Types (Niche)

Boomers are looking for love and increasingly turning to dating apps to do it. But Tinder isn’t necessarily what they are looking for.

BBC reported that the demographics with the biggest growth for dating app usage are 18-24-year-olds and those over 50. Between 2013 and 2015 when Tinder began to take off, online dating tripled for the younger demographic and doubled for those aged 55-64, according to Pew Research Center.

However, older daters were finding obstacles in using popular apps like Tinder that continue to cater to young users. For example, when Tinder launched its premium paid service, the company charged significantly more for older users, which caused an outcry. Some dating apps don’t let people over 50 sign up at all, so boomers were either having to lie about their ages or look for another platform. 

Dating app Grindr, currently owned by Chinese company Kunlun Tech, might be off the market soon thanks to a bid by the Milan-based app design company Bending Spoons.

According to Global Dating Insights, Bending Spoons has offered $260 million for the popular gay dating app, headquartered in West Hollywood. Reports are also linking investment firm H14 to the deal, which is headed up by Barbara, Eleonora, and Luigi Berlusconi, children of Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The app’s original founder Joel Simkhai sold his company for $93 million to Kunlun Tech in 2016. 

For the past several months, protests have been breaking out on a regular basis in Hong Kong, thanks to young student activists who want to maintain the city’s democratic leanings over the more oppressive mainland Chinese government’s rule. But along with the students who are moved to action, dating culture in Hong Kong is also changing as a result of the protests.

Many daters use popular dating apps like Momo, Tantan or Tinder to connect with each other, and aren’t afraid to list their political feelings in their profiles or when they message other daters. (Adding a yellow ribbon to your profile means you sympathize with protestors while a blue ribbon means you support the police and the mainland Chinese establishment.) Some are even posting photos of themselves at protests as a way to attract potential dates with the same political leanings.

Tencent, China’s largest social networking platform and operator of the immensely popular app WeChat, has launched a new dating app that seems positioned to compete with both Tinder and Tantan, China’s most popular dating app.

Qingliao - roughly translated as “light chat” – is kind of a hybrid of different dating app features already on the market. There is no swiping, but users can choose to “like” or “pass” on a potential match by choosing an “X” or a heart. When two users are matched, they can start chatting, according to details described in South China Morning Post.

Got the hots for your married boss? Or the cutie in accounting? If you’ve fantasized about having a fling with a taken colleague, a naughty new dating service is here to help.

Affair at Work is designed to help attached employees “safely” cheat on their partners in the workplace. Although dating services for affair-seekers are nothing new (Ashley Madison is the most notable among them), Affair at Work takes a slightly different approach. The service works via Instagram and is centered around the idea of verifying if an office crush shares your interest.

Tinder is rolling in cash at the close of 2019 thanks to consumer spending on its popular dating app. According to Annie’s List, it ranks as the number one non-gaming app where consumers are spending money, ahead of entertainment and social network giants like Netflix, YouTube and Tencent.

Video games are by far the most popular apps for consumers and generate the most revenue from in-app spending. However, outside of the gaming world, Tinder subscriptions have driven it to the top spot in consumer app spending.