INDEPENDENT(UK) -- June 19 -- Cost of dinner, show and brush-off? Up
to 1,500 pounds a month for serial daters. They are young, single
and wealthy - and enjoy a fabulous social life thanks to the phenomenal
success of internet dating. Dinner, cabs, drinks and entertainment can
cost more than �100. Women may want to split the bill but will
also have invested heavily in new outfits, shoes and hairstyles.
A survey quizzed 5,000 members of the loopylove.comwebsite. The average spend for men per date is �27 and for women
�16. The average number of dates per month for men using the site was
11 and for women 7, meaning that the cost can exceed �1,500 a
month. A poll last month for the Maestro card found that
Britain's 8.6 million singles spent �8bn a year on dating. Also, ite
revealed an 11% rise in spending on hairdressing, restaurants and
accessories, with 60% of men prepared to pay for the first date and 64%
of women happy to split the bill. FULL ARTICLE @ THE INDEPENDENT

Mark Brooks:
The online personals industry is leaving money on the table.

eHarmony, PerfectMatch and True are proving that users will pay more
money for better matches. If users get better matches then they
guys can reduce their date budget (less dates, more success) and girls
have less heartache from having to dish out so much rejection.
The public are sold on online personals, now it's time to up the ante,
and the level of service. They WILL pay for it, as long as the
benefits are real. That means matchmaking that really
works.