Category: All Internet Dating Statistics

Plentyoffish.com #1 Dating Site In North America And U.K.

Posted on July 29, 2008

Plentyoffish_logo PR NEWSWIRE — July 28 — The latest comScore Media Metrix numbers now rank the free dating site Plentyoffish.com as the leading dating site in both North America (U.S.A. + Canada) and the U.K.

Top 10 North American Dating Sites by Total Visits (000's)
PlentyofFish 36,825
Singlesnet 29,896
eHarmony 19,269
Match.com 18,329
Yahoo!Personals 16,365
People Media Sites 12,340
TRUE.com 10,716
SparkNetworks 9,124
Mate1.com 4,847
Humor Rainbow, Inc 3,714
comScore Media Metrix. June, 2008, age 2+ universe

Top 10 U.K. Dating Sites by Total Visits (000's)
PlentyofFish 8,052
Meetic 4,024
Match.com 2,724
Gaydar.co.uk 2,617
GirlsDateForFree 1,392
WhiteLabelDating.com 1,120
EasyDate 1,110
Smooch.com 1,102
QuickFlirt 1,054
LoopyLove 853
comScore Media Metrix. June, 2008, age 15+ universe

On Monday 14th July, the CEO and Founder Markus Frind opened up his 26th floor office in downtown Vancouver. Plentyoffish.com has hired its first six employees, the first six of a planned thirty person team that is being assembled to help roll out new advertising programs.

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

See all posts on PlentyofFish

23% Of Adults Go Online For Dating

Posted on July 24, 2008

Harris_interactive_logo_2 NAPSI — July 24 — According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive, adults worldwide go online for several reasons: 23% for dating, 50% use social networks and 72% play games. In addition, nearly half of online users say they feel confident shopping on the Web.

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

June Hitwise Rankings

Posted on July 14, 2008

Hitwise_logo
OPW — July 14 — We have just updated Hitwise US internet dating rankings. Singlesnet,
Plentyoffish and Yahoo! Personals maintained their 1st, 2nd and 3rd
position respectively. Match.com ousts TRUE.com from its 4th spot to
#7. Adam4Adam and DateHookup.com moved up to #5 and #6. BlackPeopleMeet
moved up from #11 to #10. Mate1 slides off the top 15 to #17. – Mark
Brooks

More Singles Finding Love After Age 45

Posted on June 30, 2008

Oldercouple USA TODAY — June 27 — A USA Today analysis of Census records of Americans ages 45-55 shows that the percentage of those who said they had never been married in 2006 had doubled since 1990, and the percentage of those who were currently married had dropped by 9%. According to the most recent data from the federal Survey of Income and Program Participation, which includes marriage, 13% of those who wed in 2003 were 45 and older. Internet dating has largely made it possible for many of these later-life first marriages. Yahoo Personals reports a 33% increase from January 2006 to November 2007 among users ages 45 and over who say they have never been married. Match.com reports an increase of almost 10%.

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

Mark Brooks: Things are looking up for the internet dating industry, and singles are getting more choosy. Jupiter Research predicts the internet dating industry to grow to $1.9B revenues in 2012, up from $900 million in 2007.

See all posts on Match

Matchmaking, The Ultimate Government Service

Posted on May 27, 2008

K_ny_times_clanku NY TIMES — May 25 — Next month, Justin Mei, 20, will be on his way to the Love Boat. That's the nickname for a month long cultural tour of Taiwan sponsored and partly subsidized by the Taiwanese government. The program, officially called the Expatriate Youth Summer Formosa Study Tour to Taiwan is designed to expose young people with Taiwanese roots to the motherland through courses in Mandarin, sightseeing and traditional arts. This trip has a reputation for flirtations, flings and wedding proposals. According to Census Bureau figures, the percentage of Asian women born in the US who marry Asian men has declined to 37% from 59% since 1994. The proportion of American-born Asian men who marry Asian women has also dropped, to 52% from 65%. Taglit-Birthright Israel, a program that sends young American Jews on 10-day trips to Israel, is less guarded about its romantic record. A survey conducted in 2000 and 2001 by United Jewish Communities found that American Jews who married since 1996 had an intermarriage rate of 47%. The Israeli government partly sponsors Taglit (Hebrew for "discovery"). FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Spending By Dating Sites In Q1-Q3 2007

Posted on May 2, 2008

Nielsenonline_logo
ONLINE DATING POST — May 1 –Alex Moskalyuk draws a bead on online dating advertising spend: Spending for the top ten dating services represents 91% of total spending for this industry ($356.5 mln of the $379.6 mln total), according to Nielsen. Match.com led the way, spending $145.5 mln in January – October 2007, almost doubling its budget from the same time period in 2006. On the other hand, the number two advertiser eHarmony.com, cut spending 16 percent, reaching $88.1 mln, and gave up its number one position. PlentyofFish isn’t even on the list, good for Markus. When he shows up on it we’ll know the decline has started. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE DATING POST

3 Million Brits Looking Across Europe For Romance

Posted on April 28, 2008

Parshiplogo PR NEWSWIRE — Apr 27 — According to new research by PARSHIP, 3 million UK singles are looking for a serious long distance relationship (LDR). That's 20% of Britain's 15m singles. British women would most like to date Irish (11%), French (11%) and Italians (11%), followed by the Danes (10%), Dutch (10%) and Swiss (10%). British men favored the Nordic touch with Swedes (14%) and Germans (14%), closely followed by the Swiss (13%), Dutch (12%) and Danish (12%).

