Fridae.com, Asia's leading gay and lesbian social networking site, closed 2006 by surging past the 300,000 registered member mark. Based on audited figures from Nielsen//Netratings SiteCensus for the year, Fridae attracted up to as many as 380,000 unique browsers and 50 million page impressions per month.
In 2006, Fridae.com was one of the stickiest sites measured by Nielsen//Netratings, with an average session duration of nearly 12 minutes, double the market average of six minutes. The average session duration has since increased to 18 minutes in January 2007, three times the market average.
Traffic from China, the next country on the list, has risen from outside the top 10 to number five in less than a year, and together with Hong Kong and Taiwan, represent the fastest growing region for the popular social networking portal. Based on current trends, it is estimated that traffic originating from Hong Kong - which is rapidly increasing - will exceed Singapore's within six months.
To date, Fridae is available in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
Commenting on Fridae's success Patricia Poo, Nielsen//NetRatings's Managing Director Singapore, said: "Based on Market Intelligence's domestic measurement data, Fridae is not only among the top ten publishers in Singapore, it also leads the Entertainment category in page impressions. In 2006, Fridae.com was one of the stickiest sites measured by Nielsen//Netratings, with an average session duration of nearly 12 minutes, double the market average of six minutes."
(When referring to a web site, sticky refers to a site's ability to keep visitors on the site once they have navigated there or encourage the visitor to return frequently.)
The average session duration has since increased to 18 minutes in January 2007, three times the market average, far outpacing any other website tracked by Nielsen//Netratings.
Fridae's powerful platform is aimed at a niche demographic whose discretionary income, buying power, and education are highly attractive and very favourably ranked against other demographic groups. In this respect, Fridae leads in Nielsen//Netratings Market Intelligence December 2006 rankings in a number of key demographic metrics, namely amongst those aged 18-40 years old, annual household income over S$30,000, tertiary educated, and those who are considered PMEB's (professionals, managers, executives and business people. (See chart)
"Asia's gay and lesbian community represents an important yet untapped market for many of the world's leading brands, and Fridae.com is the primary conduit through which to reach them. Marketers who recognise this early will reap the rewards of being a first mover in their industry." said Dr Stuart Koe, CEO of Fridae.
Regular advertisers on Fridae.com include such diverse blue-chip companies as Qantas/British Airways, Motorola, Alfa Romeo, Warner Music, 20th Century Fox and most recently, Men's Skin Centre by Bella.
In October 2006, Fridae announced a hiatus from it's popular Fridae Events to focus on developing the website and gay advocacy. Since then, Fridae has launched a critically acclaimed HIV education campaign called "*Think Again," and is planning the launch of its highly anticipated "Version 5", a complete overhaul of it's website that will incorporate many Web 2.0 features such as blogging, tagging and RSS.
Click here for more info about Nielsen//Netratings and how Fridae's traffic compares with other sites.