Media giant Fairfax paid almost $40 million for the online dating website RSVP in 2005, confirming the internet dating trend as big business. RSVP is Australia’s No.1 dating website, as measured by Hitwise web rankings. In 2006, more than 750,000 people were members at RSVP, with a fairly even gender split between the ages of 18-80+.

And if you’re wondering how many of them have met their perfect match on RSVP, the record so far is more than 1000 weddings and 150 babies – impressive strike rates for a website that has only been running for eight years.
Lija Jarvis, RSVP’s marketing manager says online dating gives singles control that is unlike any other form of dating.
“Online dating puts you in the driver’s seat – you decide when, you decide who, you decide how to introduce yourself, you can be as picky as you like in determining who you would like to correspond with,” said Jarvis.
“Online dating also helps you save time getting to the right people. Who wants to waste their precious social time meeting the wrong type of person?”

Jarvis believes social factors like a greater understanding and acceptance of online dating is causing the number of web daters to soar. And she thinks the trend will only get bigger.
“Stats say there are over four million singles over the age of 18 in Australia not in serious, committed or de facto relationships. While the definition for ‘singles’ is perhaps subjective and people come on and off ‘market’ at a rate that’s impossible to measure, trends suggest online dating in Australia is on a strong path of growth,” she said.

Top 10 Dating Websites

1 RSVP
2 Adult Match Maker
3 Adult Friendfinder.com
4 Gaydar
5 ninemsn - Lavalife
6 Red Hot Pie
7 AussieMatchMaker
8 Match.com
9 FindSomeone Australia
10 Match.com Australia

Source: Hitwise rankings, April 2006

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