Could Topple that is tencent Momo the “Tinder of Asia”?

The tech that is chinese has revealed three brand new dating apps in the last month or two.

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Tencent (OTC:TCEHY) guidelines China’s mobile texting market with WeChat, which acts 1.15 billion month-to-month active users (MAUs). Its ecosystem of over a million “mini programs” enables users to search, purchase meals, play games, hail trips, make payments, and much more — all without ever making the software.

Meanwhile, Momo (NASDAQ:MOMO) could be the online that is top platform in Asia. Its namesake software started off as a social network software|networking that is social, but gradually evolved into a platform for online dating sites and live videos.

Momo’s smaller application, Tantan, is basically a clone that is chinese of Group’s Tinder. Momo’s core application had 114.1 million MAUs last quarter, and 13.4 million of them purchased gifts that are virtual enrolled in premium online dating services on Momo and Tantan.

Image supply: Getty Photos.

Those two businesses generally speaking are not considered rivals, but Tencent recently established three torpedoes at Momo: an anonymous movie dating app called Maohu (“Catcall”), a Tinder-like application called Qingliao (“Light Chat”), escort service in raleigh and a reboot of the Pengyou (“Friends”) app as a social networking with an opt-in relationship feature.

What’s Tencent up to?

WeChat’s MAUs grew 6% yearly final quarter, but it is just a matter of the time before this ubiquitous “super software” runs away from space to cultivate in Asia. Meanwhile, Gen Z-oriented competitors like ByteDance’s TikTok and Bilibili are attracting more youthful users, while WeChat seems shackled to its reputation as a application for older users.

A current research by research firm Jiguang unearthed that just 15% of Chinese users created after 2000 posted day-to-day updates on WeChat, compared to 57% of users created into the 1960s. That is much like the generation gap between Twitter and Instagram in Western markets, where moms and dads saturated the former and sent teens scurrying toward the latter. WeChat is also commonly considered a “work application,” since managers make use of it to help keep monitoring of their staff.

In other words, Tencent requires brand brand new techniques to achieve more youthful users, and Momo’s streak of double-digit revenue growth suggests that online dating sites is nevertheless a fertile market.

Meet Maohu, Qingliao, and Pengyou

Maohu, which established within the summer time, lets users talk anonymously with strangers while donning electronic masks. Male users can wear the mask for no more than 5 minutes, while feminine users can wear a mask indefinitely. When a individual removes their mask, beauty filters are used immediately to your real time video clip.

Qingliao, which was introduced in belated November, resembles Momo’s Tantan and Match’s Tinder, but does not follow the swiping mechanic of these two apps. Rather, it merely provides two alternatives in the side that is right of profile — anyone to “like” it, and another to dismiss it.

Its primary web web web page shows a carousel of possible matches, and users can scroll down seriously to see extra information like an individual’s career, academic history, hobbies, location, and social networking postings. The matches are refreshed every 18 hours. The application is currently being tested for a basis that is invite-only.

Image supply: Getty Graphics.

Pengyou, that has been relaunched in mid-December, is definitely an updated form of an adult social network app that ended up being discontinued in 2017. The latest application resembles Instagram having its principal feed of solitary pictures, however it splits its feed into three groups — friends, peers, and folks whom inhabit the city that is same.

Users have to validate their identities with individual qualifications, in addition they can opt-in for dating matches. This delicate approach is much like Twitter’s opt-in strategy with Twitter Dating. Like Qingliao, Pengyou continues to be being tested for a basis that is invite-only.

Should Momo be concerned?

Tencent obviously wants to leverage the potency of its WeChat and QQ ecosystems to get fresh footholds within the online market that is dating. This may be bad news for Momo, which struggled with decelerating development in MAUs and revenue throughout the previous 12 months: