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China's Dating App Tantan Grabs Emerging Markets in Asia

Rebbeca Ren

posted on October 14, 2019 11:56 am

 

Tantan, a Chinese dating app was removed from Mainland China's App Store in April this year due to pornographic content. The app relaunched on June 29 and ranked third in all dating apps worldwide in Sep, according to data crunched by Sensor Tower

One of the reasons the app remained popular within the two-month hiatus despite App Store's crackdown, was because it has made remarkable progress in other parts of Asia.

Tantan has maintained top 20 status in terms of download in Singapore, The Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia within the 30-day period from Sep. 12 to Oct. 11, according to App Annie's data. More surprisingly, the app performs extraordinarily in India, where online dating market is starting to catch up and global leaders like Tinder are also keeping a close eye on, "India is one of the fastest-growing internet markets in the world; hence, it's very important to be present and win in the Indian market," Tantan told Quartz.

Unlike rivals such as Tinder and Bumble, Tantan does its magic by placing ads on short video sensation TikTok, and targets users in rural areas heavily. It was able to secure a seat in the top 10 in the dating category in India. The Chinese company also said it plans to surpass Tinder in India by doubling its user base every three months. 

Statistics show that as early as 2016, more than half of India's population searched for dating-related info on the Internet. However, at 2.9%, the country's 62-million-dollar online dating market's penetration is still very low, and is expected to hit 3.2% by 2023.

The competition in India is fierce as the country is already flooded with online dating apps. Both global and local players are involved in the market widely regarded as the "next billion". Among them, US-based Tinder and Bumble are the most robust rivals of Tantan.

As the most current top performer in India, Tinder, the dating app owned by Match Group (NASDAQ: MTCH), tapped into the country in 2013. In September 2015, India was already the online dating giant's top market in Asia. 

Currently, Tantan has a freemium model, offering VIP membership which lets users have unlimited swipes, for $1.99 dollars per month, while Tinder charges $9.99. The price undercutting tactic is popular among Chinese tech companies when promoting their products worldwide.

It has long been criticized by the industry that Chinese companies are known for replicating popular products and business models around the world. Tantan, the feature and user interface of which is heavily influenced by Tinder, was sued by the U.S. company in 2018.

In February 2018, Tantan was acquired by China's mobile-based social and live-streaming platform Momo (NASDAQ: MOMO) for $700 million. In Q1 FY19, Tantan earned $44 million in revenue (RMB 295 million), accounting for 8% of the parent company's $555 million total revenue. 

Tang Yan, CEO of Momo, said in the earnings call:“Our goal is to make Tantan a new engine for the company in the coming two to three years."