Seniors are flocking to Tinder. Now the app is losing its grip on young people.

The largest dating app in the world needs to take action to reach new users. They know they are struggling. Recently, the Norwegian CEO left.

Tinder is struggling to reach new young users. Writes financial times.

The dating app was launched in 2012. It quickly became the most popular service in the world for singles looking for love. For the first time, young people, up to the age of 18, have seriously flocked to the online dating service.

Not reaching the level before Corona

Tinder is still the biggest among all the dating apps. But it’s not all rosy for Tinder and its owners, Match Group.

The number of new users hasn’t reached the level it was before the pandemic, Gary Swidler tells the Financial Times.

He is the Chief Financial Officer of Match Group.

Getting new users is still a challenge, Swidler admits.

Now announces innovation and new services in the application.

In 2021, the number of Tinder downloads fell by five percent to 70.7 million, according to the Financial Times. Meanwhile, competitor Bumble grew 20 percent to 21.1 million downloads.

Takes payment from users

Generation Z, those born after 1997, largely prefer other services, the Financial Times writes.

The Match Group also owns a number of other dating services such as Plenty of Fish and Match.com.

Signing up for Tinder is free. But then you can’t access all the options in the app. For unlimited swiping with the so-called Tinder Gold membership, you have to pay. You can also purchase additional vision. These are just some of the additional services.

More competitors

Los Angeles Times, one of the largest US newspapers, wrote about the phenomenon in February. In an important Valentine’s Day report, they discuss how more young people are abandoning Tinder in favor of competitors.

In Norway, Happn has always been a competition for Tinder among young people. The app allows you to meet people you may have come across in the real world.

In other parts of the world, Bumble, Hinge, and Plenty of Fish apps grab the largest market share from Tinder. Shows stats from Business Applications.

More seniors use the app

There are many seniors using Tinder now, Swidler in the Match Group tells the Financial Times.

Young people are a difficult target group to reach. Over 90 percent of Generation Z are frustrated with dating apps. 40% of them say they are happy on their own. This is explained in a report from the research agency youthsite from last year, according to the newspaper.

Norwegian Tinder manager quit

Until recently, Tinder had a Norwegian-Dutch CEO Renate Nyborg. She resigned after less than a year in the job earlier in August.

The departure was presented at the same time as the second quarter results. Then Match Group’s share fell by 22 percent Reuters.

Analyst Brent Hill blamed Tinder. In aggregate, the value of the shares is down 50 percent this year.

turns over Vy

Tinder accounts for more than half of Match Group’s sales. In 2021 they sold 16 billion NOK, their latest offering quarterly report. That’s more than companies like Telia, Statnett, Elkjøp, Obos and Vy.

As of July this year, the entire Match Group’s turnover was around 15 billion NOK, of which 8.7 billion came from Tinder. The group made a profit of NOK 9 for every 100 NOK turnover. The match group does not say how profitable Tinder itself is.

“Current expectations for Tinder revenue growth in the second half of the year are lower than our original forecast,” Match Group wrote in a quarterly report.

Among other things, they blame this on the disappointing results from the new products they launched in the app.