Statistics

If the lightening-fast speeds of email and text messaging aren't fast enough for you, there's a new way to meet your match: mobile dating. According to AreYouInterested.com and SNAP Interactive, 61% of Are You Interested members are now more likely to hook up on a mobile dating app than on an online dating site. Is it possible that online dating, once hailed as the way of the future, is already becoming a thing of the past?

4 out of 5 of the 50,000 singles surveyed said they now prefer mobile dating to online alternatives. While I don't think that online dating will be going anywhere anytime soon, it's impossible to ignore the meteoric rise of mobile dating. These days it seems like everyone is glued to their smartphones, so it's hard to beat the accessibility of dating apps and the promise of instant dates they offer.

AreYouInterested.com found that the top 10 cities for mobile dating in America are:

Earlier this month Zoosk released a iPad version of their dating application which quickly ranked in the top 20 list for Social Networking Apps in the United States. Like their dating apps for other platforms, this app is available in 25 languages and offers the user the ability to search, browse and communicate with other Zoosk members. It is also optimized for the iPad and takes into the account the larger screen real-estate available.

Zoosk also noted that their mobile apps have been downloaded over 2.5 million to date. Search algorithm changes over the last year have also increased communication on the dating service by increasing message replies 133 percent.

For further details about the service please check out our review of Zoosk.com.

Spark Networks reported their 3rd quarter financial results this month. On a year over year basis revenue grew 28 percent to $12.7 million this quarter. A net loss was recorded however at $238 thousand and was contributed to an increase in marketing expenses. Subscribers overall increased 30 percent to 206,099 when compared to the same quarter last year and increased 8 percent when compared to the prior quarter.

When looking at the different dating segments Spark Networks has, the Jewish Networks revenue was flat when compared to the last quarter at $6.7 million. Subscribers decreased by 1 percent to 88,976 when compared both to last quarter and the same quarter last year.

The Other Affinity Networks saw a huge increase of subscribers this quarter of 84 percent to 113,972. With the increase of subscribers it also increased revenue by 108 percent to $5.7 million when compared to quarter 3 of 2010.

General Market Networks continue to slide. Revenue was $264 thousand which is a decrease of 52 percent when compared to 2010. Subscribers fell about the same percentage (54) with only 2,702 recorded.

For the full 2011 Q3 release visit the Spark Networks News Room.

Related Story: Spark Networks Second Quarter 2011 Financials

An article from Canoe took a look at online dating statistics in Canada.

From a cross-Canada survey conducted by Leger Marketing, they concluded the following points:

• 25 percent of Canadians have tried online dating. The percentage rises to 36 percent if you look at people between the ages of 18 and 34 (much higher than in 2009)
• Still, the majority of people do not plan to try online dating as 69 percent of them said that it is not likely they could find love online
• 64 percent of singles using online dating say that common interests is the most important factor when looking for a match
• 49 percent of singles using online dating say that physical characteristics from photos and videos is the most important factor when choosing a match
• 39 percent of all the Canadians surveyed said that they actually read over all of the information provided in a dating profile

Online dating has seen a huge increase in popularity in the last few years in Canada and the rest of the world. According to the Canadian owned dating site Plenty Of Fish, they have seen a 40 percent increase in memberships over the last 2 years. Plenty Of Fish currently has 33 million registered users from around the world.

China's leading dating site, Jiayuan.com has roughly a million users a month now who pay for the privilege to exchange messages with other members. The messages can be paid for by either the sender or the receiver. Their second quarter earnings this year almost doubled to $12.9 million when compared to the same quarter last year. Jiayuan listed on the Nasdaq back in May and since then their stock price has jumped 21 percent (as of last Friday). This is very good especially when you compare it to other Nasdaq listed Internet companies from China (most have fallen).

Jiayuan never relied heavily on advertising on their site as a source of income. In 2008 advertising made up only 15 percent of their revenue. Online advertising is a very competitive market with slim margins and for this reason at the start of this year Jiayuan decided to drop advertising from their dating site completely. Supporting a sales staff and the way it affected the user experience just did not make it profitable. Paid messaging now accounts for 80 percent of their revenue with the other 20 percent generated from in-person events and a premium service members can use to hire a human matchmaker.

For more on the story you can read the WSJ.

Spark Networks has reported their second quarter financial results for the year 2011. Revenue is up by 17 percent to $12 million when compared to quarter 2 of 2010 and up 9 percent when compared to the last quarter. This is the largest quarter over quarter growth in 6 years and the third consecutive quarter growth in a row.

Jewish Networks was responsible for $6.73 million of revenue. This is an increase of 1 percent when compared to the same quarter last year. The Other Affinity Networks saw revenue reach $4.7 million. This is an increase of 68 percent when compared to Q2 2010. General Market Networks revenue continued to fall with revenues of only $153,000. This is a decrease of 48 percent. Revenue from Offline & Other Businesses was $449,000.

Average paying subscribers for the Jewish Networks rose 1 percent to 90,094 during quarter 2. Other Affinity Networks surpassed Jewish Networks for the first time ever and reached 96,071 average paying subscribers. This is an increase of 50 percent. General Market Networks subscribers fell again to 3,485. They saw a 46 percent decrease when compared to the same quarter last year.

I have been seeing a lot of Christian Mingle TV commercials lately so I am sure this marketing endeavor is partially responsible for the large increase of subscribers that the Other Affinity Networks is seeing.

For the full 2011 Q2 release visit Spark Networks News Room.

Related Story: Spark Networks First Quarter 2011 Financials