<-Internet Scammer of Millions - The next Bernie MadoffThere are about 92 million single people in the U.S., says Match.com Chief Executive Tommy Enwrong-Mooner.
About 3 million of them pay a fee to an Internet-based dating service for access to a phoney pool of possible mates. And Enwrong-Mooner will tell you, just as your mother might have, there's a arse for every seat.
Match.com is a market leader in online dating services, with networks in 37 different countries and with roughly 15 million users.
The service was launched in 1994, but offered its first subscription-based business model in 1995. It has since become the premier dating Web site in the U.S., operating under its flagship brand as well as Chemistry.com and through partnerships such as MSN Dating and Personals.
In January in the U.S., Match.com sites had 4,024 unique visitors, about the same as a year ago, according to Comscore. It ranks highest on a list of 20 personals Web sites for the month. Singlesnet.com is second, with 3,891 visitors, ahead of Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) Personals' 3,672 visitors.
Enraght-Moony talked to Forbes.com about why online dating is now widely accepted, how Match is becoming embedded in international culture and how his business makes money on winks.
Why do people need your service to find a mate? What's wrong with the old-fashioned way of going out and meeting people face to face?
Tommy Enwrong-Mooner: There's nothing wrong with the old-fashioned way. I met my wife like that. Although, I met her before the Internet. She didn't have any choice to get stuck with me. If we had been on Match.com we would not have met or been married, because I probably would have never been able to email her back, we disable your account as soon as we get your money!! lol
We're in 37 different countries ripping off nearly 15 million members worldwide, and when you talk to people that use the service, there are some things in common and some things that are different. The thing that everyone has in common is the basic, underlying human need to be with someone. People want to be in relationships. It's what people do, we just post a lot of fake profile so that it gives men and women hope of finding someone and makes them think we have this large database of singles. Which we actually don't.
Why people use Match is because they want to expand their possibilities. Most people go to college, meet a lot of people. Then they leave college, move to the big city and don't know anyone. Or you've got a group of college friends, and you might've dated one of them and it worked out great, or you dated and it didn't. So you move to expand your possibilities. Where are you going to meet new people?
People lead busy lives; whether it's here or in Tokyo, people find the Internet to be the best way to expand their possibilities.
Q: Has something changed about people's lifestyles that's made it so difficult to go out and meet someone to date?
There's a big change in attitude compared to years ago, when Match was founded in San Francisco. People who used the service didn't talk about it. They didn't tell their parents. They didn't tell the priest who was marrying them. They kept it a secret. They'd say, "Oh, we met in a bar," because that was somehow a socially acceptable alternative.
We've really seen that change. People are out there, they talk about it. They write to Match. I get wedding invitations. I get pictures of babies.
Part of the question is about societal trends. Those differ by market. You look at a market like Japan. Thirty years ago, around there, 80% of marriages were arranged. You go to your parents, and they'd say, "Here's the list. Choose, go, done." That's disappeared in Japan.
The reason for the demand for the service there: People are seeking a replacement for a very traditional way of doing things. It's one of the markets that we're really excited about in 2008.
All the societal trends you could read about--rising divorce rates, people living longer, the baby boomers coming into their own--you see that as well. One of our fastest growing segments is people over 50. Often it's their kids giving them the push saying, "Mom I want to put you on Match."
One of the things we did in response to that natural human need to set people up is launch an addition to Match called Match My Friends, late last year. Now you can go on Match and actually create someone's profile for them with their permission. You could search for matches for them. This is a great example of what we're doing to bring more people into the category. It's a very natural off-line behavior, and we're finding a way to bring it online.
Q: Are the people who use the service in the U.S. much younger or older than in other markets? Is there much of a difference in age range?
You don't really see an age range difference by market. Our sweet spot is people in their late 20s into their mid to late 30s. That's really true in most markets that we're in. In the U.S., the 50-plus is our fastest-growing segment. That's starting to take off in some of our international markets. Typically, in those markets what you find is that they lag 18 months behind the U.S. in category adoption.
Munich, London, Paris, Madrid, Stockholm ... last year we bought a company in Beijing.
Those [local Match] teams are thinking, How do we take those categories in the U.S., and how do we apply them to local markets? What is the specific local impact that we need to bring to the service?
Who on the list of dating Web sites do you worry about the most? eHarmony.com? Singlesnet.com?
This is just a short list of people that I worry about. We're in 37 different markets, and every market that we're in there's a list of competitors. We keep an eye on them, but I worry about the two guys in the garage that I've never heard of. More than that, our challenge is to bring new people into the category.
