Tinder

If you’re a woman looking for a date, you might have better luck on dating apps than the guys. According to a new report from GlobalWebIndex, there are nearly 91 million people around the world using dating apps, but two-thirds of these users are men. The market skews younger, too – 70% of users are between 16 and 34.

While dating apps are certainly hot right now, they are only making a dent in terms of overall popularity in the online market. The report also states that 6% of Internet users use a location-based dating app, which puts the category behind niches like augmented reality (108 million monthly users), as well as games and social networking with 655 million and 582 million respectively.

Tinder might be the most popular dating app among Westerners with $1 billion valuation this year according to the report, but Chinese dating app Momo seems to be doing three times better with a $3 billion valuation as of 2015. Momo claims that they have 60 million active monthly users compared to Tinder, who projects 40 million users by April of this year. Of those 60 million Momo users, 25 million are in China, but the rest are across the globe in places like the United Arab Emirates, Phillippines, Thailand and India.

But what about the valuations? Considering most of these apps are free to download and use, how is it that they can be worth so much?

The report notes this discrepancy, too. Despite the large pool of dating app users, only one fifth of users have opted to pay for premium services. This research comes as Tinder is rolling out its new paid premium service, Tinder Plus. The initial roll-out of Tinder Plus in the U.K. was not received well, and in fact caused people with the free version of the app to downgrade its overall score in the app market to 1.5 stars. (In rolling out the new features, Tinder had also curbed some of the existing features of its free app – including limiting the number of matches a user could get per day.) Momo has only signed up two million for its paid service.

While other competitors aim to find their place in the market – offering more features, options and quality to the large and growing pool of dating app users - it seems that making money could still be elusive. Most apps draw users in by offering a free product, and then rolling out a paid “premium” service, but the people aren’t really responding. At least not as much as they need to for sustainable growth. The report points out that generating ad-based revenue is still a viable alternative, even if it means in-app advertising to maintain a free service.

We’ll see what the major dating app companies do next.

While Tinder is looking for ways to increase its revenue stream with new premium service Tinder Plus, it is steering clear of any advertising that affects its service.

Although the company has strategically lent its brand to clever marketing campaigns - like Gillette’s facial hair survey and Domino’s Pizza Valentine’s Day campaign – they have avoided advertising that would compromise the app experience for users. Namely, in-app advertising.

The Gap however, decided that Tinder was the perfect fit for its new social media-inspired ad campaign: #SpringIsWeird, which included in-app advertising on Tinder. The campaign featured fake “profiles” of the Gap logo with messages including “you’re invited to the pants party” and “we’re taking 30% off all Gap denim,” which would appear when users were swiping through potential matches on the app. The Gap also created a “micro series” on Instagram as part of the campaign.

The Gap announced their campaign to a reporter for AdWeek in a story he promoted on Twitter after it was posted. But Tinder never approved the campaign, and apparently did not know it was happening.

In a tweeted response to the AdWeek reporter, Tinder’s VP of Communications & Branding, Rosette Pambakian, responded: “@GarettSloane we will be deleting those GAP profiles. It violates our TOS. We did not approve this campaign and it is not an ad.”

Trishna Nichols, The Gap’s leader of consumer engagement and brand strategies, described the campaign to AdWeek before the fallout: “We did a little something special on Tinder. It's a guerrilla [marketing] idea where you'll see a profile with clever messaging in the spirit of love and the perfect match. It's the perfect fit for Tinder.”

Unfortunately, the campaign wasn’t a fit for Tinder, and The Gap had never received authorization to post the ads. Tinder’s terms of service state that the service is "for personal use only" and that users may not use the service or any content contained in the service for "advertising or soliciting any user to buy or sell any products or services not offered by the company."

Other companies have done guerilla marketing on the app before, such as in 2013 when USA Network was promoting their show “Suits.” Advertisers for the show posted profiles of the show’s characters on Tinder, and they were not taken down. But now that Tinder is gearing up for creating new revenue streams, it could be that they will be cracking down harder on this type of “organic” advertising.

