Niche Dating Sites Grow Steadily As Mainstream Ones Flail

I really think there is plenty of room for growth in online personals. I don’t think match.com or the more popular sites really nail it. More and more, people are going to drift towards sites that gear towards them .. styles and types of dating are very diverse from culture to culture. For example, in India, “matrimonial” sites like shaadi.com are wildly popular. Similarly, Ignighter.com is a very unique approach to the younger generation.

I always enjoy inserting ‘white’ into whatever race-based organization or group I see, and imagine how unacceptable it would be (BTW I’m not saying these folks are racist, or that anyone that prefers to date a particular race is racist– they’re just people with preferences, and we live in an over-PC world).

Anyway let me know when they open the niche sites:
WhitePeopleMeet, WhiteSingles, and WhiteChristianPeopleMeet

I see they do have AllWhiteDating, but that’s definitely out. I’m looking for a more mainstream presentation, with less of the National Socialist emphasis.

Agreed, Ashish. I think that while mark does a good job of pointing out the growth of niche sites, I think we will soon see the growth of more socially oriented sites. Sites that adjust their models and product to the needs of the so called “facebook generation”. While I’m not very familiar with Indian culture, I’m sure the same applies

In theory, the perfect dating site would be a single dating site with all the singles on the planet on it…and really, really good search functionality. In reality, it appears that the market is moving in the opposite direction to this perfect model.

Actually Ashish, Mark Brooks wrote about Ignighter In November of 2007 back when it was called Sparkker.

http://onlinepersonalswatch.ty.....spark.html

So he gets it.

Gotta point out that, if one were into such things, manhunt definitely falls into the “casual dating” category.

Here at the Web 2.0 Conference and just learned about a great niche site launching in a couple weeks: MIXTT. Apparently it’s set up so that one group of friends goes out with another group of friends (instead of a 2-person, one-on-one date). Their tagline is, “My friends can get with your friends and we can be friends.” I’m definitely signing up.

Yeah I’ve heard Mixtt is like a poor man’s Ignighter. Ignighter has been doing group-to-group dating for a while now - I signed up a couple months ago. I think Mixtt just copied their idea.

This is evident in the Caribbean too…we have Caribsingles.com, jampersonals.com (more country specific to Jamaica). Additionally from Caribbean entreprneurs to the world, there is smutvibes.com, christiannvibes.com and others.
The trends is definitely reflected in the Caribbean too.

Thanks for your support Craig! I’m happy you’re an ignighter user, but just to be clear, I wouldn’t say ignighter has been around “for a while now” and I’m sure there’s plenty of room in the group dating market so no need to talk poorly about any of our competitors. And btw, good article Mark!

To John (Reply #6): I guess you’re not into such things, but Manhunt.net is not exactly for “casual” dating. Many subscribers date someone tonight, someone else tomorrow night, someone else the next night, etc. You get the picture. It is regular dating, not exactly with the same partner, which, as an online dating business, is why it is more successful than perhaps some others.

:o)~

hey Morgan there is a site called Redneckandsingle.com but most dating sites have an overwhelmingly white population and you can choose your ideal racial partner. Its fairly easy to find another white person to date either in real life or on a mainstream dating site if race is your primary criteria. The niche sites allow people with specific interests to find mates not easily found in the real world. But I’m sure anyone who creates a site that focuses on the white, middle-class mainstream will make a ton of money.

@4: yeah someone should build a platform for this and then get all the dating sites on board - would probably save their developers a lot of work too.

I can’t help but wonder if this same trend will happen (or is already happening)with business networking platforms? It’s obvious monster sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are not the answer for everyone as evidenced by the growing popularity of smaller networks like Fast Pitch!, Ecademy and others…

The reason that singles prefer niche sites is because there are too many casual daters on the big sites who sign-up only because of scantily-clad models. Most people don’t just want any warm body, but someone who shares their interest and has the motivation to seek out a niche site instead of the impersonal and random larger sites. A site like farmersonly.com is the perfect site for connecting remote and rural singles.

Totally agree, much like shopping, dating sites are defo not “one size fit all”. Niche markets can offer more intriguing connections. My friend told me about weddingsingles.com & I absolutely loved the idea!

Yeah it is all about the niche, the whole niche, and nothing but the niche!

The actual numbers were a little surprising, but it makes sense really to see the niche sites growing faster.

People want to belong, to feel they’re part of a community, to be with others that understand them and what makes them tick. That’s why MySpace took off so fast a few years ago, and same for Facebook.

The massive (and a little generic) sites like Match.com and eHarmony just don’t have that “special” theme that pulls people together, makes them want to “belong”…

And of course it’s not much of a mystery why “casual” sex dating is still soaring.

Fascinating data and analysis Mark!

Watch out for Twine in this space. It will fill a huge gap between Match.com & Co. and eHarmony & Co. … and can likely do it with a Plentyoffish business model.

Niche is definitely where it’s going - whilst most mainstream .com dating sites have seen a plateau in their home markets, we’ve grown over 400% in the last 6 months on the back of niche partnerships.

