Grindr Looking to Monetize App, Including with AI Chatbots
Contributed by: kellyseal on Tuesday, April 09 2024 @ 09:59 am
Last modified on Tuesday, April 09 2024 @ 10:12 am
Grindr’s CEO George Arrison is planning to monetize the app more aggressively, including launching an AI chatbot and putting previously free features behind a paywall.
News website Platformer broke the news about Grindr’s plans to launch an AI-based “boyfriend” chatbot feature that can engage in sexually explicit conversations with users, for a price. Some employees have expressed weariness, as the AI-generated conversations could be based in part on private chats between other human users, pending their consent.
Platformer also learned that Grindr is revising its terms of service to ask people signing up if the company can train their AI models on their personal data, which can include direct messages. This is likely to be a privacy issue going forward for other dating apps who could pursue employing user data to train AI.
Arrison previously hinted at this in an interview with The Street, where he said: “We had 111 billion chats sent last year in the product. We have 5.5 million daily active users. So that's 600 messages per person per day … We can help them write those messages to save time and we can understand who they are better through all those messages.”
Grindr is also planning to put previously free features behind a paywall and increase in-app purchases to help boost revenue. According to Platformer[*1] , the company is testing a paywall for its “Taps” feature that lets users flirt without having to write out a message. Currently, they are only testing in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, but are considering rolling out the paid version worldwide.
Along with other popular dating apps like Bumble and Tinder, the company is struggling to grow subscriptions and paying users. Younger daters are not willing to pay for dating app features and are now turning to other platforms like LinkedIn and even fitness apps to meet people to date. As a result, dating app companies are getting creative by putting more and more coveted features behind paywalls – including basic ones like messaging matches.
Bumble, Match Group and Grindr have been struggling, despite some bright sides for Match Group with its dating app Hinge which still sees exponential growth. But popular apps like Tinder and Bumble have taken a downward turn. During the pandemic and for a couple of years after, dating app usage soared and investors flocked to the apps, but now after several quarters of less-than-expected results, investors are growing weary. And dating app companies are trying to bounce back.
The problem for these companies is that they are trying to squeeze customers who are already paying for the apps, since they can’t seem to get new paid subscribers.
Grindr has also struggled with internal conflict in the company. Last year, the employees made a move to unionize. Soon after, Grindr issued a return-to-work requirement, and about half of the employees were unable to move and therefore turned in resignations.