Online Personals Watch

Marriage And Divorce In Numbers

CLEVELAND.COM - Jan 25 - 
8% decline in the divorce rate from 2003 to 2008 in states without constitutional bans on same-sex marriage.
20.7% decline in the divorce rate from 2003 to 2008 in Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage (2004).
20% of new divorce cases that contain the word "Facebook" in their petitions.
30% of "singles" on online dating sites who aren't single
FULL ARTICLE @ CLEVELAND.COM

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Jan 11th, 2010

This is the news for January 1st through January 11th, 2010. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered:

• BeautifulPeople.com dumps 5,000 members
• Niche dating is fueling growth, Australian market thrives
• Cold weather heats up membership for AshleyMadison.com
• CityDate launches SensualityDating.com for women

Online Dating Industry Will Grow By Almost A Third

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD - Jan 10 - The Australian online dating industry grew by 5% last year and is expected to grow by a further 5 to 10%  this year. According to dating site RSVP survey 50% of respondents had tried online dating and 10% had met their current or most recent partner on the internet. Business analyst IBISWorld expects the industry to earn ~$100M from subscriptions and advertising this year. Cupid Media, Australia's biggest online dating company, has 33 websites that specialise in religion, ethnicity, sexual preference and physical appearance. The company started at least three new websites every year and had ~15M customers in 50 countries. IBISWorld does, however, expect the boom to slow in a few years with the increased sophistication of social networks. FULL ARTICLE @ SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Mark Brooks: People Media was recently sold for $80 million to IAC. Cupid Media is doing well. I wonder how long it will be before they are acquired? First Beat Media, World Singles, FriendFinder's network of sites, Avid Life Media are other examples of networks of niche sites that have exceled and enjoyed the benefits of the 'network effect.' Given the choice, users will often join multiple sites within a network, which means improved ARPU. (Full Disclosure: First Beat Media and Avid Life Media are current clients of Courtland Brooks. World Singles is a former client, and I worked for FriendFinder in 2003-2004).

See all posts on RSVP
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Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Dec 25th, 2009 - 4 mins

This is the news for the week of December 26th through December 31st, 2009. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

• Skout.com Mobile Dating Survey Results
• Cinekin.com: Matchmaking based on movie preferences
• Successfuldates.com launches with live counseling services
• AstrologyDating.com debuts beta site

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Dec 3rd, 2009 - 4 mins

This is the news for the week of November 27th through December 3rd, 2009. this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

• HappierCouples.com Aims to Preserve Marriages
• People Media Dating Poll Results
• eHarmony Launches New Ad Campaign
• DinnerDates.com Turns 20

Over 55s Are Most Active Daters

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK - Nov 16 - People approaching or already past retirement age are the most active and experimental of all daters, according to a study for The Sunday Telegraph. The survey found that 62% of men and women over 55 have joined a dating site compared to 21% of 18-24-year-olds. They also met up with more internet dates (an average of 8.2) and found more relationships online (2.1) than any other age group. FULL ARTICLE @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Nielsen Internet Dating Rankings From October

OPW - Nov 13 - October’s unique audience rankings from Nielsen indicate that C-date is continuing to flirt its way into the hearts of daters across Europe. The casual dating site maintained its #1 position in Spain with a unique audience score of 449k. However, C-date also grabbed third place in both France (1,195k) and Switzerland (55k) after not making the top three in either country during September.

In the U.K., free dating site PlentyofFish remained #1 in October with a unique audience ranking of 543k. FriendsReunitedDating moved up a spot to #2 with a score of 514k, while the Match.com Network at 452k was able to bump DatingDirect out of the top three.

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Nov 19th, 2009 - 4 mins

This is the news for the week of November 6th through November 12th, 2009. We hope you enjoy the new weekly news format. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

• October Online Dating Rankings from Hitwise
• Earnings Reports from Spark Networks and Meetic
• Number of Senior Online Daters on the Rise
• Interview with Steve Odom, founder of Gelato

PhoneFling Mobile Dating Survey

FREE MOBILE DATING BLOG - Nov 11 – PhoneFling.com has posted the results of their nationwide survey on attitudes about flirting and finding love in a Web 2.0 world. Intelitech polled its 275,000 PhoneFling and PhoneShag members.

• 86% have known someone that used an online dating site

• 70.4% have known someone that took the interaction offline and met their date in person

• 43.6% have even known someone that entered into a long-term relationship with someone after finding them through an online dating site

FULL ARTICLE @ FREE MOBILE DATING BLOG

Hitwise Internet Dating Rankings Update

OPW - Nov 10 - Hitwise tracks total site visits, and the organization’s rankings are in from October. PlentyofFish remained #1 with Americans, followed in order by Match, Singlesnet, Yahoo Personals, DateHookup, eHarmony, Adam4Adam, TRUE, SeniorPeopleMeet and BlackPeopleMeet. 
 
Yet while the waters were mostly calm in the U.S. market, Shaadi was busy making waves in other countries. The Indian dating site rose from #16 to #9 in Canada and from #21 to #11 in the U.K. in just a month.

Also big movers and shakers in October: Canadian versions of mainstream U.S. dating sites. While Match.com stayed steady at #4, Match Canada leapt from #14 to #8 and Yahoo Personals Canada jumped from #13 to #10. 
 
