24 Million New Chinese Singles to Try Apps by 2022

A new article in technode argues that Chinese dating apps such as Momo and Tantan are disrupting Chinese dating traditions, and benefitting from the increased independence of the country’s youth.

Dr. Sampson Blair, a sociologist at The State University of New York, says parents used to exert far more control over who their children would partner with.

“This has, quite obviously, changed greatly over recent decades, as young adults have become increasingly more autonomous in this regard,” he said.

Casual, Tinder-style apps are said to be encouraging people to enter short term relationships rather than marry in their early 20s.

There are around 200 million unmarried 25-to-54 year olds in China, around one quarter of whom have used online dating services.

A further 24 million individuals are set to try online dating by 2022 – a 45% increase in the user base. The value of the sector will have exceeded $800 million by that time.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) in China has risen from $1.77 in 2016 to $1.93 in 2018.

Wang Yu, CEO of Tantan, said of the trends: “College students basically have no parties and rarely go clubbing. They are too busy, so almost don’t have ways to meet people offline.”

The number of cross-cultural marriages in Shanghai has jumped 2.5% year-on-year – a trend which technode attributes to the prevalence of online dating.

GDI recently reported that the incoming citizen rating system may affect users’ rankings on apps.

Read more here.