OPW CEO INTERVIEW -- June 21 -- Online dating pioneer Webdate.comoffers 'webdating' video chat, web chat and mobile phone based
dating...all for free. It's grown to 4 million members whilst
maintaining a completely free membership model, much to the chagrin of
it's competitors, Match.com, Yahoo Personals and American
Singles. Mark Brooks, Editor of Online Personals Watch,
interviews Abe Smilowitz, Webdate.com's CEO and Founder.

Is webdate beyond 4 million users now?
Yes.
We've had a consistent growth rate. Anywhere from 250 to 300
thousand new users a month. 60% is type in traffic from viral,
from non-advertising referrals.

Why did you start webdate?
We
started webdate to be the #1 online personals company in the
world. We identified online dating as a hot industry and decided
we wanted to participate and create the best online personals service
on the net. We decided we would add the largest amount of users
in the shortest amount of time by moving to a free model, and the rest
is history...Now we're #5. We're the 5th largest online personals
company (per Hitwise). Last year we were the fastest growing
online personals company. We grew 800% where the industry average
was 42%. The guys ahead of us are monsters and we've spent a
fraction of what they've spent! What they spend in a month, we
spend in a year. Some are spending in excess of $5 million a
month. That's unbelievable! Probably some of the guys below
us are spending several multiples of what we're spending...and we're
still ahead of them. It's credit to word of mouth marketing and
our user experience. We think users want a fast, simple, no
frills, quick and easy communication oriented site. They don't
want to have to jump through hoops. We're not overly complicated
like other sites.

Was there a 'magic moment' for you when you were first developing webdate?
The
magic moment for us occurred when we came up with the video dating
idea. You can go to any online dating site and see fake
pictures. Then you show up to a date and find your match is older
than they looked...it's crazy! How do you get around the problem
of fake pictures? It just seemed so 'not personal' to us.
Online personals didn't give users much feel for a person's
personality. Users can write down any horse crap, put up a fake
picture and the person on the other side has no idea. Video
dating, done properly just crushes that. It really gives users a
feel for a person, not the profile, but the real person. They can
interact! Enabling someone halfway round world to get a feel for
someone's personality over the web, with pictures, and movement and
voice. You can see if a woman is sexy, get a feel for her
attitude, see if she's funny. You can pick all that up on video
dating. When you're just reading a profile, staring at
multiple-choice questions, just looking at words, those things don't
speak to the soul as much. The way a person moves can say a lot
about them. You can't pick up on body language from a profile.

How on earth can you justify making webdate free for so long?
Our
justification is industry ranking. We've been able to build
webdate to our #5 ranking in a very competitive industry. We have
a high number of active users and significant market share now.
Here's a scoop for you; we're looking to move to a premium services
model in the very near future. But, we'll continue to be less
expensive than any of our competitors because we feel everyone should
be able to enjoy online dating. Part of our approach has been to
extend online dating to all of society with webdate mobile.
Minority groups are generally more mobile oriented. That's a
totally different approach. Our mobile service is $3.99 a
month. So, beat that! And our mobile users can interact
with the entire 4 million person webdate user base. It's an
inexpensive alternative to being on the website and it has most of the
features of an online service. You can see pictures, browse
profiles, we stand alone in the industry as far as mobile goes right
now.

How does this compare with Match's mobile offering?
We've
integrated the entire mobile aspect into the webdate. Match
breaks it up into two sites. Ours is the only fully integrated
service. Which is the future of mobile applications, fully
integrated.

What will webdate look like 5 years from now?
It
will be fully mobile. Everything you can do online, you'll be
able to do on a cell phone, and that's what we're trying to do
now.

What's the end goal? Do you want to be bigger then Match.com?
The
end goal is to offer the best online personals service on the
planet. If we're the biggest, great. Our philosophy is, if
we build the very best product the users will come. But, it has
to be the best integrated, have the best features, be the easiest to
use, and be fully integrated with mobile and video. We're
building the best mousetrap but not necessarily to beat Match.com in
users. We think that we will beat them in users eventually,
because our product is going to be better. The users will
acknowledge that. Users will often join several sites when they
start online dating, and then end up sticking with the one they like
the best. We want to be that one. In order to do that we
need to give them great combinations of features, ease of use and
value...which means not charging them an arm and a leg for the service.

Does the public really care about mobile and video chat yet?
The
video dating, absolutely! Over 50% of users have tried video
dating. The video is here and it's here to stay. It's not
pie in the sky or something for down the road. It's here now and
it's only going to get bigger. As far as safety is concerned...We
were thinking about safety two and a half years ago! Video dating
allows people to go on first dates in the safety and security and
comfort of their own homes...without putting them in uncomfortable or
dangerous situations. They can get a sense of chemistry from the
other users, hear their voice and look into their eyes before taking it
to the real world. Mobile dating is still something that is not
mature. There's no doubt it's where the future lies. There
will always be online dating though. You can't completely
duplicate online dating with a cell phone. There's not enough
room, but there's no doubt mobile will play a huge role in the
future. Our goal is to be the innovator and shape the way online
dating progresses, with a mobile perspective. The companies
offering it now will shape the industry down the road.

What does the future hold for webdate? Where will webdate be in two years time?
We'll
be the best personals site to get in touch with the 'right
person.' We're working to give our users as many options to
communicate as possible in as time efficient a manner as
possible. Users can see who's online, who's on video chat, who's
new on the site, who's viewed their profile, who's emailed and IM'd
them, who's network of friends others belong to. You shouldn't
have to click five times to find what you want. You only have to
click once on webdate. Everything users could possibly want is
right there, laid out one click away from the home page. We're
building the best online personals site and in two years we'll be at
the top of the online dating rankings.

Mark Brooks:
People, essentially, are the 'product' that online dating sites
sell. Webdate has invested heavily to build a considerable member
base, get people talking (hey it's free!), and offer some great next
generation services. One to watch.