Tinder’s parent company has admitted it failed to keep up with changing dating habits as it fights to get Brits swiping again, with new figures revealing a growing preference for meeting people in person rather than through dating apps.
“Being static is sort of the worst thing to be”, Chine Mmegwa, head of strategy and corporate development at Tinder-owner Match Group, told City AM. “And we were for a while, and we’re not now”.
The admission comes as Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, attempts to reverse almost four years of declining usage at its flagship app by overhauling the traditional swiping experience.
Its new study, which surveyed 3,000 British singles, found that 61 per cent want more of their social lives to happen face to face, despite 43 per cent saying most of their socialising currently takes place through a screen.
Mmegwa acknowledged that the industry had been slow to respond to changing expectations.
“There was a frustration that apps were not evolving to how differently dating looks like today,” she said. “They’ve long pushed back on us and said, ‘This isn’t what I want’. But we’re actually starting to evolve to what they want”.
Match is now betting that getting singles off their phones could be the key to bringing them back onto its platforms.
Tinder has introduced double dates, group activities and in-person events across more than 50 cities internationally, with a London roll-out expected later this year.
“Now what the dating apps have to do is put you in a room with people so that that human behaviour kicks in over the app”, Mmegwa said.
Tinder’s battle to win back paying users
The shift comes as dating apps face mounting pressure to revive subscriber growth and convince increasingly disillusioned users that premium memberships are worth paying for.
Tinder has struggled with declining usage, while sister app Hinge has continued to grow, posting revenue growth of more than 20 per cent in the second quarter.
The wider industry’s difficulties were underscored last week when rival Bumble agreed to a $1.3bn (£980m) takeover by Ithaca Holdings, a fraction of its IPO price. Bumble’s paying user base fell 16.4 per cent to approximately 3.2m in the second quarter, while revenue dropped 15.2 per cent to $211m.
Mmegwa acknowledged the challenge of justifying subscription costs to cash-strapped singles, saying that the burden falls on Match Group.
“That’s on us. We’ve got to make sure we show you the value of our subscription”, she said. “But there are some people where I’ll say, ‘You don’t need a subscription’.”
Trust issues
The company’s research also exposed another obstacle to winning back users, with 67 per cent of British women saying they worry about their safety before a first date, compared with 31 per cent of men.
Mmegwa said facial verification technology had reduced interactions with fake accounts by 60 per cent in markets where it had been introduced.
However, she acknowledged that tougher identity checks could deter legitimate users concerned about handing over personal information.
Match chief executive Spencer Rascoff told attendees at the study’s London launch that trust had become fundamental to the industry’s future.
“If people don’t feel comfortable and safe meeting new people, then the whole system breaks down”, he said on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Mmegwa added that AI could improve matching algorithms but warned against allowing the technology to undermine authenticity.
“We want you to show up as yourself to the other person”, she said.