ISP Woes
- Thursday, August 14 2008 @ 08:47 am
- Contributed by: Editor
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Lavalife Prime was launched in June 2007 and had an advertising budget of less than $1 million. It started as a free service where singles of the age 45 and older could come to meet other singles online. Agneta Owen, a marketing consultant for Lavalife Corp. expected it to attract 25,000 members by June 2008. They almost doubled their goal. This means Lavalife had planned to spend $40 per member ($1,000,000 / 25,000 expected members) and ended up spending only $20 per member in advertising dollars. Recently Lavalife Prime started to charge it's members (see Story) so it will be interesting to see where membership levels drop too. On average paid dating sites can expect 10 to 20 percent of its free members convert to the paid service.
The over 50 crowd is a valuable market. This age group are usually at the height of their income level and make up roughly a third of the population in North America. Does Lavalife Prime offer what older singles are looking for? We will have to wait and see. This segment of the market already has a number of successful dedicated sites. Lavalife Prime would have to compete with these as well as the established dating services like Match.com and eHarmony. Prime hopes with their spin on the dating service experience and their sprinkling of social networking features, that they will come out on top. The relative unique feature of Lavalife Prime seems to be the section "My Life Experiences" in the profile. It contains the members pictures and videos of different memories or experiences they may of had through out their life. This is then presented in a picture time line.
We expect to do a full review soon of Lavalife Prime.
Update: Check out the new Lavalife Prime Review.
Match.com parent company IAC released their second quarter Financial Report late last month. Overall Match.com saw slight growth in both revenue and subscribers. Total revenue was up 8 percent to $93.3 million over the same period last year. This increase was driven by a 4 percent increase in international subscribers. North America subscribers saw 3 percent revenue growth while actual subscription numbers grew by 1 percent for the same quarter in 2007.
For more information, read IACs Press Release.
It appears woman over the age of 50 want a younger man on two of the most popular dating services, as reported in the Washington Post. On average a 50 year old woman on Match.com wants a man who is 48. At the same time on eHarmony, a woman who is 50, is looking for a man 10 to 15 years younger. Thanks to in part of the women's movement and the fact that woman now are more independent equal opportunity has come to matching. Older woman matched with younger men also makes sense from a biology stand point.
Women, according to calculations based on mortality risk, are five years "younger" than men the same age. The 65-year-old woman is the biological equivalent of a 60-year-old man. So it's sensible, not just fanciful, for a woman to look for a younger guy.
By looking at the averages on eHarmony and Match.com though, most men are still looking for a younger woman. eHarmony has found men 50 years or older are seeking women 6 to 26 years younger and Match.com has a similar ratio. On average men who are 56 are seeking someone who is 54 but, when you look at men who are 70, they are looking for a 58 year old woman.
Of course this is what people want and the problem with it is, it creates an age gap. If both men and woman over the age of 50 are looking for a younger partner, matching them up becomes difficult. Of course what a person wants and what happens in real life is a different story. On eHarmony were reporting of successful matches is requested, it has found woman 40 years or older found a match with someone who is plus or minus 4 years their age. For men at age 40 it is the same age difference as woman but, by the time men reach 60, successful matches for them has reached the age range of plus or minus 6 years.
For the full story see the Washington Post. Read our Match.com Review or eHarmony Review for more information on these popular dating services.
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