Category: All Internet Dating Statistics

Guys go Online to Find a ‘No-Strings Fling’ Gal

Posted on February 8, 2006

NielsennetratingscomNORTH JERSEY MEDIA GROUP — Feb 4 — If a single woman posts an online profile and is contacted by 200 guys in about a week, what are her chances of finding her soul mate? The answer is … not as good as you might expect.  According to a recent Nielsen/NetRatings survey, 30% of men are using online dating services to find a "no-strings fling" — compared with 8% of women.  42% of women are looking for a long-term relationship through online dating services, compared with 46% of men, according to the recent Nielsen/NetRatings survey.

Mark Brooks: Many women are inundated, and many guys are ignored.  eHarmony attempts to neutralise this problem with it’s slower spoonfed Q&A approach.

The Dating Revolution Cleans up its Act

Posted on January 30, 2006

Datingdirect_1THE NEWSQUEST HERALD — Jan 26 — This month a survey – by a British subsidiary of Europe's largest dating service which has more than 1.5 million members – reported that 3.6 million Britons used online dating services last year. That represents 65% of the 5.4 million Britons who are looking for a relationship, according to parship.co.uk. Not only are more people looking online for love but the mechanics of doing so have also improved enormously. A few of the UK's top websites; Datingdirect  promises "your next date is just a click away…", LoveandFriends provides "internet dating for thinking people", FriendsReunitedDating has "thousands looking for genuine relationships". Mysinglefriend.com has 15,000 members; a friend can register their single friend who then has a chance to look over, approve and add comments to the description before it goes live.  Or a single person can nominate themselves, ask a friend to describe them and, again, approve the description and add any comments before it goes online. 

Mark Brooks: The European online dating market is hot; growing at the same fast clip as the American market 2-3 three years ago.

Coffeehouses the Perfect Place for First Dates

Posted on January 20, 2006

Yahoo_personals_1BUSINESS WIRE — Jan  19 — 90% of singles feel more relaxed if that initial face-to-face happens in a familiar place, according to a new national survey of dating preferences (303 surveyed) and trends conducted by StrategyOne. 39% of Americans have gone on a date with someone they met online. Starbucks and Yahoo! Personals have joined forces with the "Espresso Dating Guide" offering advice on coffeehouse first-dates. Singles receive a $10 Starbucks card when they subscribe to Yahoo! Personals, the leaders in making online dating connections that lead to great first dates and more. 

Mark Brooks: Click on 'Meet over Coffee' at Starbucks.com and it leads to a Yahoo Personals cobranded page.

Emotional Infidelity

Posted on January 17, 2006

COLUMBIA NEWS SERVICE — Jan 15 — Many people in committed relationships aren't aware that an emotional (online) affair can be equally as intense and destructive as a physical affair. According to a national survey, 15% of married women and 25% of married men have engaged in sexual affairs. When emotional affairs are included, the number of affairs increases by 20%, according to the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.  The increasing use and availability of the Internet has created even greater opportunity for non-physical closeness, according to marriage counselors and experts on gender relations.  'Men usually recognize an affair only if it becomes sexual,' said John Gray.  'Since women connect love with emotional support, they generally feel more threatened by emotional affairs.'

The full article was originally published at Mercury News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: So is emotional infidelity a wholly bad thing, or could it actually help an aging ailing marriage in some way?  Your comments please.

December Online Personals Rankings

Posted on January 14, 2006

Jan 14 — Hitwise – Plentyoffish moves up one spot to displace singlesnet.  Manhunt.net jumps in at 10th spot.  First time I've heard of them but it looks like they've been around for a while according to Alexa's 2 year graph.  MSN Match and PerfectMatch move down three spots to 13th and 15th spots respectively.  Hotornot climbs one spot to #12.    

Nielsen Netratings – myYearbook moves up two spots to 5th place and Mate1 bumps down two spots to 7th.  Tagworld, Tickle's Lovehappens and Crush Calculator spring onto the scene at 8th, 10th and 14th spots respectively and LoveAccess moves up four spots to take the 11th spot.  Perfectmatch moves down one spot to #12 and eCrush gets bumped from 9th to 15th spot.

Alexa – Singlesnet moves up to 6th spot bumping Date.com to #7…and that's it.  Only one change.         

