Niche dating sites are growing steadily compared to mainstream

Niche dating sites surprisingly outperform their mainstream counterparts. In a recent study conducted by Hitwise to determine the market share of online dating sites, niche dating sites such as gay dating sites and religious dating sites are gaining more popularity and growing faster than the mainstream counterparts such as exemplified by the top 5 dating sites - Singlesnet, Plentyoffish, True, Yahoo Personals and Match.

In March 2007, the top 5 dating sites logged in a market share of 83.33%. In March 2008, their market share dropped to 77.30% or 7% lesser. The numbers don't lie. For instance, gay dating sites' market in March 2007 was pegged at 7.81%. In March 2008, it grew to 12.03% of the market share. Same thing with African American at 5.26% (2007) and 6.01% (2008). Religion dating sites logged 1.51% and 2.55%. Asian dating sites 1.53% and 1.55%; Latino at 0.56% and 0.57% respectively.

From these data, it can be gleaned that online daters are now shifting to more specific dating sites. People are looking to date someone who have similar interests. Hence, the growing demand for niche dating sites.

Casual dating sites such as Fling and AdultFriendFinder, although the do not particularly fit into the 'niche' profile because of sheer size of this market, also see steady growth by .07%. Adam Small from SexSearch defines casual dating market as "anyone over the age of 21 who is interested in sex, which is almost everybody."

Marketing in focused niche dating sites are also easier compared to mainstream. Members of these dating sites are already identified into specific groups like Christians for Christian dating sites or Latinos or African-Americans.

All dating sites however share one similar distinct advantage. Like the immensely Facebook and Myspace, members have encoded personal information in their profiles. As traffic grows, so do the opportunities for social media marketing in these online dating sites. Advertisers can easily target their specific markets with either niche or mainstream dating sites.

References:
www.techcrunch.com/
blog.usweb.com