The biggest losers in the Top 25 in Canada were Christian Mingle (#7 to #12) and Singlesnet (#10 to #15).

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Nov 5th, 2009 - 4.5 mins

This is the news for the week of October 30th through November 5th, 2009. We hope you enjoy the new weekly news format. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

• White label dating businesses thriving in tough economy
• Mobile dating market expected to double to $1.3 billion by 2013
• Study shows online dating most popular with women over age 50
• Nominations being accepted for first annual iDate Awards

Update On European Online Dating Rankings

OPW - Oct 28 - Nielsen has released their European unique audience online dating rankings for September.

• Free dating site PlentyofFish is now Nielsen’s top site in the U.K. after last month’s #1, Friends Reunited Dating, fell to #3.
• Casual dating site C-Date commandeered first place in Spain. FriendScout24 dropped out of Spain’s top three but rose to become #1 in Switzerland.
• In Germany, eDarling and be2 replaced Loomin.de and Bildkontakte.de at #2 and #3, respectively.

Still, Nielsen’s unique audience data indicates that interest in online dating appeared to decline somewhat across all of Europe during September. Click here for more of Nielsen’s latest European online dating rankings.

Chinese Matchmaking Sites

ALIBABA - Oct 22 - A 2008 online survey conducted by the Matchmaking Services Industry Committee, showed that 45.5% of those surveyed have used matchmaking sites, and 32.6% prefer to find a mate on the Internet. The number of Chinese online daters will reach 140M by 2010, creating a market of up to 1.2 billion yuan ($175.8M), according to iResearch. Zhenai.com, China's largest matchmaking site, where rates range from 5,998 yuan ($879) per year, announced that it had 20M registered users. Jiayuan.com, whose rates go from free to 19,800 yuan ($2,912) annually, said that its total registered members topped 21M. FULL ARTICLE @ ALIBABA.COM

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Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Oct 23rd, 2009 - 3.5 mins

This is the news for October 18th through October 23rd, 2009. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here are some of the topics we covered for this week:

• People Media ranked on Deloitte’s prestigious Technology Fast 500 list
• Zoosk’s member base surpasses 40 million users
• Newly-launched eLove.com fuses online dating and traditional matchmaking
• AARP partners with Perfectmach relationship expert Dr. Pepper Schwartz
• Australia’s Cupid Media rejecting 3,000 profiles a day due to fraud suspicions

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Oct 16th, 2009 - 4 mins

This is the news for the week of October 11th through October 16th, 2009. We hope you enjoy the new weekly news format. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

• False alarm: Match.com’s NOT hacked
• U.S. online dating rankings from September
• Update on FriendFriend’s IPO process
• Virtual goods market expected to hit $1 billion this year
• Match.com partners with Mother advertising agency
• Publisher Conde Nast teams up with Glamour and GQ sites
• White Label Dating’s new webcam feature

comScore U.S.A. Internet Dating Rankings Update

OPW - Oct 16 - comScore, which measures total unique visitors, has released their iDate rankings for September. Not only did Singlesnet hold strong at #1 (3,713), but the site actually saw an increase of nearly 450 unique visitors from August. Meanwhile, Yahoo Personals experienced a major downturn, falling from #2 to #4. The site hauled in only 2,705 unique visitors in September versus 3,132 in August. 
 
Yahoo’s loss was PlentyofFish’s gain. The free dating site had 2,986 unique visitors last month, up more than 200 from August. As a result, PlentyofFish vaulted from #5 to #2 in the comScore rankings, just ahead of Match at # 3 (2,904). TRUE slipped a spot to #5 with 2,680 unique visitors. 
 
The order of the #6-#10 positions remained People Media sites, eHarmony, Mate1, Spark Networks and DateHookup, respectively. 

Hitwise U.S.A. Internet Dating Rankings Update

OPW - Oct 12 - The Hitwise rankings are in for September. PlentyofFish, Match.com, Singlesnet, Yahoo! Personals and DateHookup.com remained in their respective slots in the top five. eHarmony moved into the #6 position, bumping gay dating site Adam4Adam down a notch. TRUE stayed true at #8. SeniorPeopleMeet jumped up two spots to #9, just ahead of fellow People Media site, BlackPeopleMeet.

In the top 25, the biggest jumps were Mate1 (#15 to #12) and Zoosk (#20 to #17). The largest plunges were Mingle2 (#16 to #19) and Dream-Marriage.com (#19 to #22). Affair site Ashley Madison broke into the top 25, debuting at #24.

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News 2 Oct 2009 - 3 mins

This is the news for the week of September 26th through October 2nd, 2009. We hope you enjoy the new weekly news format. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

 - comScore numbers from iDate London as the first bullet point

 - CourgarLife versus ABC’s “Cougar Town”

 - Men’s Health and Cosmopolitan magazines teaming up to launch dating sites

 - Online Buddies acquires DList.com

 - Interview with Michael Norton of Harvard Business School

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News 27 Sep 2009 - 3 mins

This is the news for the week of September 21st through September 27th, 2009. We hope you enjoy the new weekly news format. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

• The 2009 European Internet Dating Conference, comScore numbers, Jackie Elton's observations

• Tanya Fathers CEO of DatingFactory

• Perfectmatch signs Neverblue, as exclusive agency for Perfectmatch UK

• TRUE settles class action lawsuit for $1.5 million.

• White Label Dating reveals annualized partner revenues.