• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 19, 2007

comScore Networks recently reported that 22 percent of Internet users, age 15 and older, visiting online personals sites in December 2006 were in France, followed by the British with 20 percent and the Americans with 13 percent.

Bob Ivins, managing director for comScore Europe, pointed out that Internet dating methods people use to connect with others show distinct cultural preferences in each country, with France having the highest proportion visiting online personals sites. He said "...We note that local nuances are critical to success, as demonstrated by the fact that each country has a fairly distinct list of top sites in the category. Interestingly, usage of dating sites seems to peak in the summer months in each country; July in the U.K. and U.S. and September in France."

In the U.K., the most popular site is DatingDirect.com (recently acquired by France's most popular personals site MeetIC) with 1.4 million U.K. visitors in December '06. Yahoo! Personals leads the category in the U.S., with 4.5 million U.S. visitors, age 15 or older. In addition, the only site included in the ranking of the top online personals sites in at least two countries is Match.com.

Note: Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs and traffic from (other) sites powered by Match.com

Note: Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Note: Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs.

For more information, please visit comScore press here.