How Are Dating Apps Changing The Relationship Economy In Asia?

According to recent reports, by the end of 2016, the Chinese online dating market was estimated to have generated $1.6bn.

The emergence of modern online dating services in Asia is helping to shake up a society that has strong traditional roots with regards to courtship and relationships.

A new article on TechWireAsia looks at this “identity crisis” the Asian dating scene is experiencing, where a “communal approach” to dating exists alongside the more modern “individual-centered romance”.

Samantha Cheh speaks about how these sides are represented by two popular Chinese game shows, Fei Cheng Wu Rao and Chinese Dating, while also looking at how dating apps are stirring things up in a region where “the pressure to find a life partner and lock together is intense”.

Cheh speaks to Paktor’s regional brand marketing VP Darryl Liew, who says that dating apps are simply helping to shorten the traditional “courtship process”, allowing singles to “bridge the difficulties in meeting new people.”

Paktor has also jumped on the increased interest in matchmaking – the number of singles events organised in Singapore rising by 23% in 2016 – with its offline dating brand GaiGai, which offers a modernised mix between the old and the new.

Read the full article here.