NEW YORK, NY
When members of the Internet Dating Executive Alliance (IDEA) met last month at the Miami Internet Dating Conference (InternetDatingConference.com) the economy was a popular topic of discussion. Yet unlike the doom and gloom you might hear at conferences for any other industry, much of the talk centered on how numbers across the board are holding or are up for Internet dating sites– in spite of the economy.
Hitwise Competitive Intelligence reports that the Internet dating industry gained 12 percent more site visits in 2008 over 2007. The peak period for Internet dating sites is November through Valentine’s Day each year. Hitwise reports that the top 100 dating sites gained two percent more site visits for the three-month period of November 2007 to January 2008 versus November 2008 to January 2009. Free dating sites gained 55 percent more visits in the same period.
For example:
● Plentyoffish.com – the top ranking free dating site – U.S. traffic is up 33% since August; two billion monthly page views.
● Match.com – 22% more paying memberships in December 2008 vs. December 2007
● PerfectMatch.com – Q4 2008 revenues increased 42% over the prior quarter.
● WorldSingles.com – network of niche dating services that includes Arablounge.com, EligibleGreeks.com and IranianPersonals.com – 10% increase in sales from Q4 2008 compared to Q4 2007.
● TogetherChrisitan.com – “paying sign-ups” increased 23.8% from August 2008 to January 2009.
● Meet Market Adventures – activity-based social networking site – up more than 60% since August 2008, both in new member sign-ups and attendance for the site’s 200+ events.
● WhiteLabelDating.com – vast network of niche dating brands – 23.25% increase in site traffic from August 2008 to present; 76.3% increase in membership over the last two months; January 2009 revenue 73.48% higher than August 2008.
● EasyDate.biz – BeNaughty.com and 200+ dating brands – revenue is up 107% in 2008. Revenue rose 18% from Q3 to Q4 2008.
● SelectAlternatives.com – a network of 24 local city dating sites offered via alternative weekly newspapers – from August, 2008 to Jan. 2008; 3% increase in membership revenues, 9% increase in total unique visitors and 10% increase in total visits.
“If there’s one silver lining of a difficult economy it’s that it makes people take a step back and look at their lives. Many come to the realization they don’t want to go through life alone. Internet dating sites give them a viable and affordable way to find that special somebody,” said Mark Brooks, president of the Internet Dating Executive Alliance.
About The Internet Dating Executive Alliance (IDEA)
IDEA (www.internetdatingexecutivealliance.com) was formed by the editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com to help iDating executives talk directly with each other and share their thoughts on how to collectively improve the Internet dating industry. IDEA’s membership, by invitation only, consists of executives from a veritable who’s who in the international Internet dating world: eHarmony, Match, Plentyoffish, The Right One and Yahoo Personals. There are 226 members in all, over half of which are C-level or Founder level executives.
About Online Personals Watch (OPW)
OPW (www.onlinepersonalswatch.com or www.opw1.com for short) is the daily news summary service for the Internet dating industry.
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