotherFriend.pl.

"Translating the site is one way we have embraced the market but there are many more opportunities presenting themselves as the market continues to expand," says Grainne Barry, Managing Director of AnotherFriend.com. "AnotherFriend.com is lucky because we can anticipate trends based on the actions of our users. Advertisers seek to use our site to target their desired audience and we know advertising works for them because the site traffics over 8 million impressions per month and we can monitor every click."

Barry says that the average age of its members are between 28 and 45 and that the man to woman ratio is equally split at 50/50.

"Our own research tells us that online dating is the future of dating and coupled with positive stateside statistics we are confident that demand for this site," says Barry. "Extra services like the Polish translation, will grow. It’s the age-old business rule, where people go, advertisers follow and we will endeavor to anticipate trends rather than react to them."

AnotherFriend.com first launched eight years ago and the founders claim that there have been more than 200 marriages as a result of their service.

Love at First Byte

(Online Dating Industry Journal) The Daily Record has published a story titled "Love at First Byte" that takes a look at online dating in Ellensburg, Washington. The article begins with the journalist being puzzled over the lack of people willing to share their online dating experiences and wondering if its because of the stigma attached to online dating. The article quotes a marriage counselor who doesn't recommend that people online date.

From the article:

"Still, Ellensburg marriage counselor Marti Bradley doesn't recommend it. Communication, or lack of, is the leading problem she sees among married couples.

'It's important for us to talk face to face," Bradley said. "You can't have a relationship that makes communication harder'..."

Click here to read the entire article.

Dating Service Uses Rape Story to Plug Service

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Dating service TeamDating.com is using the story of a woman raped by someone she met online to plug their service. In the Comments section of the story, the service writes:

"This problem continues to plague the concept of online dating. This is very unfortunate, and should not happen. This is one of the reasons I am so passionate about Teamdating.com, because the group based approach allows for you and your friend to be together and meet another group, so there is safety in numbers. My thoughts are with this poor victim."

Joe's Comments
There are times and places to promote your online dating service and times and places that you shouldn't promote it. IMHO.

Study Addresses Failure of Online Dating Services

(Online Dating Industry Journal) A study titled "Improving Online Dating with Virtual Dates" is addressing some of the major failures with online dating services, particularly when it comes to attributes people want to search for versus attributes the online dating service targets in profiles.

From the study:

"We suggest that the failure of online dating sites to live up to user expectations is due in part to a fundamental gap between the kinds of information people both want and need to determine whether someone is a good romantic match and the kind of information available on online dating profiles... Most online dating sites use a 'shopping' interface like that used by other commercial sites, in which people are classified much like any commodity, by different searchable attributes (e.g., height, weight, income), which can be filtered in any way the shopper desires (see Bellman, Johnson, Lohse, & Mandel, 2006). Because determining whether or not one likes someone romantically requires subjective knowledge about experiential attributes such as rapport or sense of humor, it is perhaps not surprising that online daters might be disappointed when they are forced to screen potential partners using objective searchable attributes such as income and religion..."

The research paper, which you can read here, was conducted by Jeana H. Frost, Zoe Chance, Michael I. Norton, and Dan Ariely.

Online Dating Advertising Site Update

(Online Dating Industry Journal) The Online Dating Advertising Website has been updated as two previously unavailable ad campaigns will become available on May 1, 2008 for advertisers trying to reach online daters. Online Dating Advertising is a site focused on connecting online dating companies with available online dating advertising space to advertise their services.

The Ad Packages Available Beginning May 1 (you'll need to book before then) are:

ODM Package 01
ODM Package 04

The two packages now available (the first listed is for people trying to reach industry personnel versus online daters) are:

ODM Package 02
ODM Package 03 (for targeting industry personnel versus online daters)

You can read Online Dating Advertising's FAQ here.

Gays Visit Online Dating Sites More than Heterosexuals

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Harris Interactive recently did a study to measure the online habits of gays and lesbians compared to the habits of heterosexuals. Many areas were analyzed including interests in blogs, online usage, and visits to social networking and dating sites.

A majority (57%) of gay adult men online declare they are a member of a social networking web site, compared to 37% of heterosexual men. Also, two out of five (42%) gay and lesbian adults have visited an online social community or network in the last month, compared with roughly a third (32%) of heterosexuals. Just over one-quarter (26%) of gay adult men reported visiting an online dating service in the last month, compared to 9% of heterosexual male adults.

The survey was conducted with 2,733 adults of which 326 were gay or lesbian.

True Survey - Money Matters Little in Dating Game

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Online dating service True.com has released a survey about how singles feel on the subject of love of money. The survey found that singles would choose love over money and also found that less than 1% of females expect to pay for the first date.

Singles also agreed that it doesn't matter whether the man or woman makes more money in an relationship. Couples also overwhelmingly said that they would stay in a relationship where their partner had major financial debt or had declared bankruptcy.

The conclusion: Couples would choose love over money.

Click here to see the full survey.

Joe's Comments
The irony here is that financial problems are one of the major causes of divorce.