CNN
MONEY -- Aug 18 -- Online dating has shrugged off its social stigma and
emerged as a mainstream means for singles to find that special someone.
The U.S. online dating industry is expected to climb 9% year-over-year
with revenues of $516 million in 2005, said Nate Elliott, an analyst at
jupiter Research. That's slower than the 19% growth in 2004. And 77% in
2003. There are currently nearly 1,000 dating Web sites, said Bill Tancerof Hitwise, and one out of every 100 people logging on to the internet
visits an online dating site. Niche sites are popular. Social
networking sites have become increasingly popular among the
young. That's giving traditional online dating sites a run for
their money, said John Tinker, research analyst at ThinkEquity Partners. The Big 3 online dating sites -- Yahoo! Personals, Match.com and EHarmony.com will have to tweak their business models and create new innovative products to grow revenue. One place to look is advertising. Date.com's CEO Meir Strahlbergsaid that advertising revenues have doubled in the past few months to
10% of total revenue. "There are 86 million single adults who control
annual spending of $1.6 trillion," Strahlberg said. "Online dating
sites reach about 30 percent of that market currently." Date.com can
target an advertiser's products to almost any demographic based on user
profiles. Yahoo! Personals general manager Lorna Borensteinsaid, "today's online daters are increasingly sophisticated. You can't
just increase offerings; you have to help singles figure out their
relationship goals and offer tools to help them find their version of
success, whatever that might be." FULL ARTICLE @ CNN MONEY

Mark Brooks: Hot future trends; 1. targeted advertising on online dating sites. 2. personality profiling.