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

Interview With Nielsen Online, Alex Burmaster

Posted on April 18, 2008

Nielsenonline_logo OPW INTERVIEW — Apr 18 — Nielsen Online, comScore and Hitwise are kind enough to give us the official industry rankings each month. On occasion we interview their analysts.  Alex Burmaster is the internet dating and social networking specialist for Nielsen Online. Here's the latest news and analysis from him on the market for dating and SNS. – Mark Brooks

How is the growth of the social networking industry effecting the online dating industry?
Alex Burmaster: The growth of SNing in has certainly impacted the online dating industry in the UK. Networking with friends, and friends of friends, has certainly stolen some of online dating's thunder. The sector has pretty much been declining each month over the last year. In the UK it is actually now at a level that it was back at June 2005.

Interestingly, this is not the case in the US. The personals and SNing sectors actually seem to follow the same pattern of fall/growth.

Have the top 3 dating sites extended their lead over the last couple of years?
Alex Burmaster: No, in contrast, the differences between the leading sites in terms of popularity are closer than they were a year ago – both in the EU and the US.

Do you see the market fragmenting, or consolidating?
Alex Burmaster: This is very difficult to predict and one could argue for a case both ways. Volume is the key to the success of online dating so one would think consolidation is the way to go. However, niche's are on the way back in many sectors – particularly social networking, so perhaps fragmentation will be the name of the game

Who are showing the strongest growth here and in Europe?
Alex Burmaster: Over the last year (Feb 07 – Feb 08) these are the strongest growing personals sites in the US…
Tabulka_1_3  
(Nielsen Online)

…and in Europe
Tabulka_2_2
(Nielsen Online)

The four sites with no growth figure means they didn't show up amongst the most popular sites in EU in Feb 07 so their growth must have been good!!

How many people visited dating sites in the USA, and the countries that you cover in the EU, last month?
US = 25.8 million
DE = 5.6 million
FR = 4.7 million
UK = 3.6 million
IT = 2.7 million
ES = 2.3 million
(Nielsen Online)

For Social Networking Watch?
How are the major social networks in the USA, growing in the International markets?
Tabulka_3_5
(Nielsen Online)

Who are the standouts?
Tabulka_4
(Nielsen Online)

What social networks are showing the strongest growth potential in the EU and USA?
Alex Burmaster: We think the greatest growth potential will be niche's around a particular area of interest e.g. business (LinkedIn) music (Imeem) travel (WAYN) etc

Are niche networks undermining the larger networks?
Alex Burmaster: We are seeing a plateauing of the larger networks, which is to be expected as they hit critical mass, and we expect the niche's to grow, although they aren't necessarily the cause of the plateauing.

How many people visited social networks in the USA, and the coutries that you cover in the EU, last month?
Member communities category (social networks & blogging)
US = 104 million
UK = 18.9 million
FR = 17.6 million
IT = 15.1 million
DE = 14.6 million
ES = 11.7 million
(Nielsen Online)

Alexa Changes Rankings

Posted on April 17, 2008

MASHABLE — Apr 17 — Alexa claims "better rankings," and "improved methodology". So far, Alexa has measured rankings of web sites according to the users of their Alexa Toolbar. The Toolbar was mostly used by the tech-savvy demographic which are interested in rankings, and therefore various technology and SEO sites were unfairly well ranked. Now, the Toolbar is not the only source of data anymore, although Alexa doesn't elaborate on what exactly these other sources are. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE

 Mark Brooks: I use Compete and Quantcast in combination with Alexa. Between the three you can get some great data. Of course, you can always see the top Hitwise, Nielsen and comScore rankings by viewing the ranking and links on the right bar.

Family, Friends Most Influential On Shoppers

Posted on April 11, 2008

Zenithoptomedia_logo ADVERTISING AGE MOBILE — Apr 9 — Word-of-mouth, especially from family and friends, may be one of the greatest influences on brand choice according to ZenithOptimedia's Touchpoints ROI Tracker, comprising over 300,000 interviews across 34 countries and covering more than 4,000 brands in 126 product and service categories. Consumer touchpoints were each given a "contact clout factor," a number on a scale of 1 to 100 that indicates the relative influence of the touchpoint on purchasing. Recommendations from family and friends led the pack with an average score of 84. TV ads and Internet search were next, with an average score of 69 and 67, followed by magazine ads at 60, newspaper ads at 55, outdoor ads at 45, radio ads at 42, and Internet banner ads at 41. 

The full article was originally published at Advertising Age Mobile, but is no longer available.