New Study Shows Dating App Downloads are Slowing
Contributed by: kellyseal on Wednesday, February 28 2024 @ 09:53 am
Last modified on Wednesday, February 28 2024 @ 10:09 am
New research has shown that the dating app market, once booming after the pandemic, has started to show signs of slowing down.
According to Tech Crunch, research firm data.ai found that global downloads of dating apps saw very tepid growth year-over-year in January 2024. The slight increase of 1.9 percent (128 million installs) from January 2023 was down drastically from the 29 percent increase seen the year before.
In the U.S., data.ai found only a 2.38 percent year-over-year growth from January 2023 to January 2024, with 12.7 million installs, down from a 16 percent growth seen during the same time period last year.
The U.S. market is one of the largest and most lucrative for dating apps, but Pew reported last year that only three in ten U.S. adults had ever used a dating app or online dating site, the same percentage that was reported in 2019. This was surprising considering how dating apps took off during the pandemic and the years immediately following.
Signs of the slowdown have been showing in quarterly reports from dating app giants like Match Group. The company reported that its total number of paying users declined by 5 percent year-over-year per its fourth quarter report, despite revenue being up 10 percent during the same time period, according to Tech Crunch[*1] . This is in part due to pricing techniques like VIP service Tinder Select which goes for $500 per month where users have access to premium matches, as well as charging for premium features like Super Likes. But the company is not attracting as many new users.
Bumble’s share of the dating app market fell from 17.6 percent to 14.3 percent, year-over-year according to data.ai. Tech Crunch pointed out that the “Other” category of dating apps in the market (mostly startups trying out new models) grew from 27.4 percent of the market share to 29.2 percent in the same time period, indicating that singles are looking for something new.
Dating app companies have also been cutting back their free features lately, charging users to be able to message their matches or swipe through more than a few people a day. And some like Grindr have been playing with short-term pricing, offering weekly instead of monthly subscriptions.
Tech Crunch noted that dating app companies are looking to AI technology to help boost interest. There was a notable increase in dating app downloads following the popularity of Rizz, an AI app which helped users with profile building and messaging. As dating apps include these tools in their platforms, they could see renewed interest.
The dating app market is still making billions of dollars, so it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.