China's Internet dating market sees value top $1 billion: report

BEIJING -- The market value of China's Internet dating industry reached 7.2 billion yuan ($1.13 billion) in 2021, up 11.6 percent compared with 2020, said an industrial report.

By the end of 2021, the user base of the Internet dating market in the country totaled more than 30 million people, driven by a growing number of individuals born after 1985, according to the report released Thursday by BigData-Research, an industry analysis company.

The emerging market is projected to post a total value of more than 8.05 billion yuan in 2022, the report said.

Internet dating essentially provides blind dating services, as those seeking a spouse account for about 73.8 percent of all users. With more and more diversified forms and channels of socializing, the conventional Internet dating model based on texts and pictures no longer meets the demands of singles, said the report.

The report shows that 56.4 percent of users prefer to use livestreaming on blind dates, followed by 43.9 percent choosing voice messages combined with texts, and 39.2 percent in favor of sharing short videos.