Online Dating Market to Reach $4.5 Billion by 2025

The online dating market continues to grow in the wake of the pandemic, with expected revenue to increase to $4.5 billion US by 2025.

According to research firm Statista, the industry is expected to reach about $3.7 billion US this year (up from $2.86 billion in 2020) as more people join and become active users, in part due to global lockdowns. The pandemic has shifted attitudes towards dating apps, with more singles than ever before downloading and swiping.

Revenue has increased along with new users, as many of the apps are offering popular “freemium” pricing in addition to subscriptions. While the majority of users don’t want to commit to paying a monthly fee to join a dating app, they are willing to pay for certain features, like messaging, being able to see if someone already liked their profile, or putting their profile at the top of search lists. Offering these services as premium paid features has been a boon for dating apps, increasing overall market revenue substantially, especially during the pandemic.

The number of online daters is also expected to grow, topping 478 million users worldwide by 2025. User penetration will reach about 5.4 percent in 2022 and is expected to grow to 6.1 percent by 2025, and average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to reach $8.91 US per person this year.

While most of the industry’s revenue is generated by U.S. dating app users, (more than twenty percent of overall revenue is expected to come from them in 2022, or roughly $829 million U.S.), the growth of new users is highest in Belgium.  

Still, dating apps are looking to emerging markets to grow their revenue, including those with higher populations of people under 30 like India and China, and where attitudes towards finding a partner online are changing rapidly. India is expected to generate about $559 million U.S. in revenue for 2022 while China is forecasted to generate $496 million. Gen Z daters in these countries have grown up with tech and smartphones and are more comfortable using dating apps than previous generations.

Interestingly, across the globe, paying users of dating apps are growing at a faster rate over the years compared to non-paying users, though more people opt for the free versions overall.

Statista gathers its research from market data from independent databases and third parties, and by analyzing key market and macroeconomic indicators, historical and current trends, and reported performance indicators of key market players.