Online dating companies are facing increasing pressure from rival organizations in addition to a forecast of an industry slow down. Online dating has become a mega industry during the last five years, and in order to maintain sustainability, the big dating sites in the U.S. are focusing on less saturated markets in both India and China.

Despite the fact that the online dating industry has tipped the billion dollar mark with annual turn over, the big four dating giants in the U.S. have reported that growth has slowed by 5% during the past three years. In contrast, much less populated countries are reported to be recording significant growth within online dating. For example, dating sites in Australia have been receiving more than 2.6 million visits per month as of March 2011. Compared to data in 2008, visits to online dating in Australia were less than 2 million per month. Per capita, Australia has one of the highest rates of online dating usage in the world.

Even though the larger U.S. dating services are turning to fertile markets like Australia and New Zealand in order to recover lost ground in the U.S, the main focus is aimed at mass populated nations like China and India. Despite the fact that China and India contain more than 70% of the world’s population, 80% of these citizens live in poverty. Despite this, young Chinese and Indians are paving the way for a new generation of social technology enthusiasts and the market in Asia is ripe for new businesses.

Certainly there is room for new players to enter the online dating sector within Asia, however the American’s will need to invest in substantial research to overcome translation obstacles and to understand how dating customs in Asia contrast to the west. Parts of Asia are already highly technologically advanced and have a substantial head start on their own native market places. Social eccentricities stand as the biggest hurdle for foreign investors looking to enter the social networking and online dating scene within Asia.

One common denominator between diverse cultures is that despite cultural variation, romantic endeavours have been proven to be extremely profitable from a business point of view. And regardless of economic down turns, online dating continues to remain as one of the few recession proof industries of the 21st century. One advantage the American companies have on their side is the willingness of Asians to adapt to western culture and this is certainly the case with online dating.

Nevertheless, any mainstream or major transition between Western and Chinese social culture will only transpire through new generations. In China, arranged marriages still play a significant role. Chaperone dating and parental supervision is still very much a pivotal role in the matchmaking environment. Such traditions can still be integrated into online dating whereby subscribers would have the option to go into a pool of singles for modern dating or traditional dating.

Online dating has revolutionized the way in which we interact, and regardless of culture or tradition, the concept can be developed in an acceptable way.