Computer Courting: Online Dating Discovers a New Age

Posted on January 3, 2006

Computer_courtingPITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE — Jan 3 — Nielsen says computer users 55 and older account for 16.7% of all traffic to online personal sites — the equivalent of 4.2 million unique visitors. At Yahoo Personals, those over 50 account for 21% of their visitors.  Anita Miller, author of the Online Dating Journal, which helps people record their online dating contacts and experiences, said more than 40 million people are using internet dating services. Sites designed exclusively mature adults; SeniorFriendFinder.com, 50yearsplus.com and SeniorsCircle.com.

The full article was originally published at Pitsburgh Post Gazette, but is no longer available.

November 2005 Site Rankings

Posted on December 27, 2005

Dec 27 — The November rankings are live (see left bar).  Nielsen has tidied social networks Myspace, Facebook, hi5 and Friendster out of their online dating rankings, leaving Yahoo Personals (1), Match (2) and TRUE (3) with the November 2005 top spots.   

Not much change with the Alexa rankings.  Plentyoffish and Friendfinder bump Date.com down two spots to #6.  For the social networking rankings Facebook bumps Friendster out of the top 3.  Myspace now leads the social networking category, followed by Hi5 and Facebook.

TRUE trumps American Singles on the Hitwise top 15 rankings for November and takes the #5 spot.  Singlesnet moves up one spot to #7 and wrestles Plentyoffish and adult oriented Mate1 down one place.  MSN leans on it’s online dating and moves up five full places to take the #10 position.  Niche site Blackpeoplemeet impressively moves up a spot to #11 and Perfect Match gets squeezed out to #12.  Youngsters online dating site, Hotornot, moves up a spot to #13.  – Mark Brooks   

Online Personals Watch Announces its First Industry White Paper

Posted on December 9, 2005

PR WEB — Dec 7 — Online Personals Watch is now providing white papers as an addition to online personals news, commentary, CEO interviews and the top 15 online personals industry rankings (courtesy of Hitwise and Nielsen//Netratings). The white papers are intended as a suggestion of prominent and noteworthy new features to the industry. "An Introduction to Anonymous Phone Calling Services," overviews: Mobestar, Phone Matrix, PrivateTel, Vivox and VoiceStar.  The white paper can be received by request by emailing mark@courtlandbrooks.com. The next white paper will overview features of the top 10 online dating sites.  RELEASE @ PR WEB

Rankings – Movers and Shakers

Posted on November 23, 2005

The October rankings are live.  Here are the major changes…
Hitwise: Free dating site Plentyoffish sidles up two spots to #7.  Adult dating site Mate1 launches up from #15 to #8.  Singlesnet moves up three spots to #9.  Perfect Match is bumped from #7 to #10.  BlackPeoplemeet moves up two more spots to #12.  Alexa: AsiaFriendFinder disappears from #2 spot off the top 10. Amigos also.  Plentyoffish moves up three spots to #6.  Singlesnet joins the ranks at #8.  Nielsen: MySpace enters the chart this month at 1st place…from nowhere.  Friendster also enters the chart at #12.  Looks like Nielsen just added MySpace and Friendster as personals sites.  Date.com moves up three spots to #11. 

Falling In Love Online

Posted on September 14, 2005

EMARKETER — Sept 15 — Intel's recent report on digital lifestyles in Europe found that in some countries, as many as 13% of those with computers have tried Internet dating. A report from Nielsen//NetRatings, "21st Century Dating: The Way It Is," found that one in every three Internet users in the UK would use the Web to meet a potential partner. Alex Burmaster, an analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings, says "Two of the leading online dating services in the UK have both attracted over half a million unique visitors in May and June 2005." Women are more likely to be looking for friendship or shared interests. Men are more likely to be looking for a long-term relationship, intimate relationship, short term relationship or marriage, although the men were also four times more likely to be looking for a no-strings fling than women. "Men choose their dates based on looks but women, on the other hand, put far more emphasis on personal characteristics and descriptions." Interestingly, even though 33% of respondents admitted to lying to some degree on their profile, men were more likely to use a photograph taken in the last 12 months and to tell the truth. Women, to quote the report, were "more likely to be creative with the truth."

The full article was originally published at eMarketer, but is no longer available.