South Korea—the poster child for East Asia’s drop in marriages and childbirth—seems like a strange target market for Match Group, operator of dating platforms like Tinder Hinge.
“Korea has an acute challenge” when it comes to long-term relationships, with a “pretty shocking” 40% decline in marriages over a 10-year-period, notes Malgosia Green, Asia CEO for Match.
Match Group recently launched a made-for-Korea version of its Pairs app, which targets those seeking more serious relationships or marriage, in contrast to more casual apps like Tinder and Hinge. (Match also offers Tinder in South Korea)
Green thinks that Pairs could be a good fit for South Korea, given the app’s success in neighboring Japan, another country with a declining population.
Extrapolating from government data, she suggests that one in ten marriages in Japan happen due to Pairs. “Twenty-five percent of marriages in Japan happen through dating apps. We can deduce our share of that because Pairs is the leader in Japan,” she explains.
Match has tailored Pairs to East Asian markets. The app asks users tough questions like “how often do you want to meet your mother-in-law” or “do you want kids”: awkward in any date setting, but perhaps particularly in East Asia, where people tend to be more circumspect.
Pairs doesn’t publicly surface those answers, but the app does try to match people who align on these “real mind match” questions.
“This is our go-to-market feature for the Korean market,” Green says.
Asia’s demographic change
Despite a mild uptick in births and marriages last year, South Korea’s demographic situation remains the most extreme among East Asian societies followed by Japan, and others like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China.
South Korea reported 222,400 marriages in 2024, down from 322,807 in 2013. Fertility rates fell over the same period, falling to 0.75 children born per woman in 2024, down from 1.19 children in 2013.
Where’s Match going next in Asia?
Match reported $3.5 billion in revenue for 2024, a 3% increase. Yet Asia revenue declined by 6% over the same period to reach $284 million. Global paying users also declined 5% year-on-year to reach 14.9 million users.
The company recently brought in Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff to be its CEO in February as it tries to attract more users.
Still, Green thinks Asia-Pacific presents new opportunities for Match, 2024 revenue dip in the region aside, paying users in Asia increased 9% year-on-year to reach one million users.
Japan and South Korea not only try to give monetary incentives to encourage people to have children, but actively tries to get people to meet through events like government-organized speed-dating. Green says that Match is already partnering with prefecture governments in Japan.
While Match is now focused on South Korea, Green is looking to India as the company’s next target in Asia.
Despite a long history with arranged marriage, Green says that today’s Indian parents are hoping to give their children more agency. Marriages for love are more accepted today compared to five years ago, Green says citing survey data.
“We see an opportunity there for a high-intent marriage oriented app,” Green says. “There’s no one playing that space at scale.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
