Christian Singles Directory - Fashion

FriendFinder Inc. announces position as World's largest online dating desination

6/1/2004

FriendFinder Inc. announces position as World's largest online dating desination

comScore Media Metrix Data Confirm FriendFinder's Market Leadership, Based Upon a Custom Category of Online Dating Sites*

FriendFinder, Inc. today announced its leadership position as the largest and most popular online dating destination for singles based upon a customized comScore Media Metrix analysis of sites owned and operated by FriendFinder. The analysis, based upon September 2003 data from comScore, revealed that the FriendFinder network* of sites drew 11.9 million unique visitors, far outpacing any other individual competitor in the marketplace, including such well-known organizations as Match.com, Yahoo! Personals and Lavalife and showing nearly eight times the visitors to newer entrant, Friendster**.

"FriendFinder's strategy is different from any other online dating company in that we've created 15 targeted online dating sites designed to meet the specific interests of singles. We've observed that singles select their ideal partners based on key cultural, age, religious and sexual interests," said Andrew Conru, FriendFinder founder and CEO. "Online dating isn't about just being hip, slick and cool, but about making the experience really effective for our members. We're quite unique in taking this more focused approach. We've flown underneath the radar for a while. Now the comScore numbers are revealing that FriendFinder is indeed a leader in the market."

In addition to the 11.9 million visitors measured by comScore, FriendFinder's internal server log data indicate that the FriendFinder network of US and International 15 online dating sites actually attracts a combined total of more than 20 million visitors per month. The FriendFinder network spans the widest possible range of lifestyle choices and special interests - from JewishFriendFinder for the Jewish community and SeniorFriendFinder for adults over the age of 40 to sites oriented to gay and casual dating lifestyles, such as OutPersonals and Passion.com. Other FriendFinder websites are tailored to specific groups and languages, including AsiaFriendFinder (for the worldwide Asian community), and Amigos (a Latin dating site in English, Spanish and Portuguese). The comScore statistics do not include web traffic for FriendFinder's GradFinder, ShareRent, Dine and FriendPages sites.

Online dating has become the major driver in the online content business. With its leadership position in the marketplace established, Friendfinder.com plans to target new business development opportunities in 2004. The industry brings in more revenue than any other category of legitimate paid Web content -- more than digital music or business and investing advice. Revenues for online dating are expected to exceed $313 million for 2003, up from $228 million in 2002, according to Jupiter Research.

Over 62 million members have registered and used FriendFinder since its founding in 1996, and over 20 million registered users are actively using the service today. FriendFinder was one of the first dating services on the Internet and has continued to lead the highly competitive online dating personals category by enabling people to confidentially and anonymously meet friends with similar interests and lifestyles in a variety of dedicated virtual "communities."