Online dating drew ~4 million U.S. users daily in June 2006 (25 million monthly), and they spend a daily average of nearly 17 minutes each on these sites. That adds up to ~4.5 billion page views per month (source: Comscore). And that doesn't take into account the billion-a-day Myspace page views. All told, at least 15% of U.S. Internet users visit an online dating site each month. The two largest dating sites are Yahoo Personals and Match.com (9.3 million monthly visitors). Match.com charges $30/month for the basic plan, Yahoo's is $25/month. Both offer premium plans. An entire batch of next generation dating sites have emerged that are starting to nip at the established players. One, PlentyofFish, launched in 2003 and has over half a million monthly U.S. visitors. Google entered the space with their Google Base product. These sites are (mostly) free, making revenue from ad sales alone.
Consumating - "Find People Who Don't Suck" - Launched the summer of 2005 and was acquired by CNET in December 2005. Tagging plays a big part. Aimed at young hipsters who make themselves more "popular" by answering questions to fill out their profile. Offers contests and weekly user quizzes.
Engage - Hooks up couples Fiddler-on-the-Roof-style through matchmaking. Users sign up with the usual descriptive profile, but then take on the role of either "dater" or "matchmaker" (or both).
Google Personals - Google Base - User profiles highly targeted towards dating. Other features include labels (tags), location mapping, and an anonymous email to be reached at.
GreatBoyFriends - Friends, family and ex's are asked to leave feedback about users. GBF then verifies the endorsement or removes it.
MatchActivity - MatchActivity is a new site that sets up a date before the introduction. Users post activities in their area and then choose the respondent they like the most and carry out the date.
MatchTag - Same core activity tagging feature of MatchActivity.com, but wraps it in a more complete social network. A service to meet new dates and friends.
MingleNow - Users group themselves by what real world locations they hang out at (bars, restaurants, cafe's, etc.) so groups can mingle online and off.
PlentyofFish - A very large dating site. Users browse personal profiles free of charge, with a bulletin board system that allows users to freely chat, vent frustrations, and offer up dating advice.
Poddater - Users create profile videos and allow others to download them and view them. Prescription4Love - Niche site devoted to people facing thestigma of special conditions, such as deafness, HIV, or obesity.
RateOrDate - A meta-dating-search site that features couple ratings, singles event listings, and a dating site directory.
VerbDate - Adds voice to the usual online dating experience via Skype and incorporates Flickr photo albums. Allows the greatest amount of interaction while remaining physically separated.
Wikia Personals - Aims to create a free global personals page.
If numbers of profiles matter plentyoffish leads the pack. Our anticipated favorite is MingleNow - tying socializing to real-world hangouts is a great idea. FULL ARTICLE @ TECHCRUNCH BLOG