Video-Dating Market

Move over Comcast here comes a new wave of Video Dating

TheDateZone.com

Comcast Sizes Up Video-Dating Market, 2.5 Million Visitors to TV On Demand Site Per Month
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Aug 20, 2005

Aug. 20--Online dating isn't for Noah Hatzung. The 21-year-old Eden Prairie college student said he meets plenty of people without having to go to "extreme circumstances."
But while on the beach during spring break this year in Panama City, Fla., he and a friend couldn't resist recording a video profile for Dating on Demand -- a new digital cable dating program offered in the east metro by cable company Comcast.

In his profile, Hatzung tried to score a date by describing a romantic rendezvous.

"I said something along the lines of it would be a nice night on the beach and we would have dinner served by some fine restaurant, white tablecloth, candles and some good mahi-mahi."

Services such as Dating on Demand reflect how far dating searches have come since the "old days" of classified ads and blind dates, industry experts say. Internet dating and blind date shows such as "Hooking Up" and "The Bachelor" have made alternative dating methods more acceptable.

Comcast is the first cable company with an interactive dating program for TV, said Mary Beth Schubert, Comcast spokeswoman. The service is available on Comcast's version of video-on-demand, called On Demand. With video-on-demand, customers can view, fast-forward and rewind select movies and shows.

Singles don't pay to be on Dating on Demand, but only customers who subscribe to On Demand can view the profiles. Hatzung, who lives in the Time Warner Cable territory in Eden Prairie, hasn't seen his video profile. He said recording it was more of a joke rather than a serious attempt to catch a date.

"I only did it because I thought it was funny," he said. But if a woman contacted him after seeing the ad, Hatzung said he'd be open to the possibilities.

Comcast first launched Dating on Demand in 2004 in Philadelphia, where the company's headquarters is located. It expanded nationwide in February.

Nationally, people view profiles of Dating on Demand singles about 2.5 million times a month, Schubert said. Almost 9.1 million people have access to the service through On Demand. Of 340,000 Comcast customers in the Twin Cities, Schubert would not say how many local singles have tried it or viewed the dating service.

Viewerspick who they want to watch according to categorizes of age and gender using their remote. The profiles are five minutes or less. They're posted within four weeks and will stay On Demand for about eight weeks.

People interested can enter their individual codes online at HurryDate, a New York Internet dating company, which provides the online component of Dating on Demand.

"Everything is masked so you can communicate unanimously," said HurryDate CEO Ken Deckinger. "At the point when you are ready to give your contact information, you can do so."

Grant Dattilo, 21, of St. Paul, also recorded a Dating on Demand profile with Hatzung during spring break. It was his first time trying a dating service. So far, three women have "bought him a drink" online at HurryDate, meaning they were interested in him. But they weren't his type, he said. He stopped using it after he found a girlfriend outside of the dating service.

Dattilo had Comcast On Demand before spring break, but he didn't know about Dating on Demand until he recorded a profile. He said the service would be easier to use if you could scroll through pictures and states -- not just their names.

"It's a new service. They'll get better with time. Then, it could really take off," he said.

Comcast tries to target each city to display profiles from that area, Schubert said. But right now, most singles are from larger cities, such as Boston and Philadelphia, where they can record profiles at HurryDate speed dating parties or spring break venues.

Not many Minnesotans are on Dating on Demand since Comcast does not record profiles locally. So far, there isn't a planned event in the Twin Cities, but there'll likely be one in Minneapolis within the next few months, said Deckinger.

Jupiter Research analyst Nate Elliott, who researches online dating, said Dating on Demand doesn't reach a large enough audience.

"I don't think it will ever be massive. The cable companies have been waiting for years for (video on demand) to catch on and they're still waiting," Elliott said.

The market is very competitive, Elliott said. Internet sites regularly add new features, such as live chats, message boards, and video and audio greetings. He said singles are usually unimpressed with such new dating options. They simply want a large range of profiles to view and safe sites -- not necessarily video profiles, he said.

"Window shopping -- people love to go to the sites and look. If this offers another way for them to browse, then yes, someone could find that interesting," Elliott said.

So far, Hatzung hasn't received any responses from his video profile and the program hasn't become a hot topic among his friends.

"It's just not big enough," Hatzung said.