How many dating sites are there in the United States?
In the U.S., there are close to 1,000 dating sites, led by Match.com, eHarmony and Yahoo! Personals. The industry rang up $649 million in revenues in 2006, according to Jupiter Research. Of the 92 million unmarried Americans, about 16 million have tried online dating, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In 2003 online daters increased 77%. Match.com is now in 35 countries, 30% of its 1.3 million members live outside the U.S. eHarmony, which started in 2000, has accrued 17 million members, $200 million in annual revenues and 30% yearly growth. Western online matchmakers face challenges in the Chinese matchmaking market. Of the 14 million Chinese Internet daters, only 500,000 pay subscription fees; thus industry revenues are estimated at just $24 million, according to iResearch. Paying users are expected to rocket to 3 million by 2010, generating sales of at least $160 million.
