Boston.com Personals Kicks off Best Catch Contest in Time for Valentine's Day

Boston.com Personals kicked off its second Best Catch contest, inviting members of its personals service to vote online and determine the city's most eligible singles. More than 51,000 registered members are eligible to enter the contest at www.boston.com/personals. One man and one woman will be crowned as Boston.com's Best Catch at the site's Mardi Gras party at The Big Easy on Friday, February 28 at 7 p.m.

 The Mardi Gras party is open to the Boston.com Personals community and costs $10 for members with active profiles. The Best Catch winners will each receive a luxury trip for two to New Orleans and four runners up (two men and two women) will each receive $100. Details about the party and Best Catch are available at www.boston.com/bestcatch. Other Boston.com Personals offline events have included parties at Sophia's, where Personals users met for salsa dance lessons and sangria, and the Milky Way Bowling Lounge. Upcoming events include a Boston Celtics game and the Jazz Festival at the Charles Hotel. Traffic and revenues for Boston.com Personals have increased steadily since its launch in April 2002.

The service generated over $120,000 in revenue for Boston.com in 2002, with over 5,000 transactions by year end. According to a recent study on online paid content conducted by comScore Networks with the Online Publishers Association, the Personals category surpassed business content to become the leading paid content category in Q3 2002, with $87 million in revenues -- a 387% gain over the same quarter last year. Last week, comScore Networks reported that 7.9 million at-work Internet users visited Personals Web sites in December 2002, and the combined figure of at-work, at-home and university Internet users visiting Personals sites was 26.6 million, up 30% from 20.3 million a year ago.

 Lisa DeSisto, vice president and general manager of Boston.com, said, "February's the month for love, and as the region's largest portal, we're doing our part to help Bostonians meet that special someone. Just two months ago, more than 26 million people searched online for love -- they're learning that Personals are a fast and easy way to connect with potential mates in their area." Monthly traffic to Boston.com Personals increased in January by 36 percent, and visits to the Personals section account for 5% of Boston.com's overall monthly traffic. The steady traffic growth is attributed to integration of Personals content throughout Boston.com, exclusive print and online Personals promotions and Personals chats, instant messaging and message boards.

 The Boston.com Personals are powered by Spring Street Networks, a leading online personals network. Spring Street is scheduled to release a number of new features and enhancements later this year, including improved search capabilities and real-time video chats. About Boston.com Boston.com is one of the most visited regional portals in the U.S. and is part of New York Times Digital, the digital business unit of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT). The mission of NYTD, which also comprises market leader NYTimes.com and an archive distribution business, is to provide a high-quality, worldwide online audience with trusted editorial content from The New York Times and The Boston Globe.