After years of losing subscribers to racier rivals and new social networking sites geared to young singles, Match.com has become the largest online dating site in the U.S. by subscriptions, with 1.3 million members.
However the racier rivals seem to be doing very well with older daters, too. Because dating sites are prospering by targeting older Baby Boomer singles to help them answer the question, "What is this thing called love?" Even as the online dating market cooled, AdultFriendFinder.com and its companion sites zoomed past top rivals, like Match.com and Yahoo Personals.
Andrew Conru owns 27 online dating sites under an umbrella company called Various, controlling twice as much online dating traffic as better-known rivals Match.com and Yahoo Personals. Of all the dating sites Conru has launched--ones for Latinos, seniors, Asians, Jews, churchgoers--the biggest by far is AdultFriendFinder.com, which accounts for more than 60 percent of Various's revenue. The 450-person company brings in well over $200 million in annual revenue, averaging 40 percent growth for the past nine years.
With more than 35 million visitors in 2006 and 75,000 new users registering each day. AdultFriendFinder.com ranks among the 100 most popular sites in the United States. "In Hugh Hefner's day, it was 'It's OK to look at sexuality,'" Conru says. "Now, it's OK to be sexual."
"Tim," 50, met his 28-year-old financee on the AdultFriendFinder (AFF) site, though they tell friends they met at the Coke display at Wal-Mart. They still have sex with other Peoria, IL, AFF users about twice a month, and one of those couples will serve as bridesmaid and groomsman at their wedding. "Ours is kind of a Cinderella story," Tim says. "A lot of people on the site look up to us and ask us for advice." These are precisely the people, Conru has learned, who make the best customers. And he's been looking for customers for a long time.
Source: BUSINESS 2.0, April 2007
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