Hello, community! Some topics stopped being taboo long ago in modern society—and marketing couldn’t stay aside, which is why entire niches emerged.
Current trends show up most vividly in the dating niche. For instance, this is where offers for sexual minorities—members of the LGBTQ+ community—appeared among the first. But besides them, and beyond mainstream dating, there’s also the adult segment. That’s what we’ll dive into today in more detail.
Before we start talking about adult dating, we also recommend reading the latest trends in this market. It will help you run affiliate marketing with profit!
What is adult dating?
We’ve already covered the adult vertical—a niche featuring all products “for adults,” from porn offers to ecommerce with sex toys.
One direction inside adult is dating. When we specifically say “adult dating,” we mean sites where people primarily look for sex partners—not a husband or wife—whether for one night, a few meetups, or even for life.
Mechanically, adult dating is still dating. But the emphasis is on sex. Advertisers know this well, so they adapt their offers so that a site or app “to find your other half” looks as close as possible to “the yellow YouTube.”
Niches inside adult dating
Now to the most interesting part—the niches. Adult dating overlaps a lot with standard porn offers. To understand what kinds of connections your target audience is searching for, it’s enough to analyze queries on Pornhub. Luckily, those are easy to find—the platform happily shares insights on what people jerk off to watch.
The most popular niches in adult dating include:
- Gay. If you’re homophobic, first—don’t be, and second—you’re deliberately ignoring an enormous amount of traffic, and therefore profit. Gay users are actively looking for partners, so by placing ads even in relevant sections of porn sites (easy to do, since most have separate versions/sections for minorities), you can capture a lot of traffic.
- Black. Obviously not relevant for every GEO, but if you work the U.S. market, this category can be among the most profitable. For years it’s been near the top both in adult dating and on porn sites.
- BDSM. One of the most in-demand niches in adult dating. It’s hard to find someone on the street who enjoys being tied up or spanked, so people with such preferences use specialized dating platforms.
These three niches are also interesting because they feature a truly countless number of offers.
We’ve highlighted only three of the most popular directions—there are others, sometimes even bigger. For example, there’s a separate niche for people who are married but looking for lovers.
You can feel any way you want about it. But remember: running gay traffic doesn’t make you gay, and running infidelity-focused traffic isn’t the same as cheating yourself. To succeed here, you’ll need to drop some prejudices.
Where to get traffic for adult dating?
There’s a lot of adult traffic online. But for adult dating specifically, you’ll need to source it from 18+ sites. The most relevant channels are:
| Porn sites | Here you can segment audiences by category, which lets you drive highly relevant traffic to your offer. Be ready: ads aren’t cheap. Still, you can buy placements via specialized ad networks, including teaser networks. Lots and lots of opportunities here. |
| Webcam | Similar to porn sites, but the traffic differs. Unlike adult sites where most content is free, webcam chats usually involve spending. That often means the traffic is more solvent. |
| In-App | Traffic from adult apps can also be funneled into adult dating. This combo has worked for many years. |
| Push | A great option—both budget-friendly and effective. You can also use in-page push to avoid dealing with your own bases. This format bypasses banner blindness and can deliver strong profit even with modest budgets. |
| Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | These social networks don’t allow adult ads, but restrictions can be circumvented—especially on TikTok. With the right funnel—quality creatives plus cloaking or safe pre-landers—you can reach profitability. |
Adult dating also has solid profit potential even if you work with free traffic. Many affiliates successfully drive organic traffic to adult dating—there are countless funnels, often from messengers, though social networks can be profitable too. It’s all about what you’re used to.
Best GEOs for adult dating
The country list matters a lot. First, understand that nearly any Tier-1 traffic performs well here.
Large affiliate networks periodically share their eCPM TOPs by GEO. Studying data from recent months (or years) shows a pattern: Belgium is almost always among the leaders. Close behind you’ll find Australia, Canada, Denmark, Japan, the UK, and many others.
We recommend reviewing such partner roundups before launching, so you can build a funnel where traffic cost stays reasonable while revenue far exceeds spend.
General tips for running adult dating
Since we’ve moved on to advice, let’s finish with it. Winning in adult dating is hard—the niche has been mastered by industry mastodons. Still, you can carve out profit with creativity and simple logic.
To stay profitable in this niche, we recommend:
- Choose your traffic source carefully. Buying ads on porn sites can be expensive, but it’s premium, warmed-up traffic that often returns more than it costs.
- Focus on creatives. Quality matters—and quantity too. Use up to ten creatives per ad to maximize your chances, and to fight banner blindness.
- Optimize constantly. Watch your campaigns. If you spot anomalies, react immediately—or form hypotheses and validate them with A/B tests.
- Pick quality offers. This reduces the risk of breaking even (or worse) because the dating site itself blocks conversion—clunky UX, regional restrictions, etc. Sometimes an offer is simply stale and uninteresting because the audience is already registered. Pay special attention to this.
No one promises easy money. The niche is tough. But it’s also interesting, spicy, and very profitable. If we’re talking money, the upside is huge.
Conclusion
Adult dating is a vertical that crosses into mainstream dating, includes all the elements of niche dating, and adds 18+ restrictions on top. Like other age-restricted verticals, it’s not simple to run—but the prospects, profitability, and scalability compensate for the hurdles.
What do you think about “adult dating”? Have you ever run dating at all? Share your stories in our Telegram community—Ukraine’s best affiliate marketing hub!
Sincerely, Your Geek!