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.
Top Personals Sites in the U.K. (Visitors Age 15+ December 2006 Home and Work Locations) | |
Web Properties | Unique Visitors (000) |
Total Web Users in U.K. (Age 15+) | 29,788 |
Personals Category Total | 5,836 |
DATINGDIRECT.COM | 1,427 |
LOOPYLOVE.COM | 960 |
GIRLSDATEFORFREE.COM | 618 |
Match.com Sites | 510 |
INTERRODATE.CO.UK | 452 |
Source: comScore World Metrix |
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
Top Personals Sites in France (Visitors Age 15+ December 2006 Home and Work Locations) | |
Web Properties | Unique Visitors (000) |
Total Web Users in France (Age 15+) | 24,409 |
Personals Category Total | 5,317 |
MeetIC | 2,258 |
Easyrencontre | 724 |
CAPFRIENDS.FR | 369 |
2BECOME1-FR.COM | 337 |
MSN Dating & Personals | 299 |
Source: comScore World Metrix |
Note: Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top Personals Sites in the U.S. (Visitors Age 15+ December 2006 Home and Work Locations)Source: comScore Media Metrix | |
Web Properties | Unique Visitors (000) |
Total Web Users in the U.S. (Age 15+) | 152,350 |
Personals Category Total | 20,555 |
Yahoo! Personals | 4,153 |
Match.com Sites** | 3,970 |
TRUE.COM | 3,086 |
Spark Networks | 2,504 |
SINGLESNET.COM | 2,173 |
Source: comScore World Metrix |
Note: Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs.
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