A lot of niche sites use a white label dating platform which gives them the critical mass of members to get started whilst still focussing their marketing on a niche audience.

Niche marketing is generally cheaper than general and the visitors are more likely to convert into members and pay as the brand is more relevent to them.

We recently launched a site for Bizarre magazine at SavageHearts.co.uk for the alternative network which converts at twice the general audience.

Great times ahead for those who get into niches,

Ross

I have no reasons to believe that a mainstream site couldn’t launch a dozen niche sites.

The only reason why the niche sites are thriving at this point, in my opinion, is because of user interface inefficiencies. There are fewer people on niche sites. Once consolidation starts, good luck niche sites…

Viewing people as a grid simply doesn’t work. Viewing people as a collection of images doesn’t work either. There is a definite information overload. One quickly raises their expectations without intending to do so. All of a sudden, nothing short of a perfect-looking swimsuit model is sufficient. After all, the perception is that there are 100s of them available to you. From that girl’s perspective, she quickly raises her expectations to a very high level. Then you wind up with a site where perfect 10s connect and the rest are frustrated.

We need a user interface upgrade for dating sites, and then you’ll see mainstream sites destroying the niche competition very quickly.

Very interesting thing to read about Leonid. Especially the part about user interface upgrades, in which I believe you are very right about. I got some inside information about a new global network will be launched later this year, - indeed very much approaching the “new user interface” part.

So I am very exited to see where all this goes. Niche or not niche, for sure the “dating” market is growing everyday with new websites opening, so the choice is just getting bigger, while the market level stays the same, until the Asian people get online for real. Thats the reason why the big ones are suffering a little now. But again, for sure we will see consolidation in this market - and combined with new user interfaces, I am pretty sure we will se a winner or two that will stay in for the long run.

Happy dating out there

Mark-

Your words in Comment #4 sum up well the point of this data-rich post.

The dating space is still an interesting diversion from the Net at large in that a Google-type approach hasn’t yet worked.

We’re talking online PERSONALS after all, and many people feel most comfortable when they have at least the perception that they are operating within a realm with which they identify. Friendfinder seemed to have recognized this very early on and did well establishing an endless network of affiliate sites.

The online job search space is another area where the ‘monsters’ don’t necessarily have better results than niche. It would be interesting to compare that space’s analytic results to your data here.

Insightful analysis, Mark. Growth of specialty dating sites makes sense; e.g., a Christian dater does not feel comfortable on a site also catering to casual daters, etc. Interestingly, some “niche” sites have hundreds of thousands of profiles and narrowing down the choice is still a challenge for users. I can see the next wave of growth coming from sites providing cool new technologies for singles to get to know each other online before meeting face-to-face.

Larger general sites, have very little space to grow… restricted by there own concept, means that it is generally very difficult for then to expand. Their ability to reamin with mainstream and Business 2 consumer keeps them where they are unable to expand.

Other sites that are single niches, also have a similar problem, but add to their expaandability by a smaller market, while their conversion rates are higher due to a more focused community.

Dating Networks generally produce only clones of their own niches, so therefore restrict themselves as well as their partners to a small collection of niches.

The real power of niching is where anyone can devise their own niche according to their own research. Also giving them an area to work in on a B2B level where they can offer niches to other companies who are looking for their own branding and filter members to their specific criteria as well.

General sites are declining held up and supported by advertising, brand awareness and the ability to buy traffic at extremely high prices. Their annual inreases around 10%, in comparison to B2B niche models who look towards a 10% increase on a monthly basis.

We literally have offers to aqcuire on a wekly basis from larger organisations, they do recognise the power behind niching and branding, alongside 14 languages, 42 currency choices and 13 million variations of nichesas well as the flexibility to create multiple revenue streams which can be cross promoted.

How is Lavelife, match or any other similar system going to expand at speed into a fast growing market. As a victim of their own initial success, they will only promote and offer their own brand to sell to other communities, not the best recipe.

It may suprse thm to learn that other big brands, (Take Virgin as an obvious example) would like their brand promoted and not someone elses.

First things first, great article Mark! I think it would be interesting to drill down deeper than the top 5 mainstream dating sites and look into growth rates/market share for lower ranking sites, I think this speaks to what Ashish’s comments. As much as there is a clear opportunity for niche sites I also wonder about how lower ranking mainstream sites are doing in terms of capturing market share that might account for the low rates for the top 5 sites.

Certainly there is an opportunity to do so by offering superior user services, features and perhaps most causally, in this case, by avoiding some of the prevalent and unfortunate typical traffic driving tactics of high traffic ranking sites. That being said, as a founder of a new hybrid mainstream/casual dating site, I’m always after active user and subscriber stats as opposed to traffic.

I agree wholeheartedly with Jane and her argument that dating sites are not “one size fits all”. I personally don’t see the need for the existent polarity between niche and mainstream sites. Furthermore, I fervently see the “niche needs” of the online dater. As such, I think there is a glaring opportunity for a dating site, whether it be an existing or new one (like mine!), to offer niche environments within an overall online dating community. As it stands I don’t know of a site that offers such filtering done effectively that offers this service.

