The years 2020-2021 were marked not only by the rapid growth in the popularity of online dating sites and apps, but also by a change in their format. Users are increasingly giving preference to video friendships and video dating. It’s easy to explain this:

  1. Video chat can almost completely replace live communication.
  2. You can get to know your chat partner faster and better in a relatively short time.
  3. There are more opportunities to present yourself accurately in order to please the other person.

In previous years, online dating usually looked like this: people met on a dating site or in an application, chatted a little, then transferred their conversation into Skype or Whatsapp. And there they got to know each other better, organized video dates and maybe made a date in real life.

During the coronavirus pandemic, demand for video calling services has grown not only due to the popularity of online dating. Millions of people needed easy-to-use tools to connect with friends, family, and colleagues. The market responded to this request, new applications and services for video communication began to appear and the existing ones were improved: Hangouts, Discord, Tox, Appear.in, Talky, Zoom and others. 

Many of these services focused on conferencing, but this did not stop ordinary users from using them for their own purposes. However, all of them are suitable only if you’ve already found a person to communicate with, not for finding new acquaintances. Fortunately, there’s an alternative for these purposes.

Video chat roulettes: a combination of dating platform and video calling service

Along with classic dating sites and apps, users are increasingly using chat roulette sites. These are platforms based exclusively on video communication. The search for a chat partner here is based only on randomness (or basic parameters that the user specifies).

Chat roulettes are convenient and effective for a number of reasons:

  • You do not need to register (for most video chats), fill out a profile with information about yourself, upload photos, or anything like that.
  • You don’t have to rely on specific dating site algorithms, which often work inaccurately. 
  • If the system has connected you with someone, you can start chatting right now — the other person must be online. But if Tinder finds a match for you, this does not mean that your potential partner is online, and you won’t know the next time they’ll sign in
  • Chat roulettes are more secure and confidential, as they don’t require you to provide personal data, account verification, etc. 
  • Using video chats is so much easier. Literally one click, and the system is already selecting a new chat partner for you. No extra action on your part.

Among the most interesting and versatile chat roulettes are Chatroulette, OmeTV, Chatrandom, Tinychat, Bazoocam, CooMeet. Some of them, such as Chatroulette or Bazoocam, have been around since the appearance of the video chat roulette format. Others, for example, OmeTV or russian chat roulette CooMeet, are newer and delight their users with a number of useful features that are not available in old video chats.

How the big players in dating reacted to the growing popularity of chat roulettes

It is beneficial for any dating site or application to ensure users spend as much time on it as possible, be active, buy premium accounts and use certain paid features. Dating sites are unprofitable when the audience goes to chat roulettes or video services like Skype or Zoom. 

Not surprisingly, dating platforms have been doing their best lately to keep their audience and provide them with all the necessary communication tools. So over the past year many popular dating apps have implemented a video chat function: 

  • Tinder
  • Badoo
  • Bumble
  • Azar, etc… 

Also new dating services have appeared with an emphasis on video dating: Snack, Lolly, Feels, Zoosk and others. So far, the audience for these platforms is inferior to the more experienced players of the dating industry, but this may change in the future. The same Tinder or Badoo experience has frankly bored everyone – users are constantly looking for something new and different. 

From offline to online: the benefits of video dating over live dating

Of course, nothing can replace live one-to-one communication. And sometimes the presence of a person nearby is very important. But speaking objectively, video dating has many advantages over regular dating. Especially when it comes to first dates, when you don’t know each other well enough. What are these benefits?

  1. It is easier for you to focus on your partner. This is true as there are almost no distractions. While meeting in a cafe, walking in the park or going to a movie show together, you’ll definitely be distracted.
  2. You are more confident and relaxed. First dates with a stranger are always a little stressful and awkward. Video communication is still much easier than in person. You are in a comfortable environment, do not feel the direct gaze of the other person, and so on. And when you get to know each other better, the offline meeting will be much easier.
  3. You will not be expected to spend extra money. Don’t think of it as greed, but very often the costs that men (and sometimes women) take on are completely unreasonable, because not every date gives rise to a relationship, and what’s more, the first date often becomes the last. Is it worth spending money on a cafe, restaurant, going to the cinema and so on if the prospects are vague? We think not.
  4. You simply save a lot of time. An offline date is always a time sink. You need to agree on where and what time you’ll meet, get to your destination, preferably without getting stuck in traffic, and then return home. In large cities, travel can easily take 1-2 hours or even more. And in the end, very little time is left for the date itself. It’s much wiser to go for a video date. One click and you are already chatting. No need to go anywhere, wasting precious time. In addition, you can talk from almost anywhere where there’s Internet.
  5. Video dates are safer for you and your partner. The coronavirus pandemic has shown that taking care of our health is a top priority for each of us. And it is definitely not worth putting yourself in danger once again yet. So, in terms of health safety, chat roulettes and dating platforms are much preferable to real meetings.

There are many more benefits of online dates, but you get the idea from the points above. If you have the opportunity at the start of forming a relationship to communicate via video chat and go on video dates, use it. You will not lose anything, but you will be able to get to know the other person better, find more common interests and not be disappointed when you go on a date offline.

Take advantage of a changing dating industry

The online dating industry is changing from year to year. New trends and new platforms appear, and well-known sites try to adapt to current trends and offer their users more interesting opportunities. This is a very positive tendency.

It is difficult to say now which path online dating will take in the near future. But there is no doubt that classic applications and dating sites will expand their functionality, anonymous video chats will put an even greater emphasis on privacy, plus new services that surprise us will keep appearing. We’ll follow the news and share the most interesting ones!