JDate

JDate, a popular dating website for Jewish singles, has launched a new mobile app for its members.

In the past couple of years mobile apps have taken off among daters, especially with the popularity of free and easy-to-use dating apps like Tinder, so traditional dating sites have had to step up their mobile game. After all, most people have their phones with them at all times and are able to log in anytime, anywhere, as opposed to their desktops.

Desktop dating is almost a thing of the past. Since it’s much easier to access phone apps, mobile dating apps tend to be stickier for users – attracting people to check in when they are waiting in line or for a friend to meet them, or just bored. The more often people are logging in, the more attractive it is to other potential users, which is what online dating companies want.

Enter JDate’s new app, which they describe as “a robust, on-the-go experience.” The features however are pretty standard, compared to what is already available via mobile dating apps. The big difference is their loyal user base – singles looking for relationships with similarly religious people.

Some of the new features include a better snapshot of each potential match. For each profile, you can easily see information such as location, religious preference (orthodox, reform, etc.), how well matched you are (0-100%), and from the same screen, you can choose to look at profile details, chat, email, or flirt with your match.

Photo access has improved, too. From the app, you can scroll through hundreds of photos of your matches (a la Tinder), as well as upload your own either from your phone, Instagram or Facebook.

Subscribers have the ability to chat instantly with other members who are either currently browsing the app or on the site from a desktop, and can hold multiple chats at once. They also have the ability to see who has favorited them or viewed their profile, and to see who is nearby via the “Members of the Tribe” feature.

The app also includes JDate’s popular “Secret Admirer” game, where a member can anonymously show interest in another member.

Reviews on the iTunes store have been mixed. Many users are happy with the results compared to apps of other traditional dating sites like Match and eHarmony because of JDate's easy-to-navigate format, but they are frustrated by the search capabilities as well as how long it took the company to make a well-formatted app.

JDate currently has over 750,000 members worldwide. To find out more about this service you can read our JDate review.

Breakups are never easy, especially when it means losing your job. Spark Networks, the company behind dating sites like ChristianMingle.com and JDate.com, has announced that it's cut its workforce and has made substantial progress in expense reduction initiatives. The measures are expected to save the company $4.5 million to $5 million a year.

Although Spark did not disclose exactly how many jobs were cut, the company had previously reported that it had 201 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31. The company expects to incur pre-tax cash charges of approximately $1.3mm for severance benefits and other related expenses.

The cuts come at an interesting time for Spark Networks. Lately, its sites have seen an increasing number of their customers turn to competing services. The company has also undergone a number of recent changes in its corporate structure. David Hughes, formerly chief executive at a digital marketing firm in West Los Angeles, resigned as a director after joining Spark Networks’ board just six months prior. He will be replaced by Jonathan R. Mather, a former Netgear chief financial officer.

Hughes’ exit comes only two months after a very public ousting of four of Spark's six directors (including Chief Executive Greg Liberman). The hope is that a fresh crop of directors will be better able to help the company rise above the competition in difficult times.

Free dating sites like OkCupid and mobile apps like Tinder are dominating the market and have made life difficult for services like Christian Mingle and JDate. Spark Networks experienced a 10% drop in revenue during the second quarter, to $15.8 million. The company reported a total of $29 million in net losses over the last three years.

Looking to future, Spark Networks plans to head back to basics. It's putting its focus on three things in hopes of boosting subscriber count and revenue:

1. Upgrading its product offerings
2. Improving its processes for subscriber acquisition, retention, and renewal
3. Refining its marketing strategy

"Much has been accomplished over the last 30-days to refocus the business on its core properties and to drive operational efficiencies,” said Executive Chairman Michael McConnell in a statement.

“Moving forward, I believe the opportunity to profitably grow our business is significant and we are prepared to execute on strategic growth initiatives that meet our return on capital hurdles. Further, the team is operating with a sense of urgency and commitment to drive improvements in all areas of the business. Importantly, I am confident in the resilience and resonance of our brands within our targeted communities."

It’s been a busy month for Spark Networks. The owner of ChristianMingle, JDate, BlackSingles. and more, has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2014, and will soon be getting a new CEO.

