Online Dating A Highly Under Penetrated Market
It may seem passe to longtime Internet users, but online dating is growing in markets worldwide. Since new singles come along all the time, the online dating business won’t go away. In fact, there is a lot of room for growth for online dating and matchmaking web sites.“It’s a highly underpenetrated market,” said Thomas Enraght-Moony, chief executive of Match.com, in a February 2008 International Herald-Tribune article. “The US has 92 million single people, and only 3 million now pay for an online dating service, and the US is the most advanced market,” Mr. Enraght-Moony said. “In Japan, it’s one-tenth of that penetration.”Online dating sites often have a problem in common with most bars: Too many men, not enough women.MediaMark Research’s “Survey of the American Consumer,” released in September 2007, found that men made up slightly more than half of online dating site users.For new online dating sites, the ratio is usually more lopsided.
The social network pool may be larger and free to use, but not everyone is there to swim.
As reported by www.emarketer.com
Social Networking has not eaten into the online dating market. If anything, singles try social networking and realize it’s a great place for hobbies but terrible for getting the kind of information up front to look for dates that have the potential to develop into a serious relationship. Online dating sites with a strong matchmaking component that are based on a compatability profile are growing rapidly. Singles are looking for short cuts to find the right person that matches them quickly based on important criteria such as values, faith, goals, accomplishments, etc. Social networking just does not provide the data singles need to even write the first email let alone meet someone for coffee.