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.
