Is Online Dating Oversaturated?

Online dating, that area of the internet that we have all used at least once or at least are curious to try for the first time, has been in existence for over two decades. In that time frame, the online dating industry has experienced explosive growth.

In a way, that may be an understatement. To be more accurate, one would have to say that online dating is no longer something which resides solely on the internet as an online service. It has transcended and entered our social reality. Online dating has managed to influence and change the modern dating paradigm

Online dating has changed the way people meet long-term and casual partners. Online dating and hookup sites have spearheaded a wave of freedom that is unprecedented. Our courtship rituals have forever been impacted by it.

Some people claim that this type of intense popularity can lead to oversaturation. Some people are even saying that the online dating industry has already crossed that threshold. Could this be true?

While it cannot be denied that online dating is more popular today than ever before, the assertion that it is oversaturated is mistaken.

— Don’t Let the Optics Fool You —

If you are new to online dating and you register on a dating platform, it might be easy to develop the impression that the market is saturated due to the large number of other members who you will find online. However, once you start engaging with other members on your chosen platform you will discover that there is genuine engagement. There is no stagnation of interest with those who use the sites. If the market were truly saturated you would find platforms with large user bases but with very little engagement.

This means that as large as the number of dating site users currently is, it is still active and inclined to grow further.

— Avoid the Dead Ends —

As with any type of business or industry that is on the internet, there are going to be dating and adult hookup sites that are dead ends. These could come in the form of sites which once were popular but over time lost their mojo.

The developers of some dating platforms may stop keeping up with the latest trends, they may fail to adopt contemporary features such as native mobile apps, etc. Those sites eventually experience a reduction in their user bases and eventually die off. They, however, are not symptomatic of a saturated market.

There are also dating platforms that from the moment of being launched, were never designed to provide a good user experience. Some were poorly developed on the technical side, others were created solely to draw unsuspecting users into their fold and take their money without providing anything substantive in return. These sites have large marketing budgets and rely on drawing in fresh faces to stay profitable. They tend to offer very poor results in terms of meeting partners. This can create the illusion of the online industry being ineffective or oversaturated as a whole, when in fact, it is just a case of a few bad apples.

—Go Where the Action Is —

No matter whether you are looking for long-term partners or no-strings-attached casual encounters, there are literally thousands of platforms for those with general dating interests as well as for those with specialized niches and select desires in mind. However, out of all of these sites, roughly only one and five can be considered serious players. The rest can be classified as being either in the formative stage or in the previously described “dead end zone.”

This means that in order to properly appreciate what online dating has to offer, you need to be knowledgeable about which sites you should be using.

Fortunately, there are ways that you can vet your dating platform choices. You can rely on online dating review sites such as this one. Also, since online dating is so prevalent, the chances are that you know people first-hand who have personally used different sites from whom you’ll be able to derive insight as to their effectiveness.

By sticking with effective platforms you will be able to get a better feel for the pulse of the dating industry. You will be able to detect how continuously vibrant it really is.

— Other Things That You Will Discover —

Not only will you come to appreciate how the online dating scene is not becoming oversaturated, but you will also be able to recognize that it is in a state of continuous expansion.

You will also witness how online dating is evolving and capturing new ground. Just as a few years ago the transition from desktop-only platforms to those which are mobile began. Presently, you will observe how some of the more forward-looking platforms are in the early stages of adopting even more advanced technologies such as virtual reality and advanced third-generation algorithms to improve matchmaking.

The fact that online dating as an industry is expanding and continuously modernizing is further proof of its good state of health.

— The Proof Is in the Pudding —

Of course, reading articles about whether online dating is oversaturated or if it is on the verge of experiencing a larger growth burst is an academic approach towards looking at the situation. In all honesty, there is nothing like dipping your own beak into the water to discover whether it’s hot or cold.

Provided that you stick to the 20 percent of dating and hookup platforms that perform well, you will, in all likelihood, come to share the opinion that the online dating industry is healthier than ever. However, you should also be prepared to apply your own time and effort to the endeavor. There are some people who believe that all they have to do is to register on a dating platform and that magically — potential partners will materialize. It is always important to remember that you must engage with other users — regardless of which platform you join — in order to get the best results.

Also, don’t feel that you are obligated to restrict yourself solely to paid platforms. Yes, there are a lot of advantages in using online dating sites that require paid memberships, but there are also free sites that can yield results.

— Conclusion —

The best way to conclude this post is by stating quite clearly that online dating is not saturated. Yes, every day there is an ever-larger number of people joining online dating and hookup sites. However, when you take into consideration the fact that with each passing day more and more people are entering the dating pool, these increasing numbers are fueling the industry’s expansion, not saturating it.