Yahoo's "Personals Premier"..."relationship seekers with deeper pockets"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6511586/

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc. late Tuesday launched Personals Premier, a premium online dating service aimed at attracting serious relationship seekers with deeper pockets. The move challenges eHarmony, a popular online dating site that picks potential "soul mates" for its subscribers based on results from a lengthy personality test.

Yahoo's new premium service costs $34.95 a month and features searching and matching technology that uses results from new relationship and personality tests. Yahoo's existing personals service costs $19.95 per month. Online dating is booming, with the U.S. industry projected to generate $558 million in revenue this year, Yahoo, predicts.

According to Internet traffic monitoring company Hitwise, eHarmony visitors are much more likely to be in the age range of 25 to 34 while Yahoo's visitors are older or younger -- with lower incomes.