NEW DELHI, INDIA – Media
OutReach – 26 March 2020 – The Corona virus is now a global
pandemic, and most countries in the world are heading to lock down. Social distancing is now the new buzz word,
and everyone is recommended to stay at home.
However, this has not stopped people from flocking to online social
entertainment apps, and dating, in particular.
Dating is also proving to be resilient in investor’s eyes
too. Match Group – The parent company of
Tinder now has market value of $17 billion.
With a PE ratio of 33X at time of writing, Match is one of the most
highly valued public Internet companies.
This is not just a unique occurrence. U.S. private equity giant
Blackstone recently took controlling stake in Magic Lab, parent company of
dating apps Bumble and Badoo, at a valuation of $3billion, more than six times
revenue.
And now, Chinese dating apps have officially entered the
global market too. According to AppAnnie, in Sep 2019, a new dating app Lamour
debuted in top 10 most downloaded global non-game apps, and it was one of the
only two apps from China.
According to Appannie, Lamour monthly download volume
reached 3.5 million in Sep 2019, with 53% market in share amongst Indian dating
apps, cementing its #1 position.
App Annie’s analysis on Lamour specifically pointed to video
chat, virtual gifts, and location based networking as the reasons why Lamour
was able to get a pole position in India.
Based on Lamour’s own user survey in Nov 2019, more than 50% of users
came to Lamour via word of mouth referral, which speaks to the strength of the
Lamour product and experience.
India is now an important market for online social and
entertainment, data from the World Bank shows Indian population reached 1.339
billion, with a male-female ratio of 52:48. The demographic imbalance is much
more pronounced among Internet mobile users, with females making up only one
third of 451 million monthly active online users, according to a report by the
Internet mobile association of India in 2019 (IAMAI).
Based on Lamour’s own user survey in Nov 2019, we see that
75% of Lamour’s users are below age 25, and nearly 50% are students. This fits in well with the fast growing young
demographics in India market.
In addition, the survey revealed that only 16% of users are
looking for marriage on Lamour, which on one hand, is a natural result of the
young segment of users, but on other, shows that young Indians are now less
bound by the traditional arranged marriage customs.
Central to success of Lamour is the principle of “true
localization”. The “true
localization” is not only to have the app in local languages, but also to
have local operation ability, and deep understanding of local culture, society,
market and users, in order to have the best user experience.
The Indian market is poised to grow into the largest mobile
market in the world, and Lamour as a young app, has great potential. How will Lamour grow with the market, and is
Lamour able to monetize in India? These
are the key questions facing any fast growing app in India, and we will be
watching Lamour closely.
