Category: All Internet Dating Statistics

SingleEdition.com – Guide to Embracing Single Life

Posted on December 31, 2007

Singleedition_logoNY TIMES — Dec 31 — In November, dating sites drew more than 182 million visitors in the United States, according to comScore. In 2006, adults living alone made up 27% of households, according to census data. With divorce rates and the age at which couples marry continuing to climb, the trend toward singledom seems likely to continue. SingleEdition.com offers shopping, finance and other advice for singles. Articles on the site give advice on how to entertain in small apartments, how to cook for one and how to select gifts for other singles. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Mark Brooks: TangoMag.com gets the 'singles magazine' formula right by serving up gossip on the stars. i.e. Natalie Portman Goes Public With New Boyfriend , Sean Penn And Robin Wright Penn Getting Divorced .  Meanwhile Singles Edition is offering Are More Single Professionals Falling in Love with Work? and Home Alone for The Holidays Help as their lead articles.  Singles can only handle so much lame advice. Thumbs up for Tango Mag. Alas, Singles Edition is a dud. Ask Men is a good read. Their advice sections are a decent read, i.e. top ten dating tips.

9% Of People Search For Info On Daters

Posted on December 17, 2007

SF CHRONICLE — Dec 17 —  About half of the online adult population have looked themselves up, or someone else online, according to a survey published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. 36% have searched the Web for someone with whom they’ve lost touch, and 9% have dug up information on someone they were dating. 60% are not worried about how much information about them is on the Internet. The study found that 61% have not felt compelled to limit it, while 38% have taken steps to control it. FULL ARTICLE @ SF CHRONICLE

Office Holiday Parties Hold Peril

Posted on December 10, 2007

Officeparty NBC 11 — Dec 4 — According to a holiday party survey by Vault.com, 15% of employees have either been disciplined or fired because of their actions at a holiday party, while 18% are getting romantic during such events. ~41 % of employees would flirt back if a co-worker hit on them, according to Tickle.com, an online polling organization, only 3% said they would slap the colleague. One of the tips how to survive the office holiday party is to bring a date. Paul A. Falzone, CEO of eLove and The Right One, said his company gets lots of calls from people looking to find a match around this time of year, and many are motivated by their company's holiday party.

The full article was originally published at NBC 11, but is no longer available.

A Kiss-Off To Online Dating

Posted on November 21, 2007

BUSINESS WEEK — Nov 20 — The era of Web 1.0 is over, online dating is dead. Going on sites like Facebook or MySpace it's like going to a bar with your friends, whereas a dating site is like walking past a bunch of animals in cages at the zoo. According to comScore, the number of people visiting online dating sites dropped 6% in September. Unique visitors to Yahoo Personals and eHarmony fell 21%, Match.com had a 16% drop, and True.com's visitors plummeted 46%. ComScore does show some names like Plentyoffish.com growing, but these are new sites with far smaller user bases. I doubt PlentyofFish will ever get to the size or valuation of a Match.com.

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

Mark Brooks: Match had $89.1 million revenue in Q3. That's ~$360 million a year.  PlentyofFish is now making $10 million+ a year. I doubted Markus would ever get into the top 10 when I met him in 2004. I underestimated him. PlentyofFish is #2, Match #4 on the Hitwise USA rankings.  On Comscore USA rankings, Match is #2 and PlentyofFish is #8.  In the UK, Hitwise ranks PlentyofFish.com as the #2 dating site, and Match comes in at #5.  And PlentyofFish comes in at #1 in Canada according to Comscore, with Lavalife at #2 and Match at #13. See the full rankings here. (Disclosure: PlentyofFish is a client of Courtland Brooks)

U.K. Online Dating Rankings Update

Posted on November 13, 2007

HitwiseOPW — Nov 12 — The Hitwise U.K. Rankings are updated. Here are the changes: BeNaughty.com moves up from #10 to #6 and pushes GirlsDateForFree and Loopy Love to #7 and #8. Passion.com entered the chart and is at #9. FriendsReunited Dating is #10 and pushes Telegraph Dating is off the top 10. PlentyofFish remains at #1, with Gaydar at #2.

Studies Show Online Dating Becoming More Accepted

Posted on November 9, 2007

Online_datingTHE POST — Nov 8 — More than 120,000 marriages a year result from online dating, according to a report by Online Dating Magazine. The magazine estimates that 20 million people use at least one online dating site each month.  According to a 2006 Pew Internet report, 31% of Americans know someone who has used online dating.

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

Hitwise U.S.A. Internet Dating Rankings Update

Posted on November 6, 2007

Hitwise_logoOPW – Nov 6 – We have updated Hitwise U.S.A. internet dating rankings. Singlesnet and PlentyofFish maintained their 1st and 2nd position. Yahoo!Personals and Match.com moved up to #3 and #4. eHarmony lost its #3 position and is at #5. Manhunt.net ousts Mate1 from it's 9th position. Hot or Not and Black Singles jumped down to #16 and #17, from #12 and #11. OnlineBootyCall moved up 2 spots to #11.

Good news! Hitwise has given the OK for us (OnlinePersonalsWatch and SocialNetworkingWatch) to list the top 25 for USA and Australia moving forward. See the links on the right bar to get to the official rankings.

Net Scams Not Slowing Down

Posted on November 2, 2007

DatingscammersFORBES — Nov 1 — Consumers reported that they handed over $1.1 billion to scammers in 2006 according to the FTC, up from $570 million in 2004. Worse, the FTC estimates only 10% of fraud victims actually report.  The most prevalent is general merchandise fraud (goods not delivered) followed by auction fraud and then by fake-check scams. (A victim is sent a very real looking cashier's check that bounces a week later.)  Another scam, Love Schemes, takes advantage of lonely people on dating sites. Finally there is phishing and the new vishing, a phone version of phishing where the victim is instructed to call a phone number and give personal information to someone representing themselves as a familiar company.

Mark Brooks: iovation (my client) allows subscribing internet dating and SNS sites to identify devices and share information about the reputation of those devices… and catch scammers at the gate.

Internet Dating On The Rise In India

Posted on October 29, 2007

ShaadilogoTHE TIMES — Oct 29 — Thousands of young British Asians are spurning the tradition of allowing their parents to choose their partners and are instead relying on internet dating. 700,000 of Shaadi.com's ten million members are in Britain and of the 100,000 users browsing singlemuslim.com, about 10% are British. More than 10% of the profiles on singlemuslim.com have been uploaded by family members. People put up a profile, and what they're looking for — how religious they are, age, height, disabilities, pretty much everything. Then they can search and get their wali, a guardian, involved. Usually the guy goes to the girl's place and the wali asks the questions and they can get to know each other. 

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

Mark Brooks: BharatMatrimony and Shaadi are the leading matrimonials services.  Orkut and Fropper are leading social networks.

I Must Be A Prude

Posted on October 27, 2007

Ashleymadison_billboardOPW — Oct 25 — ….because Ashley Madison just turns my stomach. This dating service with 1.4 million users (85% men) is for people who want to cheat on their husband/wives. Granted, other (mainly adult) dating sites have their ‘discrete relationship’ categories and I think that’s to be applauded, but Ashley Madison is goading people towards infidelity with their billboard advertising and PR. Here’s some interesting stats I pulled from one of their PR hits…

~50-60% of men and 40-50% of women will engage in an extramarital affair or romantic tryst at some point.
~ 17% of divorces in the United States are caused by infidelity.
~ 90% of Americans believe adultery is morally wrong.
~61% of Americans through adultery should not be a crime in the US.

Your comments please… – Mark Brooks