Statistics

The Forbes website wrote an article called "The Top Online Meat Markets" which talks a bit about some current online dating statistics and lists the top ten dating sites according to unique visitors in the month of June from a tracking company called Nielsen (more famously known for tracking TV viewers). I wasn't really impressed with the title since they are referring to dating sites as meat markets. The term meat market is not meant as a compliment and it tells me the author is not very interested in the story and doesn't think much of the concept of online dating. He further expresses his point of view in this sentence:

Call it calculating, unromantic and maybe even a bit unnatural ...

For a media company whose authors are suppose to leave their opinions at the door unless the topic calls for it, I wonder how this piece got past the editor's desk.

In Mecklenburg County, North Carolina reported rape cases are up 16 percent this year. The county has a population of almost 1 million people and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are blaming "Internet dating and online classifieds offering sexual services" as one of the main reasons for the rise in rape cases. Across America the number of reported rapes has increased by 30 percent since 1993. Part of these increases are attributed to less shame in the social stigma of being a victim and in the city of Charlotte's case, stepped up outreach programs.

The Charlotte police have also contacted Craigslist,

... asking the online posting company to warn women advertising personal services that Charlotte had become too dangerous for them.

In Mecklenburg, the previous 2 years saw a downward trend in rape cases but with the rise this year, the police are for some reason pointing the finger at adult Internet dating services. Online dating is not, new and has been very popular over the last 5 years. With Craigslist in the news lately (see Story) I think they were just an easy target for the police to lay blame. Craigslist is of course not completely blameless here and it is well known they are having problems with illegal services being posted in their online personals category, it's just that these problems have been going on for a number of years, not just in the last year when Mecklenburg County has seen the rise in reported rapes.

People Media, in association with Chicago market researcher Synovate, released the results of a national wide survey of 1,000 people conducted last month which shows 49% of Americans knows of someone who found a date online. This statistic has almost doubled since a 2006 survey done by Pew Internet & American Life. It was also found, in the age demographic of Americans who goes online the least, people 65 or more, that almost a third (31 percent) knew of someone who had found a date online.

From the survey, it was also found that 28 percent of the respondents knew more than one person who found at least one date online:

• 3.4% knew more than 5 people
• 4% knew 4 or 5 people
• 20.7% knew 2 or 3 people
• 20.6% knew 1 person

A few more interesting details from the results include, singles are more likely to know someone who dated someone they found online, when compared to a person who is married (55% compared to 44%). Similarly Caucasians were more likely than other ethnicities to know someone who found a date on the internet (51% compared to 40%).

To find out more about a few of People Media's dating sites, read our review of BlackPeopleMeet.com and our review of SeniorPeopleMeet.com.

Match.com released a list of the top 25 most affordable cities in America for dating. In each city the average cost of a typical date was compared, which was a casual dinner for two plus two movie tickets. Pittsburgh came out on top, since it was the cheapest at just over $77 for a typical date. Los Angeles rounding off the list at number 25, with a couple needing to spend $126 for the same date. Here is the complete list of the top 25 most affordable cities for dating:

1. Pittsburgh
2. Detroit
3. Sacramento, Calif.
4. Phoenix
5. Indianapolis
6. St. Louis, Mo.
7. Tampa
8. Orlando
9. Houston
10. Charlotte, N.C.
11. Atlanta
12. Denver
13. Cleveland
14. Miami
15. Portland, Ore.
16. Minneapolis
17. Seattle
18. Philadelphia
19. Boston/li>
20. Dallas
21. Washington, D.C.
22. Chicago
23. New York
24. San Francisco
25. Los Angeles

For more information on the topic, read the press release. To find out further details about the dating service, read our Match.com review.

Unfortunately Spark Networks has continued their downward trend. Revenue for Q2, 2009 was $11.2 million, which is a 25 percent decrease when compared to $15 million from Q2, 2008. This is also a 7 percent decrease in revenue from Q1, 2009. Revenue dropped due to continued declines in subscriber numbers from JDate and the General Markets dating sites. Average paying subscribers for Spark Networks as a whole in quarter 2, 2009 is 163,217. This is a 3 percent decrease when compared to the last quarter and a 14 percent decrease when compared to the same quarter last year.

JDate saw revenue drop 18% to $7,1 million when compared to the same quarter in 2008. This is the result of subscribers falling 10 percent to 82,769. The Other Affinity Networks had revenues which totalled $3.3 million and 65,409 subscribers. Compared to the same quarter last year, revenue fell 3 percent while subscriber numbers increased 3 percent. General Market Networks saw the worse of it. Revenues dropped 68% to $701,000 and subscribers fell 58% to 14,022 when compared to quarter 2, 2008.

The planned decrease in revenue for General Market Networks is largely attributable to an 85% decrease in the marketing spend for this segment in the second quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.

For the full 2009 Q2 release visit Spark Networks News Room.

Related Story: Spark Networks First Quarter 2009 Financials

The Cron.com in Houston, Texas took a look at online dating and how a number of dating sites have experience growth during the past year, as the global economy has shrank. Most of the stats we have heard before in other articles, including some from Match.com (see Review) and eHarmony which both saw memberships increase in the high teens percentage wise when compared to the previous year. New facts we learned, included finding out that OkCupid has seen a 75 percent membership increase since September and that the professional matchmakers at It's Just Lunch have seen a 16 percent growth in the last 6 months.

The Houston Chronicle also included a number of success stories from different couples which lead to marriages. There was testimonials for It's Just Lunch, Together Dating and eHarmony.