After years of impressive growth, the dating services industry has lost momentum, with revenue and users growing much slower than in previous years. According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, the revenue in the global dating services market is expected to grow by only 3.5% year-over-year and hit $8bn in 2024, just one-fifth of the growth rates seen three years ago.
Annual Growth Rate to Drop to 1.5% by 2028
Dating services was one of those markets which skyrocketed amid the COVID-19 lockdowns. However, the convenience and accessibility of dating apps and websites, which made it easier than ever for people to connect with potential partners, continued driving market growth even after the lockdowns ended.
According to Statista Digital Market Outlook, in 2019, dating apps and websites grossed $5.6bn. A year later, this figure jumped by almost 19% to $6.7bn and continued rising. By 2022, the annual revenue in the dating services market increased to over $7.5bn, but the growth rate dropped to only 0.9% that year.
Although last year saw an upward trend, with market revenue growing by 4.2% year-over-year to $7.8bn, statistics show 2024 will bring another decline, with the growth rate falling to 3.5%. Statista expects the downsizing trend to continue in the following years. Although market revenue will increase to over $8.7bn by 2028, the annual growth rate is expected to more than halve to 1.5%.
Statistics also show the casual dating segment will see the biggest slowdown in this period, with revenue growth falling from 2.6% in 2024 to 0.4% in 2028. The growth rates in the matchmaking and online dating segment will more than halve to only 2% in this period.
User Growth Also Halved
Dating apps and websites are convenient, easy to use, and especially popular among the younger generations, which has been the biggest driver behind their impressive user growth. Over the past five years, more than 220 million people worldwide started using dating services, an average of 50 million per year, pushing the total user count to 570 million in 2023.
Although the number of users will continue growing in the following years, the annual growth rates will significantly drop. Statista expects the number of users in the dating services industry to grow by an average of 20 million per year, less than half the figures seen in recent years, resulting in nearly 700 million users by 2028.
