Snapshot: Online Dating Site Popularity

There are so many online dating sites. Which are hot, and which are not?

Below is a figure from consultancy PSFK showing how many users various online dating sites have, plotted along two axes. On the first axis is a spectrum of how serious a relationship the average user is looking for, ranging from ‘one night stand’ to ‘marriage’ and on the other is a range of attitudes about sex, from ‘wholesome’ to ‘raunchy’.

This graph is a great example of the cliche, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.” While a full analysis of the state of online dating is outside the scope of this post, here are a few observations. One, people looking for raunchy one night stands are abundant. (Who knows how many they successfully find, however.) Two, there are also plenty of people looking for a wholesome marriage. Three, some big players clearly dominate, most notably AdultFriendFinder.com, Match.com, and eHarmony; but also PlentyofFish.com, which I’ve never given serious thought to before today.

But here’s my interesting observation from a business point of view – look at the huge untapped niches in the lower left and upper right corners. It might seem strange to start a business based around raunchy marriage-seekers or wholesome people looking for one night stands, but I guarantee you that those people are out there. In the economy of the long tail, there’s always someone paying for something obscure.