Time Out New York has partnered with meetMoi to launch TONY Singles, a mobile and Web-based dating service that connects single New Yorkers.

The service launched in conjunction with Time Out New York?s Singles issue. Users can subscribe to the Web site and set up a free profile, browse other people?s profiles, respond to messages sent to them and send winks ? a non-personalized way to express their interest.

?Sex & Dating is a core area of editorial focus for Time Out New York,? said Marci Weisler, digital business director of Time Out New York, New York. ?Our demographic is largely young, single urbanites who go out, take advantage of the city and want to meet others like them.

?Our audience wants to meet our TONY Singles and by partnering with MeetMoi, we give them a way to meet those we highlight and other singles from our audience,? she said. ?Mobile is a key element, since our users are always out and about and on their phones.?

Time Out New York is an arts and entertainment listings guide for New York City. It has become an indispensable weekly guide for young, active and influential New Yorkers.

Lunchtime meet-up
With the new mobile dating service, TONY Singles updates users? location in real-time via GPS. Members are able to decide who sees their profile and what information is shared.

The service also has several features including the ability to search for compatible matches near a member?s location. If there is a match, the member gets an alert on his or her phone.

Members can also check one another?s pictures and profiles and set up a meeting.

?TONY Singles users are pooled into the larger meetMoi database,? said Adam Gillman, marketing director of meetMoi, New York. ?So, the Time Out partnership provides a way of enriching the meetMoi community by introducing it to a great new audience by leveraging their brand and marketing channels to bring people into the network.

?Additionally, Time Out has been a great inaugural partner for our white label offering as they have a great brand and a readership that's right on point with meetMoi's target demographic,? he said.

Users can sign up for the service at no charge, but to initiate contact with other users, they have to pay $9.99 a month and messaging and data rates do apply when using the service.

MeetMoi has its own dating service, which isn?t just for New York-based singles, but anyone in the country can sign up.

In conjunction with their partnership with TONY, meetMoi oversaw all of the back-end functionality, customer service and billing.

?There are lots of dating sites out there today, and our feeling was that we wanted to try something new and innovative, or else we?d just be using a platform that our users have seen in some other form,? Ms. Weisler said. ?The mobile component is an important element.

?Down the road, we are hoping to have opportunities to offer to our own sponsors and partners through this platform,? she said.