For now, The Gap will be moving forward with the campaign via social media, releasing an episode a week of its micro series on Instagram.

More than one in ten Americans have used a dating app or online dating service of some kind, according to a recent study from Pew Research. And dating apps are only increasing in popularity.

But despite peoples’ love of technology, online daters don’t seem to be finding what they want, and are not so satisfied with the dating app experience. No matter how many new apps hit the market, it seems the inherent problems with online dating (lying, old photos, bad behavior) – are still lingering, and affecting the overall user experience.

People tend to be more critical of dating apps than any other type of app, according to a recent report from Applause, which aggregates app ratings.

According to their report, dating apps consistently rank lower than almost any other kind of app available in stores to download. According to MarketWatch, “while the average app quality score in the U.S. is 67 out of 100 points across all categories, for dating apps, that number is 42 out of 100 — the lowest average score across categories.” The study looked at 53 different dating apps, all of which had more than 1,000 reviews.

While many people may blame apps for their poor online dating experience, the fact that the overall market is leaving people unsatisfied is telling. Online dating is a business, but one that involves people – who can be unpredictable and emotional, especially when it comes to dating.

For one thing, the currency of dating apps are people, so these apps must have a large database with a variety of choices to even compete with some of the major players like Tinder. If people receive the same matches over and over, or somehow “run out of options,” the dating app can be perceived as less valuable than other dating apps. Also, if a dating app user doesn’t like his matches, he’s likely to give it a lower rating, as opposed to others who have a good or even mediocre experience.

Of course, there are other things to consider when it comes to why dating apps aren’t faring so well among users. Some are annoyed with having to pay for special features, or when in-app advertising interrupts the service itself.

Surprisingly, Hinge and eHarmony – two online dating apps that emphasize the quality of their matches – scored low on overall user satisfaction, at least according to their ratings. They both earned an average score of 22 out of 100, and ranked as two of the 10 worst dating apps. OkCupid however, earned 62 points out of 100, putting it in the top 10 category with Skout and Let’s Date. Tinder ranked in the top 20, despite the many complaints and its reputation for being a “hook-up” app.

So what does this mean for online daters?  I guess we’ll have to see how dating apps evolve.

Turns out, Valentine’s Day is not just about couples, hearts and chocolates – it’s about swiping left and right with your dating app to see who's out there. Singles are optimistic about love on this particular holiday - and are saying yes more often to potential dates.

According to popular dating app Tinder, activity from users on Valentine’s Day this year surpassed any day since its launch back in 2012 – that is, the total number of swipes, messages, and matches were at the highest count in the app’s history.

The increased activity in advance of Valentine’s Day began on February 6, leading up to the all-time high on V-Day itself. Overall usage ticked up 7 percent week-over-week from the last couple of years, resulting in a 15 percent increase over the company’s long-term trends. Message activity was up 5.2 percent week-over-week, and matches were up by 6 percent.

Vanity Fair reported that the company found a 60 percent increase in matches per user who logged in to the app on Valentine’s Day from the previous Saturday. Unfortunately, the love didn’t last – user activity was back to normal by Sunday February 15th. It seems the pressure of romance’s biggest day contributed to the app’s popularity, but fizzled out just as quickly. It is also interesting to note that more men were on the app than women on Valentine’s Day, perhaps a reflection of Match.com’s latest “Singles in America” study, where they found that men were much more likely to believe in love at first sight than women.

Critics have been quick to point out that Tinder users are primarily looking for last-minute hook-ups, which might explain the Valentine’s Day craze. The company’s founder Sean Rad however, disagrees – noting that people go to bars and clubs all the time looking for potential for hook-ups. So why choose Tinder? According to Rad, Tinder is helping people overcome the challenge of approaching a stranger to say “hi” because the app makes it less intimidating, and the sting of rejection isn’t quite so high.

“People don’t realize this, but we’re an order of magnitude bigger than any other dating app,” Rad told Vanity Fair. “You really have to ask yourself, if that’s the critique of Tinder, are you critiquing Tinder, or are you critiquing society?”