Revenue in Q2 2014 was $15.8 million, a decrease of 10% from the previous year’s $17.6 million. A 9% decrease in average paying subscribers – reflecting an 8% and 7% decline in average paying subscribers for the Christian and Jewish Networks segments, respectively – is the primary reason for the overall drop in revenue.

On the plus side, expenses were down. Direct marketing expenses in the second quarter of 2014 were $7.9 million, a decrease of 43% from Q2 2013. Total cost and expenses dropped 19% from the previous year, to $16.8 million this year. Net loss in the second quarter of 2014 was $1.1 million, or $0.05 per share, compared to a net loss of $3.3 million, or $0.15 per share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2014 was a loss of $363,000, an improvement of 84% compared to the year-ago period.

Much of the good news comes from Christian Networks, which accounted for most of the decreased expenses thanks to improved marketing efficiency and growth in the winback and renewal subscriber bases. Christian Networks was also responsible for bumping contribution up in the second quarter of 2014 to $7.8 million, an increase of 109% from the year before. This is the first time Christian Networks has generated positive contribution in 15 quarters.

All this comes at a time of major change for Spark Networks. President & CEO Greg Liberman has left the company, leaving Michael McConnell – the company’s Chairman of the Board – to serve as Executive Chairman until Liberman’s successor is in place.

“It has been an incredible ten years, and I am honored to have spent more than half of my professional career at such a special company,” said Liberman. “Spark is a relationship business in every sense of the word. Through iconic brands like JDate and ChristianMingle, we create countless relationships for our members every day. But, behind the scenes, it’s the relationships we have in the communities we serve and the relationships within our team that drive everything.

Suffice it to say, I am extremely proud and grateful to have played a role in building and leading such an amazing team, and to have had the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with them to transform this company and business. In their hands, Spark’s future is very bright.”

For more on these two dating sites you can read our reviews of ChristianMingle.com and JDate.com.

Online dating is about to get a major shakeup. And when I say major, I really mean major. Spark Networks, which owns popular dating sites like JDate and Christian Mingle, has put itself up for sale and has at least one prospective suitor.

The big news comes on the heels of the company unexpectedly postponing its annual shareholder meeting in June, two days before it was scheduled. The move allowed Spark Networks to put its focus on the potential deal and to sidestep a board battle with its largest shareholder, Osmium. Things have been tense lately with Osmium, a San Francisco hedge fund that has been pushing for board seats over concerns that Spark has been neglecting to allocate sufficient funds for JDate while over-spending on Christian Mingle.

Spark has spent $120 million in direct marketing on Christian Mingle since 2011, which has helped grow Christian Mingle’s subscribers by almost 700 percent since 2010. Revenue is also up, from $45 million in 2008 to $70 million in 2013, but along with those efforts came dramatically increased costs as a percentage of revenue.

Meanwhile JDate, the most famous and lucrative site in the Spark Networks arsenal, looks to be going through a rough patch. According to Osmium, the Jewish dating site posted revenue of $6.1 million in the first quarter – its lowest level since 2006. Jewish subscribers have also declined to  2006 levels.

All of this is coming at the same time as big-time changes for the Spark Networks board. When the delayed annual shareholder meeting finally took place, four of the company’s six sitting directors were nixed, including Chairman and CEO Greg Liberman. The shareholders instead picked four directors nominated by – surprise! – Osmium. One of the two Spark directors who was re-elected, Thomas Stockham, resigned not long afterwards.

“The new board is eager to work alongside Spark employees with a renewed sense of urgency, accountability and focus, in order to drive increased shareholder value,” said Osmium’s founder and new Spark director John Lewis to the New York Post.

As for what’s happening with the sale of Spark Networks, everyone involved is remaining tight-lipped for now. The name of the prospective buyer has yet to be revealed, but the New York Post notes that “the world of online dating companies is small and currently dominated by Barry Diller’s IAC, which owns popular dating sites Match.com, OKCupid and Tinder.”

