{"id":15136,"date":"2013-10-23T07:30:20","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T12:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/digital-dating-onlines-share-of-the-romance-market\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:28:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:28:31","slug":"digital-dating-onlines-share-of-the-romance-market","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/10\/23\/digital-dating-onlines-share-of-the-romance-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital dating: Online\u2019s share of the romance market"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Internet has disrupted just about every consumer market it’s touched, with many people deciding it’s easier, faster and\/or cheaper to find what they need online than in brick-and-mortar stores. That dynamic is at work as well in the “market” for love and romance.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

According to a new Pew Research Center report<\/a>, 11% of adult Americans have used a online dating site or mobile dating app. Two-thirds (66%) of those online daters have gone on dates with people they met through a dating site or app, up from 43% in a similar survey eight years ago. Nearly a quarter (23%) said they’d found a spouse or long-term romantic partner that way, statistically similar to the 17% who said they’d done so in the 2005 survey.<\/p>\n\n

That trendline got us wondering: How does the “relationship market” compare to other online markets? As a start, consider that the Pew Research study\u00a0found that 5% of adult Americans met their current spouse or long-term partner somewhere online (the figure rises to 11% of those who’ve been together ten years or less). Though that includes more online venues besides dating sites, it yields an approximate online “market share” for the relationship market.<\/p>\n\n

That share, interestingly, isn’t far off from online’s overall share of retail sales, which according to the Census Bureau was 5.75% in the second quarter of 2013 (up from 2.4% eight years ago).<\/p>\n\n

But online market share varies considerably by product category: Market-research firm eMarketer.com<\/a> estimates that while 21.8% of this year’s computers and consumer electronics sales will be made online, only 2.3% of food and beverage sales will be. By that standard, online dating nestles between health and personal care items (5.7%\u00a0online market share, according to eMarketer) and toys and hobby supplies (4%).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More people look for dates online than for home furnishings, health and personal-care items and several other types of consumer 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