Online dating culture in India witnesses heavy surge

New Delhi: The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined the rules for online dating in the country. With the enforced lockdown restrictions and social distancing norms in place, virtual dating has slowly become the new 'Favourite' among Indian singles.

The effect can be very well witnessed across dating platforms as they experienced a vast surge in new user signups from all over the country. Dating app QuackQuack saw a whopping 300 percent increase in signups from smaller cities and towns and that took their current user base to 11 million. The platform added the last million users in just 115 days and in the past one year they added around 3.40 million new users.

"2020 has been the year when virtual dating was accepted by masses among the desi singles. We witnessed participation from people of all age groups and geographies. What's pleasing to see was the huge growth in participation of users from small towns & cities and in the near future we are expecting the number to shoot up even further," says Ravi Mittal, Founder of QuackQuack on the growing culture of Online Dating in India.

"With the COVID danger still hanging in the backdrop and social distancing norms still in place, we are expecting the coming year to continue to reap good results for online dating as users are much more comfortable in interacting virtually. If 2020 was the starter, 2021 will be the main course for daters!," he adds.

To analyze this growing trend of online dating, QuackQuack closely monitored 50,000 of their users for 3 months straight and they have come up with the dating trends that will be followed in the industry in the coming year.

Online Dating will continue to prosper in Tier 2 & 3 cities

The months long isolation and social distancing has compelled the users from smaller cities to come online in search of their love interest. The app on-boarded 70 percent of their new users from such cities and the trend is expecting to grow further as more & more people start adopting the culture of Virtual Dating.

The era of commitment is back again!

There has been a welcome surge in people who are looking for meaningful relationships. With more time in hand, users are willing to go that extra-mile in order to know their counter-part and are engaging with the profile of their interest for hours. It was revealed that the average time a user spend on their app is 11 minutes.

Average age of user is expected to drop

The current average age of users on QuackQuack is 25 years, that has dropped from 29 just a few years back. The average age is expected to drop even further as more and more youngsters adopt the culture of Online Dating.

Women have started to embrace online dating

The app witnessed a 12 percent increase in women signups during the lockdown. With the increasing acceptance of the online dating culture and with the continuity of social distancing norms more women are expected to get comfortable with online dating. It also revealed that female users open the app 48 times a day while male users tend to use the app 24 times during the day. Women open the app twice as much as their male counterparts.

Dating apps are the new WhatsApp for couples

The user chats on the app have increased from 350k to 500k per day, a clear sign of things to come with social distancing in place. They also witnessed a 25 percent surge in profile views this year. With low confidence in stepping out, we can expect people to spend more time on dating apps browsing matches & interacting with their love interests.

Video calling is the most preferred option for Indian singles

During the lockdown, video calling was one of the most used features by couples on dating platforms. This trend is only expected to grow as users are interacting with profiles that are quite far off from their current location and it gives them a sense of connectivity & closeness. QuackQuack is also coming up with a video calling feature on their app soon.