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all the right places
Dating service banner blitz targets lonely hearts
By Marty Beard
The Supremes were once wont to warble that "You Can’t Hurry Love," but that was before the internet, so famous for speeding up so many aspects of our lives, from the most public to the most private.
These days the internet is emerging as not just a place to find a job and old high school buddies but also as a place to speed-search for the next great love in one's life.
Online dating services are understandably hot these days, and hundreds exist to appeal to the 95 million single men and women living in North America.
One of these matchmaking web sites, Lavalife.com, recently relaunched and kicked its online marketing efforts up accordingly.
One of the site’s banner ads was the seventh most widely seen on the internet for the week ending Dec. 2, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
The Toronto-based company’s banners appeared on various sites within the Microsoft Network, including msnmember.msn.com, bestbuy.msn.com, chat.msn.com, radioshack.msn.com and staples.msn.com. In all, the banner reached about 5.1 million unique users, or 6.6 percent of the body of active internet users, netting nine million impressions.
Matchmaking services have been around forever but Lavalife's founders say the web is an especially effective medium because the process removes the stigma attached to off-line services.
"For years, being single has meant that you are always kind of marginalized in society," says Scott Rogers, director of web product design at Lavalife.
"What we’re trying to create is a self-esteem building experience for singles."
Lavalife does that in part by letting its users dictate the level of involvement they’re after. Getting the expectations out there eases consumers’ jitters and keeps the service low-key, company officials say.
"We believe that being single is a positive, not a negative," says Lloyd MacNeil, Lavalife’s director of brand communications.
"Even though, yes, people always have a relationship-type goal, that doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy life right now," MacNeil says.
Lavalife, which got its start as a telephone-based dating service, has many online rivals, including Match.com and Matchmaker.com. As with many web sites and newspaper personal ad sections, Lavalife users can specify to would-be suitors the level of intimacy they desire.
The site offers three degrees of connection that its users can make: casual dating, relationships wanted and intimate encounters. The communities contain the usual variations: men seeking women, women seeking men, men seeking men, women seeking women.
Lavalife customers create personal profiles, which can be accompanied by snapshots, and post them online, where they can riffle through other profiles and send cyber-cuties instant messages and "smiles."
"We have effectively integrated instant messaging with search functionality and with other contact options," MacNeil says. "That makes it a dynamic experience, an exciting experience, as opposed to searching through profiles and sending out emails."
Lavalife was founded in 1987 as a telephone-based service, Telepersonals.
Ten years after its inception, the company launched an internet branch, Webpersonals, to take advantage of the budding new medium. Just last month, the two services were relaunched under the Lavalife brand, hence the online ad push.
The site doesn’t accept advertising. Its revenue comes from its services. It charges its clients on a per-use basis rather than charging an overall subscription fee like many of its rivals.
Lavalife advertises off-line as well, in newspapers, on TV and radio, and out of home.
About 1.6 million people use Lavalife, with 6,000 more lonely hearts signing up each day. The telephone service gets about 100 million phone calls a year. The company says its sales have grown 119 percent in the past year.
"We don’t consider success to be just purely two people getting married and having kids together," MacNeil says.
"That’s one type of success, but there are many other types, such as meeting new people and having a great time together. It’s not just about that sort of end goal. That’s why we support multiple relationship goals."
|
Top 25 Properties |
|||
| Property |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time Spent |
| 1. AOL Time Warner |
39,570 |
50.7 |
0:15:51 |
| 2. Yahoo |
33,024 |
42.3 |
0:29:53 |
| 3. MSN |
29,470 |
37.8 |
0:26:54 |
| 4. Microsoft |
11,817 |
15.1 |
0:05:26 |
| 5. eBay |
9,126 |
11.7 |
0:41:21 |
| 6. Amazon |
8,879 |
11.4 |
0:11:18 |
| 7. Lycos Network |
8,365 |
10.7 |
0:09:11 |
| 8. About-Primedia |
7,895 |
10.1 |
0:07:25 |
| 9. Google |
7,659 |
9.8 |
0:10:32 |
| 10. Walt Disney Internet Group |
6,612 |
8.5 |
0:16:33 |
| 11. Excite@Home |
6,534 |
8.4 |
0:12:56 |
| 12. Classmates |
4,904 |
6.3 |
0:05:11 |
| 13. eUniverse Network |
4,875 |
6.3 |
0:07:37 |
| 14. CNET Networks |
