Dating apps have a Gen Z problem—how marketing can fix it

Earlier this spring, Bumble attempted to generate buzz with a provocative campaign that portrayed its newly redesigned app as an anecdote to dating misery. But the effort backfired—outdoor ads declaring that “a vow of celibacy is not the answer” drew a sharp rebuke from some women who said it was an attack on personal choice. The miscalculation of the ad line—which was later pulled—exemplifies the struggle dating apps are having appealing to Gen Z, a coveted demographic that evidence shows has been shying away from the apps. A 2023 Axios/Generation Lab survey of college and graduate students found that 79% don’t use dating apps even once a month. The lack of interest has taken a financial toll on the nation’s largest date app marketer: Match Group, whose holdings include Tinder, Hinge and the namesake Match.com brand. In May, the company projected second quarter revenue would range from $850 million to $860 million, short of analyst expectations, as global Tinder downloads fell 6% from a year earlier, according to Reuters. Also read: Dating app Feeld adds ‘celibacy’ option after Bumble drama Bustle went so far as to declare that “Dating apps are in their flop era” in a recent article, adding that “as it stands now, mainstream dating apps to Gen Z might be like Facebook to millennials—they’re on them because everyone else is, but it’s not like they’re having fun.” Now, dating apps—from behemoths such as Tinder and Hinge to smaller and newer entrants including Archer and Lex—are trying to market their way back into the hearts of the younger generation with events, community-driven marketing and more. But a lot will depend on how the strategies are executed. Below, four keys for a dating app comeback. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Win with women Part of what Bumble did wrong was fail to acknowledge a primary concern that many Gen Z women have today: safety. “It’s so tone-deaf to put out an ad like this in a time when women are losing reproductive rights in certain parts of the country. Not to mention the countless safety issues women face on dating apps,” influencer marketing expert and content creator Christen Nino De Guzman said at the time. “We made a mistake. Our ads referencing celibacy were an attempt to lean into a community frustrated by modern dating, and instead of bringing joy and humor, we unintentionally did the opposite,” a Bumble spokesperson reiterated in an email to Ad Age this week. The spokesperson added that Bumble has since removed the ads from its global marketing campaign, and is making a donation to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and other organizations as a part of its effort to support the work being done around the world to support women, marginalized communities, and those impacted by abuse. Gen Z women are the most coveted demographic for mainstream dating apps, said Chandler Willison, a research analyst at market research firm M Science. The more Gen Z female users of apps such as Tinder, Hinge and Bumble, the more incentive men and users overall have to spend money on the app, Willison said. But these days, that demographic has become disenchanted with dating apps, he added. Tinder’s 2024 marketing strategy includes winning with women and redefining dating for the next generation, said Tinder VP Communications Philip Fry. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tinder (@tinder) In April, Tinder introduced safety features such as “Share my Date,” which it is promoting in marketing materials such as the Instagram video above. The creative shows women using the feature through which users can share the location of their date with friends. Also read: See Tinder’s ‘It Starts With a Swipe’ ads Using events to build loyalty Archer, a dating app for gay men looking for more meaningful relationships than those typically found on Grindr, has seen daily active users increase 33% between January and May 2024—and attributes much of its success to event marketing, Archer Head of Brand Michael Kaye said. The Match Group app launched in New York in July 2023, in Los Angeles in September and nationally on National Coming Out Day in October. Also read: A celebration of creative excellence for Pride Month 2024 Last summer, Archer threw a launch party on Fire Island—the New York vacation town that Kaye called a “safe haven” for gay men—and plans to do the same this year. Archer’s event brought in more than 300 attendees and led to the biggest bump in downloads among people in the New York area that Archer had experienced up until that moment, Kaye said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ARCHER (@archerdating) “When we think about this demo, queer men have really spent most of our childhood and teenage years seeking spaces where we would be accepted. And as adults, we're finding community in our local gay bars, volunteering with organizations like GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, the Trevor Project, or in safe havens like Fire Island and Provincetown,” Kaye said. Lex, a dating app for LGBTQ+ people that focuses on women interested in women, saw a 20% increase in users year over year as of April, Lex Chief Product Officer Michelle Parsons said. Events are “huge huge part” of Lex’s marketing strategy, said Parsons. Lex is a private company. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lex (@lex.app) Events have included a “Lex After Dark” gathering in New York on Valentine’s Day during which the brand gave away free beverages to people who displayed the app as they entered. After Lex’s events, Parsons said the team follows up with attendees to ask how their time was and to keep them up to date on upcoming Lex happenings. She added that Lex uses events as an opportunity to build relationships with users, rather than spamming them or showing up in “random paid ads.” “We found that our users—especially the queer community, and especially Gen Z—were sick and tired of traditional dating apps,” Parsons said. Lex users “want to connect with people and others on a deeper level, whether that be through shared passions or shared interests or shared values or beliefs.” Lex has upcoming events planned at historic lesbian bars across the U.S. such as Cubbyhole in New York. Taking it IRL More than half of college students said they’d met their current or previous partner via an in-person connection, according to the Generation Lab/Axios survey. One way for dating apps to remain part of the equation is to show how they can assist with in-person meet-ups—rather than just highlighting the online app chat features. Hinge’s “Designed To Be Deleted” ad campaign, for instance, encourages singles to go on dates and find love in person. BLK, the Match Group-owned dating app tailored to Black singles, also allocates a significant portion of its brand marketing to activities that put people together in real life rather than just in-app, according to Jonathan Kirkland, the head of brand and marketing for BLK. For example, BLK recently partnered with Broccoli City music festival and the performer Mariah the Scientist for an event sweepstakes. The promotion gave away VIP access to the festival in Washington, D.C., plus two nights in a hotel, as well as a meet and greet with Mariah the Scientist. The community angle With Americans increasingly divided over politics and other topics, younger users of dating apps are more interested in having shared values. As such, there is a rise in dating apps that market themselves to Gen Z’s niche groups and communities, rather than the masses. Lex, the LGBTQ+ app that focuses on women interested in women, saw a 20% increase in users year over year as of April, Parsons said. Feeld, a location-based dating app for non-monogamous or polyamorous individuals, saw the amount consumers spent on subscriptions and one-off purchases grow by 107% between the first three quarters of 2022 and 2023, according to the New York Times. Match Group seems to be increasingly investing in these smaller, community-centric apps, as it incubated Archer last year, and also owns BLK, Chispa (a dating app for Latinx singles), Archer and other dating apps focused on specific communities rather than singles at large. While dating tools focused on specific communities are nothing new—the dating platform for farmers, Farmers Only, for instance, was founded in 2005—the newer niche apps are popping up as more mass-marketed apps such as Tinder and Bumble struggle. As Julia Estacolchic, senior director of brand marketing at Chispa, put it, “Mainstream apps have become everything for everybody … when you do a campaign and you try to be everything for everybody, you end up being nothing for everybody.” Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here

Dating apps have a Gen Z problem—how marketing can fix it

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