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Nearly 2.5MM US Adults Took Part in Online Dating 'in Past 30 Days' »
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Nearly 2.5MM US Adults Took Part in Online Dating 'in Past 30 Days'
Some 2.5 million US adults report that they had participated in online dating in the previous 30 days, with men slightly (8%) more likely than women to have logged on to an online dating site, according to (pdf)Â Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI) data.
Some of MRI’s findings:
- Of the 2.462 Million adults who report that they had participated in online dating in the previous 30 days, 52.2% are men and 47.8% are women.
- Younger people - ages 18-34 - comprise almost half of all online daters, making them 59% more likely than the population as a whole to be in this group.
- Middle-aged people are also significantly represented: Nearly one-quarter (24.2%) of online daters are between the ages of 35-44.
Additional findings:
- Americans who have sole responsibility for a child are significantly more likely than average to be an online dater: Though only 16% of the 2.462 million adults who participated in online dating in the last 30 days are sole parents, they are 185% more likely than average to have participated.
- Heavy internet usage appears to be one of the drivers for participation: 53% of all online daters report they looked at or used the internet five or more time daily in the previous 30 days - making heavy internet users 160% more like than the population as a whole to fall into the online dating segment.
“While the increased acceptance of this kind of dating might lead people to assume ‘everyone is doing it’, in actual fact a very small percentage of adults participate in online dating ” said Anne Marie Kelly, VP of Marketing and Strategic Planning at MRI. “What’s interesting is that both genders, younger and more mature adults, and most income brackets are represented in a profile of online daters.”
“The relatively high incidence of people with sole responsibility for a child participating in online dating could speak to the fact that this is a fairly ’safe’ or neutral method to tap into the world of dating and screen people before introducing them to their children,” Kelly said.
Note: The survey dates for this data release were November 2006 to May 2007.