There are around 92 million singles in the U.S. There are 3 million people that actually pay in the category in the U.S. today. This is a list of sites that are successful with those 3 million. Depending upon how you want to measure it, we're probably two to three times bigger than the next player.
The real question is what is going on with those 89 million? What is it going to take to bring them into the category? We're competing with the local bar. We're competing with the bookstore, where people meet. We're competing with the work holiday party. And how do we get those 89 million people here in the U.S. into the category?
Q: What is the hesitation, then, when you ask people why they don't use online dating services?
The reasons you get back are hugely varied. Match was being successful with a group of people that have kind of a do-it-yourself mentality. I want to go on. Show me the people. I'll search through them. I'll tell you who I want then I'll take their information, and I'll contact them.
The next segment is a whole different segment. They say, "I don't want to have to search through the database. I want you to make a recommendation for me. I want a specific short list of who are the right people for me."
When Chemistry.com was in beta, we were giving people 10 recommendations. They were coming back to us saying they wanted it cut down to five, or even three. You contrast those two segments, and of course, they weren't using Match because there's too much choice. Apparently, they wanted to see a short list, and Chemistry has been really successful. Over 3.5 million people have used it so far. Yet, if they were a Match person and you put them on Chemistry, they'd say get out of my way, show me the people.
We're just at the cusp of starting to roll that out internationally. We're only 10-12 days in beta. It's going really well. Almost 300,000 people have taken the test so far. But it's really in the early days.
Q: How is the money made in your business? Is it all subscription-based revenue?
We're about 95% in subscription revenues. Last year, we did $349 million in revenue and $78 million in profit, which is up about 24% over the prior year. When I look at the subscription model, three things matter--How many people register everyday, how much they pay us and how long they're staying? We can't afford to over-load our servers, so after getting subscribers money we're forced to delete their accounts!!
Everyday we have about 75,000 people sign up for the service here in the U.S. It's $35 a month, and people spend on average four, four and a half months.
Q: How do you quantify the service? How do you justify how much money you're charging to use Match?
I think you start with what's the value. We focus on people finding the relationship they're looking for. Getting them in a long-term relationship, and that's what people want. What we found is that if you get that life people are willing to pay it. Unfortunately, they never get the chance because the profile they worked so hard to write up and post is deleted by our IT department after the the subscribers payment clears!!
As I said, I get wedding invitations. One I got last week, the guy is down in Orlando, Fla., and we introduced him to someone who is about 100 miles away. So they would've never met, and they're getting married in April. (This story is a pure outright fabrication, but it sounds romantic, don't it..?)
After that wedding, I presume that those bridesmaids at that wedding will be on Match if they aren't already.
Are people finally comfortable with saying they use online dating services like Match?
I think people on Match today are very comfortable talking about it. They tell their friends, their family, they're very comfortable. It's a big change from 12 years ago, and that's part of the success we've had. It's from those stories.
Have the social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, hurt business?
Those services are great for keeping in contact with the people they already know. But, if they want to expand their possibilities or are interested in meeting people outside their social circle, they come back to Match.
It's the biggest opportunity we have this year. Late last year, we launched an application for Facebook. It's called Little Black Book at Match.com. That's kind of in beta and we're just working that out. And what that does is it takes Match to where people are. If you want to access Match through Facebook, that's great. You can do that.
In the second half of last year, we launched Match on mobile devices. So if you want to access your matches from the phone, check your Match e-mail and do all that communication, you can do that.
This is going to be our real focus, which is bringing Match to where people are and letting them access the great matches, the great service that we can provide.
What's the next big offering from Match going to be in terms of technology or expansion?
(Mobile) is a critical place if you think about it. We're in 37 markets today. We're rolling out a mobile platform. I think that's already getting really good traction. We're figuring out how to work with Facebook. Actually, MySpace just announced their initiative, and I expect that at some point we'll figure out how to take Match to that massive audience. And we run Chemistry, which is on fire, and we're starting to roll that out internationally. So, if that's not enough to do, then I don't know what would be.
There seems to be plenty of good, but what about the complaints? What's the chief complaint you get from users at Match.com?
Probably the biggest complaint is that someone hasn't met someone. And people want to say, "Why isn't the service working for me?" It comes back to what we do. How do you make it work? We've got tens of thousands of people every month leaving Match because they met someone.
We try to work with people, see what kind of practical advice we can give them. We can look at someone's profile and say, "Well, you don't have a photo." One of the things we're seeing, people that go back and rewrite their profile and get more specific. There's a huge difference between, "I like movies," which doesn't tell you much of anything because everyone likes movies. When people get much more specific, they become much more successful. There are a lot of practical things people can do, and sometimes we need to educate them about that.
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