Modern Love: India’s Dating Industry
Cupid’s Target:
- India is the 5th fastest-growing dating app market in the world as users spend millions every year.
- The growth in India’s spending is far higher than the global average year-on-year increase of 12% for this category of apps in 2022.
- Indian consumers spent $9.9 million up to December 2022 on dating and friendship apps. This is more than double compared to the same period last year ($4.5 million).
- They had forked out money in-app purchases to get unlimited swipes or enhance their profiles to get that perfect match.
Swipe Right on Growth:
- According to Statista.com, the online dating segment’s turnover in India is expected to reach $783 million by 2024 from $454 million in 2021.
- Currently, dating apps reach 2.2% of India’s total population, with projections of 3.6% by 2024, according to industry surveys.
- Roughly 20 million Indians used dating apps just five years ago. This figure surged by a massive 293% since then and hit 82.4 million in 2023.
- The surge in usage is especially strong outside metro cities, which now account for 70% of users of the dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble and TrulyMadly.
Tinder, Bumble, Chamet!
- While globally, Tinder is the most popular app in this category in terms of consumer spend, in India, it is Chamet, a video call service, which connects you to people in over 150 countries.
- Second in terms of consumer spend is Bumble, which was backed by actress Priyanka Chopra, and third in the pecking order is Tinder, according to the App Annie data.
- Apart from global dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, there are many Indian dating apps that have popped up in the arranged marriage-first economy like Aisle, HiHi and QuackQuack amongst others.
Love Meets Business:
- Bumble India hinted at a more than 200% YoY growth in India in Q3 of 2022.
- Bumble’s entry into India (alongside other Southeast Asian countries) catapulted its numbers from nearly 20 Mn to 40 Mn users within a year.
- Tinder’s growth in Tier-II cities has doubled as much as the metros in the past year.
Love, Laughter, and Longevity:
- Revenue in the dating services market is projected to reach $397.90m in 2023.
- India will become the world`s second-largest dating services market by 2027, with roughly 35 million more users than the United States.
- In 2023, Indians will spend almost $400 million on dating apps, up from $270 million just four years ago