If you believed that Gen Z and millennials were only casually swiping left and right on dating apps, that is no longer the case. Since the pandemic, a lot has changed. Even meeting people through mutual friends and making acquaintances at house parties and game nights may soon become a thing of the past. Dating apps are taking over how people meet not just their dates, but also friends.
Let's go over what happened that prompted the change.
“Earlier, I liked boys who were driven in their profession but now after seeing that life is unpredictable, I understand that work-life balance is important, and as my partner he should give me the time,” said 25-year old Shweta Bhaskar (name changed).
Sanjana Rao, 23, who works remotely for a US company in Bengaluru and is active on multiple dating apps, said, “We are working from home all the time. In college, I would meet them in activities, canteen and befriend. In a remote work setup, how can I do it? It is either I join a hobby class like dance, pottery or through these apps.” Her name has been changed to protect her identity.
A survey by dating app Bumble found that 52% of Indian users structure their dates around new interests in things like cooking and entrepreneurship.
“When you move to a new city, you need to make new friends so you feel belonged,” said Rao. She is not the only one.
Anuj Sharma who recently moved to Mumbai from Noida has also been using these apps. “Many are not keen on relationships but only want to be friends.”
But unlike Rao, he uses these apps for different reasons. “I am a community manager and through events, I meet a lot of people. But I want to keep my professional and personal network separate which is why I rely on these apps. In meetups, I cannot initiate such conversations. It will become awkward.”
These sentiments are shared by Ravi Mittal, the founder and CEO of the dating app QuackQuack. For instance, he says one of his male friends from Hyderabad who uses the app has been chatting with a girl from Punjab and the two have become good friends. “This is increasingly becoming common.”
“It’s just about having an online friend. If one is anxious, alone, they want interactions and a listener or a companion,” Mittal explains.
According to a poll conducted by Quack Quack last month, 41% of its new users are hoping to make friends, and the majority of them are from Tier 2 cities. Furthermore, 32% of female users between the ages of 25 and 30 revealed their platonic friendship with previous dates.
The survey also reveals that one in four female users from places like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Malerkotla have multiple male friends who are typically from far-off places.
Among Gen Z and millennials, dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Aisle, Hinge, and TrulyMadly have become very popular, particularly during the pandemic when there were no offline activities available to them.
Take Indian dating app Quack Quack as an example. Over the last ten years, it added only 8 million users; but, in the last two years alone, it added 12 million.
What changed?
Many single people lamented their loneliness during the pandemic as they were confined to their homes.
“Pre-Covid we were all busy running the race. Covid taught us isolated living and that redefined relationships and socialisation for many,” said Ishita Pateria, a Mumbai-based counselling psychologist.
“Work from home was difficult for many, because it is a very isolating experience. Then when someone starts looking for a relationship, one is actually looking for a partner who fulfills many needs like being a friend, companion and not just an online date.”
For many people, adjusting to work from home infrastructure and fewer outdoor activities was challenging, which increased dependence on these apps, she claims.
As a result, users' time spent on these apps rapidly rose. As users from smaller towns and cities and women became more comfortable using apps and making virtual calls, their attitudes toward using these apps also began to change.
“The time that they had from not going out to multiplexes was being spent on these apps. We benefited from that," said Able Joseph, the founder of the dating app Aisle, which was acquired by Info Edge, which also operates matrimony website Jeevansathi. "We were an alternative to loneliness and boredom,” he added.
QuackQuack saw a 40% increase in chat sessions, with paid users spending almost an hour on the app.
“I have been using these apps since pre-pandemic. But, the user activity now is much more. I get instant replies which was not happening before the pandemic. People then had friends or colleagues to talk to in the office or so. Now, that’s not the case,” said 28-year old Srishti Bhattacharjee who works in Bengaluru.
Bhattacharjee uses these applications for 1-2 hours every day on an average. She continues by saying that earlier these conversations easily moved from these apps to WhatsApp, but now many prefer to get an Instagram account first.
The founders of these applications have also praised the increase in female users, even from smaller cities and towns, which has been a big issue for these apps since they are primarily male-dominated.
“The cost of acquiring women users has dropped now. It is a change brought in by YouTube, Bollywood, Netflix which is spreading the message of online dating. Indians do not feel at ease getting hitched overnight or in an arranged marriage situation. It's a cultural change but we are not the changemakers, rather beneficiaries,” added Joseph.
The industry has also benefited greatly from reverse migration and digital penetration. Although it was the opposite before the pandemic, 70% of QuackQuack users are now from non-metro cities.
“We are now getting a lot of new users from Jammu, Shillong, Imphal, which was not the case earlier,” said QuackQuack’s Mittal.
In order to reach people in the hinterland, several of these apps are now concentrating on regional languages.
Changes in online matrimonial
Matrimonial apps are competing to stay relevant as young people increasingly take responsibility for finding their partner themselves in a time when dating apps are becoming commonplace.
Take Bhattacharjee’s example. She had always observed that in her household, parents would create the profiles on matrimonial sites. But when her parents insisted, she created it herself and has been checking it once a week for updates.
The pandemic's impact on user behaviour has resulted in numerous changes to matrimonial apps. These companies are now devising ways to cater to the younger generations, from video and voice calls to personalization.
“The prospects themselves started using the platforms which was not the case earlier. Given that they were at home, had time and spent time with family also, they led the search for their partners,” said Rohan Mathur, business head of Info Edge-owned Jeevansathi.
Shaadi.com, a matrimonial website and app, saw a similar trend.“During the pandemic, a lot of them needed companionship. There has been a fundamental transformation on that front because many understand the need for companionship beyond the realms of marriage also. So, 80% of our users are now self registered,” said Adhish Zaveri, AVP - Marketing of Shaadi.com.
While the first Covid wave resulted in significant user growth and participation, the second wave had an impact on the industry. It has gradually recovered since then, say the experts.
Shaadi.com saw a 20-30% increase in new users year on year following the pandemic, which is about an increase of 15% from the pre-pandemic period. In the last quarter, paid users on Bharatmatrimony.com increased by 13%.
“This is not an easy category. Many fizzle away. We are now a household name and during my travels I always meet people whose son or daughter found their partner on Bharatmatrimony,” a company spokesperson said.
Indian Matchmaking’s Sima Taparia, the popular matchmaker from Mumbai, can keep saying "sab kuch toh nahi milega" (you will not get everything), but the young adults aren't going down without a fight.
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