[London, ENGLAND] Announcing what could be a long-term
romance, Match.com said Monday it will power online matchmaking
services for MSN.co.uk, the most popular Web site in the
U.K.
Match.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster, already
provides online personals and matchmaking services on the
Microsoft Network in the United States. It has been keen to
expand this route into the U.K. where it has just 37,000 existing
members.
MSN.co.uk, with its 10 million unique users per month
in the U.K. alone — helping to make it the most visited site in the
country — will add substantially to Match.com’s business.
As a result of the agreement, Match.com will provide content
to MSN.co.uk’s Love and Relationship channel, while Microsoft’s
Hotmail and MSN Messenger Service will carry links to
Match.com.
Matt Whittingham, partner marketing manager at MSN UK, said
the deal represents a great opportunity for MSN to “step into
a new space.”
“The key drivers are Match.com’s market leadership as well as
its quality content. At MSN.co.uk we have the demographic groups
and reach that make us attractive partnership material, and we
are delighted to build on an existing U.S. relationship,” said
Whittingham.
Match.com’s President Cindy Hennessy said the sheer traffic
generated by MSN would help enormously in expanding Match.com’s
reach and awareness.
“We aim to replicate the success of our U.S. alliance here in the
U.K., as over 10 percent of our traffic is generated via our
connection with MSN,” said Hennessy.
Match.com has already amassed some impressive statistics,
especially when it adds those brought by its forthcoming
integration with the One & Only Network. At that point it will
have nearly 9 million user registrations and around 1.5 million
unique users.
Affiliate sites generated over 1.5 billion page views for
Match.com during 2000, a 153 percent increase over the previous
year. Over half a million people have found relationships
after joining Match.com and over 1,100 marriages have resulted.
So will the relationship of Match.com and MSN end in marriage?
Unless MSN gets a divorce from Microsoft, the two are likely
to live in sin for the forseeable future. It is more respectable
that way.
