(Online Dating Industry Journal) There is a great article in the Los Angeles Times today about the benefits and growth of the niche market throughout the online dating industry. To illustrate the article's focus, it spotlights a dog and cat lover using Datemypet.com to weed out those who are not tolerant of or allergic to pets. From the article:
"As novel as Datemypet may seem, the year-and-a-half-old site is part of a larger trend. As online dating has become more widespread, so have niche sites specializing by lifestyle and interest. Cruise the Web, and you'll easily find dating sites for truckers (truckerpassions.com) and the tall (tallfriends.com), people with disabilities (friendslikeme.org) and goths (gothicloveonline.com), conservatives (conservativematch.com) and hip-hop fans (hiphopmatchmaker.com), Ivy Leaguers (rightstuffdating.com) and wine lovers (grapedates.com). You name it, chances are there's at least one site for it. Usually there are several."
Along with Datemypet.com, the article also featured Florida-based Sugardaddie.com, a site where upscale men between 35 and 55 an meet women in their 20s and early 30s to share their "better-than-average lifestyle." On this unique niche site, women surprisingly out number men 3 to 1. Other niche sites from the article include DharmaDate, a site for Buddhist singles, VeggieDate, for vegetarians, the Spark network that operates 26 dating sties, 25 of which are niche, and the Passions Network, which runs more than 100 free niche sites, funded by advertising. For more information read the full article.
Kim's Comments:
In examining the niche market, an important point is made in this article. The reporter notes that "the advantage of niche sites is that users get to identify their deal breaker." The main reason why niche dating sites are continually growing in popularity and diverse topics is because so many singles out there know of at least one factor (vegetarianism, religion, etc) that they just can't compromise on. By going to a site like VeggieDate or JDate, that deal breaker is automatically eliminated, allowing for a less stressful soul-mate search.
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