Quote:
Originally Posted by bossku69
of course this model is "dead" because there are 84,000 other dating sites out there all promising the same thing.
match.com is probably one of the most successful dating sites IMO (mainstream) and that has a lot to do with the amount of advertising and marketing they do. Eharmony is the same way, they are always running ads but i think they are focused more towards the "older" type crowd.
at the same time, I dont think the "free dating site" model will ever be successful because of the mass amount of spammers it will get. Shit, even sites like Fling have spammers that try to get you to sign up for AFF ads.
IMO this kind of goes in the same as porn. general/hardcore sites are not nearly as productive as they used to be because that content is everywhere, versus niche sites are performing just fine and thats probably how dating will start to go too
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By this logic all the free dating site needs to do is reign in their affiliates and do more fraud screening... you wouldn't believe how much fraud screening is done on the major dating sites... but even then they're not going to take over...
For one you've got the whole perceived value thing... Second, you've got an ad based revenue model... good to support one guy or maybe a few people, not good enough to drive a major company.
PlentyOfFish is a joke with anyone that's actually looking to date... if you want a better example I say take a look at OKCupid, albeit it's more of a hybrid social network/dating model.