US online dating industry revenue

From 2005 to 2022, the US online dating industry grew from roughly $500 million to over $3 billion, while the UFC expanded its event calendar from a handful of pay-per-view nights to over 40 events annually, and the two moved together with r = 0.9676. The hypothesis that UFC fights are foreplay for the digital romance economy is difficult to disprove and, frankly, more interesting than what's actually happening. Perhaps people who watch other people fight for attraction inspiration are more motivated to swipe. Perhaps Conor McGregor's personal life, extensively documented, is a kind of distributed advertisement for romantic ambition. The data is suggestive but will not be pressed on the matter.

Both industries grew substantially over 18 years by tapping expanding digital infrastructure and shifting entertainment consumption patterns. The UFC grew from a niche cable product to a global brand with a $4 billion Fox/ESPN deal in 2018, expanding its event slate accordingly from around 13 events in 2005 to over 40 by 2022. Online dating revenue grew as smartphone penetration enabled app-first platforms like Tinder (launched 2012) and Hinge to reach mainstream audiences. Both are growth stories in the attention and desire economy, expanding in parallel through technology adoption and mainstream normalisation without meaningful causal linkage.

Industries that both grew by becoming normal — combat sports and digital dating each overcame significant cultural stigma in this period — will correlate simply because normalisation curves tend to share a shape. What looks like a relationship between fighting and romance is really just two stigmatised industries going mainstream on roughly the same schedule.