THE INDEPENDENT -- Dec 14 -- Membership is booming at internet dating sites as the credit crunch and impending recession bring a rush to find a partner to share the pain. Companies such as Match.com and EasyDate, which owns the SpeedDater, DatetheUK and BeNaughty brands, say they have seen some of their best days trading ever. Match says it has experienced its 10 biggest days in terms of visitors in the past year, and three of those have been in the past few months. EasyDate says its sites have seen growth 10% above average since the beginning of September. DatingDirect hit 5m registered users five weeks ago. Nielsen Online indicate an 18% rise in unique users visiting internet dating sites between September and October, although that follows a 14% decline in the previous month. According to Jupiter Research, the industry will grow from 2.8m paid users in Europe in 2006 to about 6m by 2011. Over that period, revenues from British dating sites, will increase from €85m last year to €147.3m. Industry expert Mark Brooks says only four or five internet dating sites worldwide make serious money and that the growth in online dating is likely to slow in the UK next year as the market begins to reach maturity. FULL ARTICLE @ THE INDEPENDENT
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