[ryandrake]

I think you've figured it mostly out. Both genders desire this sense of companionship, not just women. The difference between the genders (and why there are so many products targeted at men and so few targeted at women) is that due to realities of dating and courtship, this companionship is readily, and disproportionately available to women. So the demand must be much higher for men. I'd be surprised if it wasn't as simple as that.

[EatingWithForks]

I don't buy that romantic companionship is disproportionately available to women, because evidently fake romance for women is in huge demand already. I don't understand why this particular kind of fake relationship is almost exclusively geared towards men, when Twilight & 50 Shades Of Grey were fake romance for women that made millions of dollars.

[ryandrake]

Ahh, right--that was your original question. The thread got long and I lost the plot.

I wouldn't be surprised if the overall market size (in users, not dollars) for all types of "relationship substitutes" for men is simply far, far larger than the market for women, even though Twilight and 50 Shades are themselves huge. For every 1 female erotica fan out there, I bet there are 10 or maybe 100 male users of porn or OnlyFans. I would also guess that the amount of money spent by men is at least a multiple of the amount spent by women. If I was an entrepreneur going into a market where, say, there were 100x potential male users and maybe 3x potential male dollars, I'd be a fool not to at least initially target men.

[decafninja]

The other post from RajT88 is the best answer to this.

It's a lot easier to implement an AI version of a strip club or hostess club than an AI version of Twilight or 50SoG.

[nvm0n2]

Romance books can sell to women already in a relationship, AI bots can't. I think it's probably no more complex than that.