I think, overall, what we’re seeing here is a seasoning of the online dater in terms of experience, needs and expectations that is responsible for the decrease in market share for top 5 mainstream sites. This is something that has been happening for a while here and if the top 5 want to maintain their standing they need to start taking notice and act or move aside.

When media get involved in personals, they don’t want to promote your brand, they want to promote their own brand. And, as a vendor, we want to promote the New York Times personals, not our own brand name, because theirs has instant recognition and trust.

I suspect worldwide millions. What if one company get all major players in this area? They will without doubt esablish themelves as industry leaders - as long as they have the capacity and model, hardware and software to be able to manage an infinie amount of members.

Coming at this as a sideways approach mean that Dating networks will eventually control the online dating community…

Old models like Match, Lavalife etc will eventually be left behind to hug there own brand. It seems to me like these companies are blind or don’t understand the concept, one day they wake up and it will be too late.

A word of warning though is to make sure that your due diligence for these companies are thorough, our own experience is that many companies get trapped by misleading information.

History has shown us that time and time again they have joined other networks, but quickly move again, after discovering many pitfalls or discrepancies

Think of a dating site as a shop, with people on the shelves. Dating sites sell people to people. So the first thing a new site must do, is build their stock of people and spend seven figures to build their sites to critical mass so it converts, and is viable. They also have to overcome the operational costs of running customer service, and their sites, and site development. The entrepreneur can choose between developing their own software from scratch, or using an off the shelf package, or using a white label provider.

The majority of people I talk to who have tried to develop software have run into serious problems. If you’re going to use software, make sure its with a development group that has developed community/social networking/dating sites in the past. You don’t want to have to bring them up to speed on all the intricacies of community site development. Most software specs I’ve seen leave a lot to the interpretation of the programmer and project manager, so find a group that knows your field.

If you have more generic needs you could use an off the shelf package. Off the shelf dating site software is a better bet than developing from scratch in most cases but most packages tend to be buggy and the support costs can add up. They are improving, but my money has always been on using white label services. You can find a list on Online Personals Watch. See the right bar, Quick Links, Build Your Own Dating Site. There’s a lot of software and white labeling providers to choose from these days.

White labeling services help negate operational costs, and help entrepreneurs build a profitable businesses extremely quickly by granting them access to an existing base of users. Rather than start one generic site, I’d recommend starting a number of niches. Niche dating sites tend to convert better than generic sites and tend to garner more word-of-mouth exposure amongst their target audiences because of their more focused approach. Let me know how it goes, mark@courtlandbrooks.com.

What is happening is that for one people are tired of paying for dating sites. Sites like Match.com have lots of membes but it is so impersonal. People want to interact. As the economy slows, people feel more isolated and cannot afford to pay for a datiing site.
Free dating sites will remain recession proof. The free sites that have features like chat and instant messaging will gain in market share.

It is still essential to invent something new in dating industry.
Niche dating sites, social dating sites, webcam sites, chats and video messaging seems to be very useful for people…
But how many times you could use chat? Once, twice?
Then you realize that you’re wasting your time. What for?
If you seek for serious relations, you have to be more organized and you don’t actually need chat, you need to meet in person, that’s the only way.
If you seek just for fun, chat could become boring very soon. Time is precious.
I would say: new views will save dating, new colors, new features, new technics.
It doesn’t matter if it is niche site or not - it does matter if it is unique and outstanding.

I’ve just been reading about how Plentyoffish uses an algorithm that filters out matches according to your profile and surfing habits, so you actually never see bad matches that are marked as such on some sites.

In effect it creates a niche around each user. This is a very cool feature that may be a way forward for the big sites. Socnets have always had the ability to be a niche for most users and dating sites would do well to cater for those users who want (or fall into) a niche.

The purple cow is private online dating.

Conventional online dating will ultimately make you sick to your stomach, let alone the inherent risks with dating people without any reference whatsoever. Why not consider lead referrals?

Consider the revelation from a published sex study: 62% of married people meet through networks of friends. Private online dating meets the need for a truly private and safe alternative to meeting trustworthy people.

Private Online Dating is for people who value their privacy. Individual profiles are confidential. There is no ability to search for profiles outside each member’s own trusted connections. Each member manages by invitation their own private social network of trusted friends and family. Only a member’s trusted connections can view their profile.

Private Online Dating is for people who value their safety. You don’t expose yourself and trust people you don’t know. References and testimonials accompany romantic introductions. Credibility of romantic introductions can be further verified by asking trusted connections for additional information. This serves to mitigate dubious activity including romance scams and online predatory behavior. Photos and profiles are genuine. Connections will not make introductions if information is inaccurate. It’s an auto-moderated system by default.

The only vendor espousing the virtues of this niche is Sparkbliss.com or privateonlinedating.com.