Tinder is rolling out its new premium service Tinder Plus in the U.S. in March, which will allow paying members to go back and rekindle things with someone they initially rejected, and let users browse through profiles of people in other cities. The new service has already rolled out in the U.K.

This month, Tinder began rolling out its new premium service Tinder Plus in select European markets, and the feedback hasn’t been good.

The popular dating app surged to the top of the online dating market when it launched in 2012, attracting users who had never thought of signing up for an online dating site. Its easy-to-use format and free game-like service offered more entertainment than dating stress, and users flocked to check it out.

But in an effort to make money from this hugely successful endeavor, it was only a matter of time before Tinder’s owners developed a paid model for the app – opting for a premium service over adding distracting in-app advertisements. (Although the company has strategically lent its brand to marketing campaigns, like Gillette’s facial hair survey and Domino’s Pizza Valentine’s Day campaign.)

But Tinder Plus has not been greeted favorably, at least in its initial roll out – and the free service is suffering as a result. Although Tinder Plus is not set to launch in the U.S. until March, and prices are still to be determined, the company needs to find a new strategy - considering the backlash it has gotten in markets where the roll out has already taken place, such as the U.K. Tinder users who are not opting to pay for Tinder Plus and want to stick to the old free version of the app have been leaving bad reviews in the iTunes store (enough to drive the free service’s rating down to one and a half stars).

The problem has to do with new restrictions to the free service. Once a user has swiped a certain number of times, they are blocked for 24 hours from seeing any new profiles, unless they want to pay for the new Tinder Plus service. Since most users log in to Tinder multiple times a day to swipe through matches, this puts a serious hindrance on Tinder’s competitive advantage. Other dating apps that have restrictions on the number of profiles a user can see per day – like Hinge - have been easing up on their requirements, and seeing a surge of new downloads as a result.

With all the promising new free apps coming on the market, such as Bumble (started by an ex-Tinder employee), Tinder will need to think outside the box to keep its market share. After all, any online dating app or site’s currency is their user base. If Tinder loses theirs, then they stand to lose a lot more than the revenue from the premium service. Perhaps they should stick to advertising deals, or instead of taking away features from loyal users, offer more enticing new features.

By now, most people have heard of Tinder, whether or not they have used the dating app or understand what it does. Tinder has become a brand synonymous with modern online dating. But since its launch in 2012, the company has been struggling with taking advantage of its explosive popularity and translating it into revenue. After all, the dating app itself is free – a major draw in the online dating world for people who just want to try it out, and one of the factors contributing to its success. But offering a free service doesn’t help the company build its business.

In the last few months Tinder launched a premium service called Tinder Plus, charging users for special features like searching for matches in another city, a pretty typical revenue path for online dating apps looking first for an audience and then for ways to generate revenue. But since Tinder has garnered brand recognition, the company has decided to use this to its advantage by partnering with other well-known brands. With product placement for TV shows and advertising campaigns featuring young single daters swiping left and right, Tinder is charging companies to be seen with its brand – specifically companies trying to appeal to a younger demographic.

For instance, last year Tinder was featured on The Mindy Project to help its main character find a new boyfriend, and Domino’s pizza created a Valentine’s Day advertising campaign offering deals to Tinder users. But the dating app’s latest tie-in is getting some buzz. Tinder teamed up with Gillette to analyze 100,000 male Tinder users – with facial hair and without – to see if women swiped left or right more often for the clean-shaven guys. The results? It seems Gillette won, with a vast majority – 74% of total right swipes going to the well-groomed guys - as well as 37% more matches.

Gillette put together a 30-second spot outlining the study and its results, showing groups of single women on their Tinder apps, swiping left (rejecting) guys with facial hair and then swiping right (accepting the match) for the same guys once they were clean-shaven. The women were also shown commenting on which guys looked better without facial hair.

Gillette is promoting the test results on a website called shavetest.com, as well as through YouTube. Of course, the main idea is that guys would rush out to purchase Gillette products so they can score more dates. But really, it seems the winner is Tinder, with more well-known brands trying to capitalize on its popularity and reach consumers where they are – on their phones.