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The Chuseok holiday can sometimes become a painful time for unmarried men and women of marriageable age. This is because relatives they haven't seen in a long time gather around the holiday table and take turns asking, "When are you getting married?" While young people suffering from such nagging used to knock on the doors of marriage agencies, recently they lock their doors and download smartphone apps instead. The period during and immediately after the holidays has become the peak season for social dating apps.
According to Enrise, which operates the social dating app 'Wipii', the average number of new daily sign-ups during last year's Chuseok holiday was 29.6% higher than in the seven days preceding the holiday. The increase grew larger as the holiday progressed. On the final day of the holiday, there were 27.8% more new sign-ups compared to the first day.
The flow of users was similar as well. In both Chuseok holidays of 2024 and 2025, daily active users (DAU) increased throughout the holiday period, reaching their peak on the final day. Compared to the first day, this represented an increase of 8.7% in 2024 and 7.9% in 2025. A Wipii official explained, "Unlike the early part of the holiday when family gatherings are concentrated, the latter half likely saw more time spent alone, giving users the opportunity to look for new partners or start conversations."
Users didn't stop at just opening the app. On the last day of the holiday, the average number of profiles viewed per female user increased by 13.8% in 2024 and 15.1% in 2025 compared to the first day. The 'It's okay' gesture indicating interest in someone also rose by 14.5% and 7%, respectively. Male users saw a 16.3% and 12.8% increase in profile views during the same period, while the average number of friend requests sent to new partners increased by 27.2% and 10.4%.
As the holiday season has become the peak time for social dating apps, companies are now targeting this period specifically. Ahead of this year's Chuseok, Wipii offered bundled special deals on 'Jelly', an in-app currency used for viewing profiles and sending friend requests, selling it on its website at 10% less than the app price. Tinder introduced a 'Tinder Tarot' filter to predict love fortunes ahead of this year's Lunar New Year holiday.
The market continues to grow steadily. According to Statista, the domestic dating app market size was 185.9 billion won in 2023, showing consistent growth since 2010. The industry refers to this market as the 'pre-marriage information' sector. As the barrier and cost of marriage agencies remain high for people in their 20s and 30s, there is a continuing trend of them shifting toward apps.
Tinder, owned by U.S.-based Match Group, has grown rapidly since last year and surpassed Wipii for the first time based on January monthly revenue this year. It currently holds the number one position in the market, with Wipii and Qupist's 'Glam' following behind. Wipii's cumulative sign-ups increased from 6.65 million in 2023 to 7.48 million in 2024, reaching 8.2 million by the first quarter of this year. The primary user base consists of people in their mid-20s to mid-30s, accounting for about half of all active users.
Qupist's 'Glam' gained recognition through a system where users evaluate each other's profile attractiveness to assign ratings. An Jae-won, CEO of Qupist, has previously stated that this approach, inspired by the ranking system in the game 'League of Legends', was a key success factor. Tinder, Wipii, and Glam now form the 'top three' of social dating apps.
Recently, services that raise the barrier for user verification with marriage in mind rather than casual encounters are increasing. Since the questions received during holidays often lead to marriage, these services target the demand for 'serious relationships' as a response.
Gold Spoon requires economic conditions such as professional careers or entrepreneurship from men and appearance or condition assessments from women. Sky People mandates school and workplace verification. W Club offers a 'meeting guarantee' where it arranges all matches with scheduled meetings, providing refunds if the meeting does not take place. Palace reviews 'marriage grades' through document verification and operates a system to permanently ban and publicly disclose members who display poor manners.
An industry official stated, "There is currently no clear data confirming whether the increased sign-ups and users during the holiday period are continuing with sustained meetings." They added, "If this 'temporary demand' from the holiday peak season evolves into serious relationships and begins accumulating as 'successful marriage cases' like marriage agencies, it will become a differentiated point compared to other dating apps."
[MoneyToday startup media platform Unicorn Factory]
in FUTURE
