A Ground Truth study reveals that unique visitors to mobile dating sites grew 92 percent between the first week in June and the last week of July.

The study is proof there has been a steady climb in usage of mobile dating sites throughout the summer months, regardless of speculation that numbers would drop during this time period. Flirtomatic accounted for 65 percent of the audience for mobile dating for the week ending Aug. 8. 

?We talked about this topic in the study because we were surprised of the growth,? said Michael Libes, founder and chief technology officer of Ground Truth, Seattle. ?Mobile is growing.

?There was speculation that it would sag over the summer,? he said. ?We did not see that. Mobile dating stood out as one of the few categories that took off.?

Ground Truth is a mobile measurement firm that delivers mobile intelligence to wireless carriers, advertisers and publishers to measure their advertising campaigns.

For advertisers trying to reach the mobile dating demographic, this growth in traffic is good news. Advertising on mobile dating sites such as Flirtomatic could be a great opportunity for brands, if done right. 

Dating sites that are designed around the mobile experience, such as Flirtomatic, are attracting the most users, according to the study.

Popular online sites, such as match.com and eHarmony are less frequented on mobile, according to Ground Truth.

The reason for the growth in mobile dating was attributed to people becoming more active during the summer months.

As consumers become more active, their social lives ? including dating ? become more mobile.

Consumers are out and about doing outdoor activities in the summer months, since the weather is nicer.

Overall, the average visitor to mobile dating sites spends a total of 12 minutes and 44 seconds per week, and 49 seconds per session.

?The reason for the growth in mobile dating was the one thing we had a hard time measuring,? Mr. Libes said. ?We wanted to make sure this was not due to the top sites in the category advertising to drive their own traffic. That turned out to not be true.

?We looked at the click stream analysis and most traffic came from Google or Facebook, MySpace and Mocospace, meaning that social is driving activity to mobile dating sites,? he said.

Final Take
Giselle Tsirulnik, senior editor at Mobile Marketer, New York