Comments on: Online Dating Industry Update March 2, 2010

By: Tammy

Tammy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:13:47 +0000

There’s no shortage of single people out there – the recession doesn’t change that. Online dating is still alive and well (and will be for a long time), but I think these trends reflect a change in PPC marketing dollars being spent. The differentiating factor is that big dating sites spend thousands of dollars every day, forcing the smaller boutique sites to pay as much as $4-$7 per click. When you’re first getting started and offering free memberships, you can’t compete with that. But, as specialty dating site owners figure out other ways to market their sites, they (we) will see an uptick in new members. The key is targeting a specific niche market instead of trying to appeal to everyone.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:02:36 +0000

You can also argue that users are now more sophisticated and will serach for a brand like plentyoffish or match.com.

See: http://bit.ly/datebrands

Pretty stable graph for both.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:30:53 +0000

I was surprised at your statement as well. I would think free dating caters more to low income levels.

I also think the major dating sites are marketed better now days (than in 2007) so people have refined their searches more.

Also if you look at the keyword “dating sites” it doesn’t post such a gloomy picture.

By: Sam Moorcroft

Sam Moorcroft — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:07:33 +0000

People may be searching less on terms like “dating”, however, niche terms are steady, or increasing, e.g. try it with Christian dating terms, e.g.
http://www.google.com/insights/search/?hl=en-US#cat=102&q=christian%20dating&geo=US&date=12%2F2006%2038m&cmpt=q
or
http://www.google.com/insights/search/?hl=en-US#cat=102&q=christian%20singles&geo=US&date=12%2F2006%2038m&cmpt=q

So, you can’t make sweeping judgements. You have to break things out.

By: David Evans

David Evans — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:56:32 +0000

While I agree that paid dating gets hit harder, I have a difficult time thinking that people who pay for dating make less than those on free dating sites. I’d need to see some numbers to back that up. Feels counter-intuitive.

Dating isn’t running out of new people, dating is not living up to expectations. Big difference there. Deliver a better service and you’ll have more members, guaranteed.

By: Markus

Markus — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:50:16 +0000

Paid dating sites will always get hit harder in a recession as their core userbase is low income, and free dating sites cater towards those with mid level income.

The problem began a long time ago even before the economic trouble.

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=102&date=12%2F2006%2038m&cmpt=q

Dating is running out of new people to try it.