Creative Formats That Work for India's Dating & Matrimonial Apps

India’s dating and matrimonial app market is a fascinating mix of modern romance and deep-rooted cultural traditions. With millions of Indians actively swiping, matching, and connecting, these platforms have transformed how relationships are built. As of 2025, India is projected to have over 970 million smartphone users, making it one of the largest mobile-first markets globally. The global online dating industry is projected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4% from 2023 to 2030. Yet, with this growth comes the challenge of standing out in a crowded space and a market like India, where personalization and relevance are crucial for capturing user interest.

So, how do these apps rise above the noise in such a saturated marketplace?  The answer lies in programmatic advertising and the creative formats they deploy to capture attention, drive clicks, and ultimately convert users. By leveraging innovative strategies, dating and matrimonial platforms can rise above the competition, tap into India’s flourishing app economy, and transform how users discover meaningful connections in the digital age.

Why Creatives Matter for Performance Marketing

For programmatic campaigns, the tech stack—automation, real-time bidding, and data targeting—are all crucial elements of the show. However, the right creative strategy has a huge impact on the overall user engagement and performance, and can be often overlooked by advertisers.

By pairing the right formats with audience data, you can deliver highly relevant and engaging creatives to specific user segments, improving click-through rates (CTR), engagement, and return on ad spend (ROAS).

But how do you choose the right creative formats for your app? Let’s break it down, based on some of our experience:

Static Image Ads

Static image ads are straightforward, cost-effective, and great for building awareness. However, they need to stand out in crowded feeds. They’re quick to produce and offer a clean, straightforward way to communicate your value proposition. Highlight core USPs, such as free registration, premium features, or success stories. With data-driven segmentation, you can create variations tailored to user demographics (e.g., single millennials in urban areas vs. family-oriented individuals in tier-2 cities).

Average CTR for static image ads in India are around 0.35%–0.60%, but can often improve by 20% with a more vibrant color palette and creatives.

Carousel Ads

Carousel ads are a natural fit for apps where swiping is part of the user experience. They let brands showcase multiple messages, features, or even user success stories in one ad.

• Dating Apps: Highlight features like unique filters, premium plans, or profiles of real users (with consent).
• Matrimonial Apps: Showcase success stories, diversity of profiles, or cultural relevance.
  
  

  Video Ads
  

In the battle for attention, video ads are king. They allow you to humanize your brand and create emotional connections that static or carousel ads often can’t achieve. Most common formats that convert well are 6-15 second video ads with clear CTAs. These ads have a high CTR of 1-2% and 40% higher completion rates, making them ideal for driving immediate action. 

Carousel Ads with Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)

DCO uses AI to generate real-time ad variations tailored to different user segments, making it a powerhouse tool for programmatic creatives. With a robust DCO strategy, you can automate the creation of thousands of ad variations, optimizing for audience interests, location, language, and more. Internal analysis suggests that DCO campaigns see a 2X increase in CTRs as compared to static ads, with an improved engagement by 1.5x. DCO campaigns can be deployed to dynamically promote app features, highlight user action based on geography.

Interactive Ads

Interactive formats, such playable ads, tap into users’ curiosity and need for instant gratification. They’re ideal for engaging users during the consideration phase. These are best for mid-funnel engagement or retargeting campaigns. Pair them with reward-based incentives to drive participation. Playable ads can deliver upto 2x higher CTRs than traditional video ads.

Rich Media Ads

Rich media combines interactive elements, video, and visuals to create immersive experiences. These ads are perfect for premium campaigns, such as app launches or special features. With CTRs up to 1.5%, rich media ads are ideal for campaigns with high engagement goals. These ads go beyond simple static banners or videos by integrating interactive elements, such as animations, audio, video, and even forms that users can engage with directly within the ad itself. Rich media ads aren’t just eye-catching; they are designed to drive engagement and action, offering a level of interactivity and immersion that traditional ad formats can’t match.

Interstitial Banners

Interstitial ads are full-screen ads that appear at natural transition points, like when a user opens a new screen or is about to move to a new activity. These ads command attention because they occupy the entire screen, leaving little room for distractions. For interstitial banners, it’s always good to have a clear CTA with bold and engaging copy to drive conversions. Also ensure that the ad design is mobile-optimized to fit the smaller screen size. Apps can use interstitial banners to create messaging around limited time offers to drive in-app purchases (eg, subscribe to premium today and unlock more features), encourage users to upgrade their profiles (eg, go premium to unlock more profiles that match your interests).


Discover how this leading matrimonial app achieved 4X growth in installs with mDSP's vernacular-driven approach

Making It Work: Strategies for Creative Success

To maximize results, advertisers must go beyond creative formats and adopt a holistic programmatic strategy.

1. AI-based creative optimization: while you can A/B test creatives to understand what resonates with your audience, achieving scale with manual adjustments is difficult. An AI-driven approach to creative optimisation with your programmatic partner can help you get an overview of what creatives work on what channels and help you make adjustments in real-time. You can also make personalised creatives in response to the ad campaign to improve conversions.
2. Localization Is Key: India’s diversity demands culturally relevant messaging. Use programmatic tools to serve creatives in multiple languages and contexts.
3. Combine Formats: Use a mix of formats to capture attention at different funnel stages. For example, use video ads for awareness, carousels for consideration, and interactive ads for retention.

Creative Strategy to Win Users (and Hearts!)

The Indian dating and matrimonial app landscape is both an opportunity and a challenge for advertisers. Success lies in understanding user intent and leveraging programmatic tools to deliver creative formats that resonate deeply.

Whether it’s a short video ad that captures attention or a dynamically optimized creative that speaks directly to an individual’s preferences, these tools enable apps to connect with users in a meaningful, scalable way.

Because in the digital world of love and commitment, the best matches aren’t just between people—they’re between creatives and strategy.


(The performance metrics mentioned in this blog are indicative and based on industry trends and past campaign data.)