4,707 |
6.0 |
0:07:05 |
| 15. American Greetings |
4,608 |
5.9 |
0:07:16 |
| 16. InfoSpace |
4,238 |
5.4 |
0:05:05 |
| 17. Ask Jeeves |
4,105 |
5.3 |
0:05:42 |
| 18. Gator.com |
3,740 |
4.8 |
0:07:21 |
| 19. AT&T |
3,733 |
4.8 |
0:10:53 |
| 20. EarthLink |
3,289 |
4.2 |
0:07:13 |
| 21. EA Online |
2,949 |
3.8 |
0:57:37 |
| 22. Symantec |
2,929 |
3.8 |
0:05:47 |
| 23. United Online |
2,879 |
3.7 |
0:09:59 |
| 24. iWon |
2,607 |
3.3 |
0:34:56 |
| 25. Vivendi Universal |
2,588 |
3.3 |
0:15:56 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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|
Top 10 Advertisers |
|||
| Advertiser |
Banner and |
Unique |
Reach % |
| 1. AOL Time Warner |
803,864 |
29,414 |
37.69 |
| 2. Microsoft Corp. |
713,233 |
24,349 |
31.2 |
| 3. Yahoo |
368,592 |
21,025 |
26.94 |
| 4. National Geographic Society |
212,880 |
11,849 |
15.18 |
| 5. Barnes & Noble |
137,199 |
19,263 |
24.68 |
| 6. Sony Corp |
134,552 |
18,875 |
24.19 |
| 7. Orbitz |
130,847 |
14,139 |
18.12 |
| 8. eDiets.com |
130,240 |
20,987 |
26.89 |
| 9. Zairmail Inc. |
128,391 |
2,898 |
3.71 |
| 10. Cassava Enterprises |
122,226 |
15,959 |
20.45 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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|
Top 25 Domains |
|||
| Domain |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time Spent |
| 1. yahoo.com |
31,554 |
40.4 |
0:30:00 |
| 2. aol.com |
28,903 |
37.0 |
0:13:25 |
| 3. msn.com |
26,115 |
33.5 |
0:23:24 |
| 4. passport.com |
13,760 |
17.6 |
0:03:23 |
| 5. microsoft.com |
11,056 |
14.2 |
0:05:21 |
| 6. ebay.com |
8,542 |
11.0 |
0:42:12 |
| 7. amazon.com |
8,514 |
10.9 |
0:10:56 |
| 8. google.com |
7,653 |
9.8 |
0:10:33 |
| 9. netscape.com |
6,499 |
8.3 |
0:10:13 |
| 10. go.com |
6,439 |
8.3 |
0:16:47 |
| 11. geocities.com |
6,387 |
8.2 |
0:05:26 |
| 12. excite.com |
5,274 |
6.8 |
0:13:48 |
| 13. classmates.com |
4,904 |
6.3 |
0:05:11 |
| 14. lycos.com |
3,768 |
4.8 |
0:10:57 |
| 15. gator.com |
3,703 |
4.7 |
0:07:20 |
| 16. cnn.com |
3,259 |
4.2 |
0:09:35 |
| 17. tripod.com |
3,180 |
4.1 |
0:04:04 |
| 18. about.com |
3,038 |
3.9 |
0:04:15 |
| 19. msnbc.com |
2,928 |
3.8 |
0:08:11 |
| 20. compuserve.com |
2,922 |
3.7 |
0:16:15 |
| 21. earthlink.net |
2,898 |
3.7 |
0:07:17 |
| 22. hotmail.com |
2,627 |
3.4 |
0:23:50 |
| 23. iwon.com |
2,607 |
3.3 |
0:34:56 |
| 24. whenu.com |
2,593 |
3.3 |
0:01:39 |
| 25. cnet.com |
2,513 |
3.2 |
0:04:43 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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|
Top 25 Advertising Domains |
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| Domain |
Banner |
Reach % |
| 1. msn.com |
1,003,778 |
29.56 |
| 2. yahoo.com |
945,389 |
32.75 |
| 3. musiccity.com |
331,975 |
3.03 |
| 4. aol.com |
247,693 |
24.16 |
| 5. pogo.com |
211,234 |
2.81 |
| 6. ebay.com |
204,229 |
7.08 |
| 7. lycos.com |
132,397 |
3.36 |
| 8. netscape.com |
120,602 |
6.83 |
| 9. go.com |
98,756 |
6.07 |
| 10. classmates.com |
71,880 |
3.83 |
| 11. att.net |
64,485 |
2.59 |
| 12. monster.com |
56,325 |
1.65 |
| 13. excite.com |
35,502 |
2.7 |
| 14. compuserve.com |
35,132 |
3.19 |
| 15. cnn.com |
32,363 |
3.43 |
| 16. netzero.net |
30,410 |
1.02 |
| 17. fastclick.net |
30,404 |
6.56 |
| 18. blackplanet.com |
26,550 |
0.53 |
| 19. looksmart.com |
24,164 |
1.85 |
| 20. msnbc.com |
23,299 |
3.54 |
| 21. mapquest.com |
20,851 |
2.55 |
| 22. audiogalaxy.com |
20,616 |
0.82 |
| 23. cartoonnetwork.com |
19,087 |
0.97 |
| 24. gamefaqs.com |
18,084 |
0.48 |
| 25. dogpile.com |
15,523 |
1.42 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
||
|
Top Ten Banners |
|||
| Advertiser |
Unique |
Active |
Banner |
| 1. National Geographic Society |
8,510 |
10.9 |
177,926 |
| 2. Bonzi.com Software |
7,067 |
9.06 |
26,407 |
| 3. Debticated Consumer Counseling |
6,426 |
8.23 |
25,425 |
| 4. Orbitz |
6,415 |
8.22 |
27,513 |
| 5. Sharebuilder Securities |
6,377 |
8.17 |
18,605 |
| 6. eDiets.com |
5,877 |
7.53 |
23,294 |
| 7. Lavalife Inc. |
5,143 |
6.59 |
9,177 |
| 8. Classmates Online |
4,889 |
6.26 |
12,248 |
| 9. eDiets.com |
4,739 |
6.07 |
7,433 |
| 10. Oxygen Media |
4,489 |
5.75 |
24,534 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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|
Average Usage |
|||
| Values |
Current Week |
Last Week |
% Chg |
| Number of Sessions per Week |
6 |
6 |
0.00 |
| Page Views per Week |
227 |
224 |
1.34 |
| Page Views per Surfing Session |
37 |
37 |
0.00 |
| Time Spent per Week |
3:27:39 |
3:18:26 |
4.64 |
| Time Spent During Surfing Session |
0:33:20 |
0:33:08 |
0.60 |
| Duration a Page Viewed |
0:00:54 |
0:00:54 |
0.00 |
| Active Internet Universe |
78,040,479 |
79,272,157 |
-1.55 |
| Current Internet Universe Estimate |
174,877,881 |
174,902,212 |
-0.01 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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December 12, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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