REPORT ON BUSINESS– Feb 14 — Unlike Facebook and MySpace, whose values are based largely on their potential to generate future revenues, online dating sites are making millions from user fees and advertisers now. For Vancouver-based PlentyofFish.com, the emergence of love 3.0 has generated what its creator Markus Frind admits is a global cash machine. More than 600,000 people log on to his site every day. Online dating has become a billion-dollar industry; companies that own a portfolio of sites, such as Spark Networks, are ringing up revenues of between $15-million (U.S.) and $18-million every quarter.
The full article was originally published at The Globe and Mail, but is no longer available.