Studies

Image: Match Group

Match Group has announced the launch of its new dating app Stir, specifically designed for single parents looking to date.

The dating conglomerate which owns popular apps like Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid is expanding its suite of apps to focus on certain demographic markets with specific needs, such as single parents. The company found in its studies that many single parents have a hard time on traditional dating apps, and often get ghosted by other members when they say they have children.

"Having kids shouldn't be a dealbreaker when dating," Dinh Thi Bui, Vice President of New Verticals at Match Group, said in the company’s press release. Match Group also noted in its announcement that there are 20 million single parents in the U.S., and that they are often underserved on mainstream dating apps. 

Dating app Tinder said that it would be ending the controversial aged-based pricing structure for its premium service Tinder Plus by the end of the second quarter.

The news follows a recent UK study that found users were paying wildly different prices to access Tinder’s premium service, typically based on age, which raised questions about discriminatory pricing.

According to Buzzfeed, the Mozilla Foundation and Consumers International took up where the UK consumer watchdog Which? and Australian consumer advocacy organization Choice left off when they first pointed out the issue of price discrepancies on the app. The researchers at Mozilla and CI didn’t find statistically different prices based on race, gender or sexual orientation, but did find it among different age groups.

The online dating market continues to grow in the wake of the pandemic, with expected revenue to increase to $4.5 billion US by 2025.

According to research firm Statista, the industry is expected to reach about $3.7 billion US this year (up from $2.86 billion in 2020) as more people join and become active users, in part due to global lockdowns. The pandemic has shifted attitudes towards dating apps, with more singles than ever before downloading and swiping.

Revenue has increased along with new users, as many of the apps are offering popular “freemium” pricing in addition to subscriptions. While the majority of users don’t want to commit to paying a monthly fee to join a dating app, they are willing to pay for certain features, like messaging, being able to see if someone already liked their profile, or putting their profile at the top of search lists. Offering these services as premium paid features has been a boon for dating apps, increasing overall market revenue substantially, especially during the pandemic.

Dating app Match has partnered with Candace Bushnell, the international best-selling author who inspired the Sex and the City series, to help its members find love during dating’s high season.

According to Tech Crunch, beginning on “Dating Sunday” January 2nd, the highest-trafficked day for dating apps, and through the following week, Candace is overseeing matches for the “Expert Picks” feature. Expert Picks allows users to take a quiz to receive hand-selected matches from Match’s team of experts, (including from Bushnell for the busiest week of the year).

"As the creator of Sex and the City, I know a catch when I see one," said Bushnell in a statement. "I can't wait to play matchmaker for Match members to help them get out on great dates and find the love they deserve in 2022."

Exploring your options and being “consciously single” top the list of dating attitudes going into 2022, according to a new study by dating app Bumble.

The company conducted a survey of its members to find out where they stand on dating compared to before the pandemic began, and to identify new trends and practices as we head into the high season for dating app users. The first Sunday after New Year’s has typically been the busiest day for dating apps, and Bumble expects this year to be no different. Rival dating app Tinder also expects Sunday January 2nd to be the busiest day for online dating in 2022, specifically between the hours of 7pm and 10pm.

Yahoo! News noted the highest volume of messages sent over dating apps in the US are typically exchanged from the first Sunday in January and throughout the month, tapering off before Valentine’s Day.

Match Group announced that the company will go carbon neutral by March of 2022 thanks to its purchase of offsets to carbon emissions, leading the way for dating apps to address issues of climate change.

The company announced the move in a press release, noting that it commits to offsetting its carbon footprint going forward, though the offset purchase made lasts only two years. Match Group invested in Hyundai Green Power Corporation, which captures and recycles waste gases to generate electricity through its Steel Waste Energy Cogeneration Project. (The site’s steel mill reuses waste gases and what remains is used by the project’s power plant.)  

When that energy is repurposed, it supplies power to the local grid in Dangjin, South Korea, instead of that grid relying on fossil fuels. This means a reduction of 1.8 million tons of carbon emissions per year, according to Match Group.