Yahoo entices Latinos with Spanish dating

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Internet media company Yahoo Inc. said on Wednesday it would expand its popular personals business by launching a Spanish-language service targeted at Latinos in the United States, one of the fastest-growing groups of new Internet users.

Yahoo, whose Internet dating service has enjoyed rapid growth, said it would offer the new Spanish service through a partnership with the Spanish-language television network Telemundo Group Inc.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Yahoo said that it and Telemundo would jointly promote the new service.

Yahoo will charge $19.95 a month for the Spanish-language dating service, which will include most of the same features offered on English-language Yahoo Personals, including basic search functions for narrowing down a list of singles, and the "mutual match" service, which lets singles locate people who are seeking someone like them.

Yahoo's expansion of its online dating service comes as the online dating industry is enjoying rapid growth and growing social acceptance. Jupiter Research estimates that online personals is a $250 million market in the United States, expected to grow to $642 million by 2007.

Jupiter has also estimated strong growth internationally, projecting that the size of the online dating market in western Europe this year from 2002 levels.

In addition to its new Spanish language service, Yahoo offers a number of country-specific dating services with content and language catered to the singles markets in Britain, France, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

© Reuters