More online daters are using their phones to connect with each other rather than their laptops. Considering how many of us have smartphones and how often we check them, it only makes sense that this would be the best way to reach busy singles. So online dating sites have had to strengthen their mobile offerings to compete with popular apps like Tinder. Some have fallen behind with clunky, outdated features, but some are taking big steps forward in optimizing their technology.

The importance of optimizing users’ mobile experience isn’t lost on JDate, one of the most popular online dating sites for Jewish singles. The company has just launched a new version of the site that takes its most popular features and makes them even easier to access and use on mobile devices.

The widely-used Secret Admirer feature, a staple on the main JDate website, is now available on mobile. It’s been a key component of JDate’s technology, and according to JDate, other online dating sites have licensed the model due to its popularity. The Secret Admirer's "Yes-No-Maybe" functionality connects mutually interested users anonymously. Users like this because it eliminates some anxiety-provoking guess-work that shy online daters want to avoid.

JDate's new, mobile-optimized design also places key activities, such as profile views and messages, front and center on the site. Users are able to access quick, on-the-go status checks along with their email messages, IMs, Favorites and Flirts. Additionally, JDate mobile's 2.0 experience allows members to easily make changes and improvements to their profiles from their mobile devices. They can update directly from the site if they want to change photos or make edits to their descriptions.

"The new JDate mobile site enables JDaters to connect with one another and the community like never before," said Greg Liberman, CEO of Spark Networks, the company that owns and operates JDate. "Our goal has always been to provide JDate members with the tools to meet others who share their culture, values and interests, and our new, easy-to-navigate mobile site puts best-in-class tools, quite literally, right at our members' fingertips."

The question is, for JDate users – is it too little too late? The answer is unclear, because for the many people who download mobile dating apps like Tinder, there are still more online dating. The majority of singles use a mix of both online dating sites and mobile dating apps, especially if they want to keep options open. This means constantly improving technology to stay competitive.

JDate currently hosts more than 750,000 users. To find out more about this dating site please read our review of JDate.

Spark Networks, Inc., the company behind many special-interest online personal sites including JDate.com, BlackSingles.com, and ChristianMingle.com, has reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending on December 31, 2013.

"2013 marked our third consecutive year of growth as we continued to execute our long-term strategic plan," said Greg Liberman, Spark Networks' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "And, unlike the previous two years, in addition to delivering 12% revenue growth, we also demonstrated a meaningful 8% improvement in contribution for the year, punctuated by a 16% increase in Q4 contribution."

Highlights of 2013 for Spark Networks include:

• Total revenue grew Y/Y for 12^th consecutive quarter
• Total contribution grew 16% Y/Y
• Christian Networks revenue grew Y/Y for 13^th consecutive quarter
• Christian Networks ARPU grew Q/Q for first time since Q1 2013

Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013 was $17.2 million, an increase of 6% compared to the $16.3 million earned the year before. Full year 2013 revenue was $69.4 million, a 12% increase compared to 2012. The Christian Networks segment was primarily responsible for that growth.

"Our dual engines – the Christian and Jewish Networks segments, anchored by ChristianMingle and JDate – once again drove our performance,” said Liberman. “In 2013, Christian Networks grew 27%, generated more than $40 million in revenue and constituted 58% of the company's revenue base. While impressive in a vacuum, that is even more notable given that Christian Networks generated less than $6 million and comprised just 14% of our revenue when we relaunched the business three years ago.”

Spark Networks clearly has another iconic brand on its hands with ChristianMingle, but it hasn’t all been good news for the company. Wall Street isn’t loving Spark nearly as much as consumers are.

Earlier this month, Spark dropped 19% to $4.66 – earning it the dubious distinction of being Wall Street's fifth-biggest percentage drop - after the company said 2014 could be a tough year for some of its online dating website. Revenue is up, losses are down, but Liberman found that many online dating newbies let their paid subscriptions lapse in the third and fourth quarters.

In the face of stiff competition from IAC/Interactive's Match.com and OkCupid, Spark Networks plans to switch up its strategy in 2014 by reining in advertising and marketing spending. "We're pivoting a little bit here and focusing on profitability,'' said Liberman. Hopefully the new strategy means a little less heartbreak for Spark Networks investors.