Online dating service eHarmony will provide exclusive matchmaking services to Friendster, an site that helps people meet for love or activities, the companies said Tuesday.
In October, eHarmony had 3.2 million unique visitors and was the fifth most-visited online dating site behind such providers as Yahoo Personals, which had 6.2 million unique visitors, and the Match.com network, which had almost 5.5 million unique visitors, according to comScore Media Metrix.
Friendster had 945,000 unique visitors in October, comScore said.
The tie-up between eHarmony and Friendster comes as competition in the online dating sector intensifies, forcing sector participants to get bigger and find new ways to stand out in a crowd.
Consumer spending on online personals was $235.3 million in the first half of 2004, up from $214.3 million in the first half of last year, according to the Online Publishers Association and comScore Networks.
