Dear hurricanes-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. Dating services make their money primarily from paid
advertising (people advertising themselves to others, etc). You may
pay $19.95, for example, to have your mug and your bio splashed on the
net for all to see in hopes of netting Mr. or Mrs. Right (or perhaps
Mr. or Mrs. Right Now, as the case may be). People pay to play ? it?s
that simple - and a LOT of them are doing it. The affordable fees
coupled with high volume consumption and low overhead means that the
costs of operation don?t come anywhere close to exceeding even a large
portion of the gross income (in the ideal cases). Since the demand is
high and the consumer base is enormous, in many instances the profit
margins of many of these entities are, for lack of a better word,
outrageous.
This is an excerpt from an excellent article that explains nearly
everything about how dating services generate income:
HOW ONLINE DATING SITES ARE MAKING MONEY
?The primary revenue generator for online dating sites is monthly
subscriptions ranging in price from $19.95 per month to $24.95 per
month. The sites also get revenue from affiliations with other Web
sites such as portals or sites targeted at specific constituent
groups, such as the armed services, firefighters, etc. These affiliate
sites either buy the rights to use the online dating site?s technology
engine on their web site, or they send their members directly to the
online dating site and are paid a commission of up to 40% on the first
months membership fee for each membership generated. Many of the
dating sites also pursue partnerships that provide revenue streams
from the addition of new services.?
MARKET RANGE ? INDUSTRY RESEARCH
http://marketrange.com/BD/industry.asp
Let me ask some hypothetical questions here in your behalf:
What is the motivation?
I?ll give you one guess?MSNBC explains it best:
?Your customers are motivated by the strongest urges Mother Nature can
conjure up. And they think $20 a month is cheap compared to the price
of a drink at a singles? bar. Until recently, there had been a catch ?
the weird factor. But that?s a distant memory now, since it seems
everyone?s doing it. Virtual matchmaking has become the Internet?s
third killer app, behind e-mail and the Web.?
LEADING INDICATORS
http://www.leadingindicators.com/html.lib/newsletter/BusMat/BM_02_0923.html
How popular are dating services and how many people ?really? fork over
their money to these services?
?Online dating sites attract about 20% of the Internet population, and
Jupiter Research predicts huge growth. Last year Jupiter estimated
that 17.2 million people viewed online personals and 2.5 million of
them paid for online ads. In 2006, Jupiter predicts, 27.4 million will
view online personals and 5.2 million will pay for ads.?
?Rufus Griscom, CEO of Nerve.com, calls his business "the eBay of people?.?
USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2003-02-09-online-dating_x.htm
Oh c?mon! Is it really that big of a business?
You?d better believe it!
?The Online Publishers Association, a trade organization of online
media companies, recently released a report showing the growth in the
Internet dating business. Consumers spent $302 million on paid
personals and dating content in 2002, more than three times the $72
million they doled out for the same services the previous year, the
study found.?
??For the full year of 2002, the personals and dating category was the
largest single paid content category overall,? said Michael Zimbalist,
executive director of the OPA. ?It?s making a lot of money.?
?The leader, Match.com, reported a 154 percent growth in revenue, from
$49.3 million in 2001 to $125.2 million in 2002, according to Trish
McDermott, the company?s vice president of romance. Earnings for the
first quarter of this year have amounted to $40.9 million; profits
were $36.1 million in 2002 versus $2.7 million in 2001, she said.?
Fox news
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,87256,00.html
(Another excellent article with statistical content)
Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
ONLINE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION RESEARCH
http://www.online-publishers.org/research.html
others defined above
SEARCH STRATEGY
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Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
How dating services make money
Dating service annual income
Paid advertising dating services |
