72% people celebrating Valentine’s Day are happy turning to dating apps for love
A higher number of men stated this and 30% of them are already using Tinder to meet people
In this age of Internet, with everything available at the click of a button, even the idea of love and dating has gone digital. In a recent survey by YouGov India, Tinder emerged as the most popular dating app (17%) used by people, followed by Happn (8%), Truly Madly (7%) and Woo (7%).
The popularity of Tinder is notable amongst men and younger people under 30, with 22% of them saying they currently use or have used this app to meet people. The app also emerges much stronger in North and West India (21%) as compared to South India (11%).
When looking specifically at people who are going to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the numbers are slightly different. A higher proportion of men with this intent are extremely comfortable with finding love around V’Day through dating apps and 1 out 3 are using or have used Tinder in order to connect with people. It is also interesting to look at the changing preferences of people with different regions.
Amongst those geared up for V’Day celebrations, while Tinder is the go to app in North India (31%), a higher number of people are using or have used OkCupid (16%) to find love in South India
Generally speaking, around 43% of all respondents intend to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, with over 50% of the married folk saying so. On the other hand, an overwhelming 65% singles do not intend to join the celebration and 30% agree with the statement that it's an 'extremely unimportant day’.
A day of love is incomplete without some show of love in the form of gifts. Around 3 in 5 respondents plan to buy a gift for their partner while a 20% intend to do so for their parent or family member. Of those who are celebrating the day, chocolate/cakes, flowers, a kiss and an I Love You are the top gifts that people want to gift as well as receive from their partners on Valentine’s Day.
Although most respondents prefer lower ticket items like chocolates and flowers, our data highlights there could be some interesting opportunities for jewellery and travel brands as well.
1 in 3 women expect to receive jewellery and interestingly a sizeable number of men (18%) are planning to gift jewellery to their partners on Valentine’s Day. 25% of the women are also looking forward to a great holiday and 12% expect some sexy lingerie.
General e-commerce platforms (such as Amazon and Flipkart, etc.) emerged as the go to places to buy gifts for a quarter of people, followed by local gift shops (15%) and gifting stores like Archies (13%). 16% would like to create something themselves rather than buying from shops, with 1 in 5 women and 23% people under 30 saying so.
Of those who intend to celebrate the festival, a fourth will either go on a dinner date with their partner or spend time with family. The rest intend to go on a holiday (10%), go shopping with their mate or hang out with friends (7%) or spend time alone (4%).
The growing popularity of video streaming and OTT platforms is evident in that fact that 16% respondents are going to celebrate Valentine’s Day by watching movies or online content with their partners. It is also interesting to note that a higher number of people from South India (21%) who indicated celebrating this day, found this as an ideal way to celebrate the festival of love.
Speaking about this Deepa Bhatia, General Manager, YouGov India, said, “People are spending a considerable amount of time online and almost all of their needs are getting fulfilled digitally- be it entertainment, finance, ordering food, or even finding love. Online dating is becoming increasingly popular in India, especially in metros and big cities, and people are opening up to the idea of finding love through dating apps. Special occasions like Valentine’s Day present a great opportunity for brands to tailor make their offering to suit the demographic that is looking forward to celebrating these special days on their platforms.”
Data collected online by YouGov India among 1,025 respondents in India between 29th January and 4th February 2019 using YouGov’s panel of an online representation of India.