Europeans Nearly Fifty Percent More 'Engaged' in Online Dating Compared to North Americans

comScore World Metrix, the leader in global digital media measurement, today released an analysis of usage of the online personals category, revealing that European Internet users are far more engaged in online dating than those in North America. According to the analysis, 18 percent of European Internet users (38.2 million) visited online personals sites in July compared to a slightly lower 17 percent of North American Internet users. However, European visitors viewed an average of 310 pages per visitor in July -- 44 percent more pages than their North American counterparts, who averaged only 216 pages per visitor. Within Europe, German Internet users were the most active in July, viewing an average of 446 pages per visitor per month, compared to 343 pages in France and 213 pages in the U.K.

    Online Personals Category - Key Statistics by Country/ Region
    July 2006 - North America, Europe, U.K., French and German Online
     Populations, Age 15+
    Home and  Work Locations
    Source: comScore Word Metrix

                     North America    Europe      U.K.     France     Germany
    Total Online
     Population (000)   172,700      215,500     30,000    23,800     32,000
    Online Personals
     Unique Visitors
     (000)               29,100       38,200      6,900     4,700      7,300
    Online Personals
     Reach (%)              17%          18%        23%       20%        23%
    Y/Y Growth Rate -
     Total Online
     Population              4%          11%         4%        7%         9%
    Y/Y Growth Rate -
     Visitors to
     Online Personals        0%          26%        26%       23%        22%
    Average Online
     Personals Pages
     per Month              216          310        213       343        446

The growth rates for users of personals sites in North America and Europe are also remarkably different, as the online personals audience in North America remained flat compared to last July, while the personals audience in Europe grew 26 percent.

"In North America, large online personals sites like Match.com and Yahoo! Personals still lead the rankings in terms of reach, but their growth rates have slowed in the past year," commented Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe. "In Europe, more specialist local sites such as Meetic in France and iLove in Germany have become successful, experiencing double-digit growth and dominating the category in their home countries."

    Online Personals Sites Attracting Most Visitors - By Country
    July 2006 - North America, Europe, U.K., French and German Online
     Populations, Age 15+
    Home plus Work Locations
    Source: comScore World Metrix

                       #1 Online           Total              Reach in
                     Personals Site     Online Reach      Personals Category*

    North America   Yahoo! Personals         3%                 18%
    U.K.            DatingDirect.com         7%                 31%
    France          Meetic                  11%                 54%
    Germany         iLove.de                11%                 48%

    * Unique visitors to the site divided by unique visitors to the category.

"The leading North American online personals sites, which are generally subscription-based, are being pressured by free social networking sites like MySpace and more specialized subscription-based services which focus on interests and functions," continued Mr. Ivins. "It will be interesting to see how the growth rates of the leading European players are affected as local social networking sites such as Bebo in the U.K. gain traction and as MySpace rolls out across Europe."

Mr. Ivins is scheduled to speak at the iDate 2006 Internet Dating Conference on September 25 in Amsterdam. At the event, he will lead a discussion on the demographics, metrics, and statistics of the European online dating and social networking markets.