Bumble to lay off 30% staff: Have dating apps lost their charm?

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Dating app Bumble will axe nearly a third of its staff amid declining market value. This comes after its rival Match, which owns Match and Tinder, said it was reducing 13 per cent of its workforce. The online dating industry has failed to convince users to pay for its services. Users are also getting turned off by these platforms. But why? read more
Bumble layoffs will affect 30 per cent of the firm's employees. File Photo/Reuters
Bumble, a popular dating app, has said it will lay off nearly a third of its global workforce. The move will affect 240 roles, or 30 per cent of the firm's employees.
Bumble chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd said in a note to staff that the company was reacting to pressures, as the dating industry faces an 'inflection point'. 'We need to take decisive action to restructure to build a company that's resilient, intentional, and ready for the next decade,' she said.
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Bumble's job cuts come after a similar move by rival Match, which said it was reducing 13 per cent of its workforce last month.
But what challenges are Bumble facing? Does it indicate that dating apps have lost their charm? We will explain.
Bumble to axe 30% staff
Bumble is struggling to grow as investors ditch the dating sector. Shares of the dating app have plunged since the company went public in 2021.
Bumble's market value has plunged from $7.7 billion to about $673 million as of Wednesday (June 25), reported CNBC.
By December end, Bumble reported a total of 4.1 million (41 lakh) paying users across its apps, a nearly 11 per cent year-on-year jump. However, the firm's revenues increased by less than two per cent and it lost money, reported BBC.
After the job cut announcement, Bumble shares rose 19 per cent. The dating app maker expects to save $40 million in annual costs after the firings.
A Bumble spokesperson told CNBC in a statement that the layoffs were 'not made lightly.'
'Our focus now is on moving forward in a way that strengthens our core business, continues to serve our members effectively, and positions us for future growth,' they said.
Dating apps struggle to lure users
The online dating industry is struggling to convince users to pay for its services.
Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, saw a five per cent fall in paying users during the first quarter. The company's latest earnings report in May revealed that the paid user base of its apps dipped from 14.9 million (1.49 crore) a year ago to 14.2 million (1.42 crore) in the first quarter.
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People, especially Gen Zers, are also losing interest in swiping. Ofcom's 2024 Online Nation report found that about 1.4 million (14 lakh) people in the UK quit the online dating world between 2023 and 2024.
The usage of the top 10 most popular dating apps declined by nearly 16 per cent. As many as 594,000 users left Tinder, Hinge users fell by 131,000, Bumble by 368,000 and Grindr by 11,000.
However, a Grindr spokesperson dismissed Ofcom's report, telling BBC last year that their UK users 'continue to rise year over year'.
According to a 2023 Axios study, only a fifth of American college students said they were using dating apps at least once a month.
In its 2024 Online Nation report, Ofcom said: 'Some analysts speculate that for younger people, particularly Gen Z, the novelty of dating apps is wearing off.'
Tinder, which created the swipe, has seen a fall in downloads since 2020. However, its rivals – Bumble and Hinge – have reported an increase in downloads since 2021.
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Data suggests people are giving up on online dating apps. These platforms were downloaded 237 million (23.7 crore) times globally in 2023, down from 287 million (28.7 crore) in 2020.
The number of monthly active users of the six biggest dating apps outside China has plummeted from 154 million (15.4 crore) in 2021 to 137 million (13.7 crore) in the second quarter of 2024, The Economist reported, citing Sensor Tower, a research firm.
These six apps are: Bumble, Badoo, Grindr, Match, Tinder and Hinge.
According to a recent Forbes poll, on average, dating app users devote about 51 minutes per day on these platforms, a fall from 100 minutes daily they were spending on platforms like Bumble a decade back.
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Why dating apps are losing their spark
Modern love is hard. If you are single and in want of a partner, then there are only a few places to meet a romantic interest.
While dating apps have introduced people from different walks of life, whom we may have never come across in real life, the myriad options and gamification of dating through these online platforms have started to turn people off.
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Dating apps witnessed a spike in usage during the pandemic. However, now that the world is open again, people want to experience love and dating in real life. Professor Brian Heaphy at the University of Manchester told BBC, 'During Covid, dating apps themselves became more like social media – because people couldn't meet up, they were looking for different things.'
But that did not last after the pandemic, it 'gave people a sense that it could be different from just swiping and getting no responses – all the negatives of dating-app culture.'
Experts say dating fatigue has gripped users, who are seeking 'real connections'.
The Forbes poll mentioned above found that 80 per cent of millennial users — the group that uses these apps the most — reported feeling exhausted.
About 78 per cent of dating app users said they felt 'emotionally, mentally, or physically exhausted' by them, as per a 2024 study by Forbes Health.
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Natasha McKeever, a lecturer in applied ethics and co-director of the University of Leeds' Centre for Love, Sex, and Relationships (CLSR), told The Guardian that people view online dating as a chore that needs to be done rather than a social activity.
'It becomes tedious, and just feels like you're doing admin, like you're not connecting with anyone and you're just trying to get through people,' she said. 'You see it less like talking to real, individual people and you start seeing it like they're all just cards in a deck.'
Dating apps can also bring out the worst behaviour in people who use the shield of the digital screen to behave poorly. A 2023 Pew Research Center study showed that 46 per cent of dating-app users reported their experiences as overall very or somewhat negative.
So, if people are falling out of love with dating apps, then how and where are they finding love?
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People are bonding over their shared interests. Representational Image/Pixabay
They are now turning to hobby apps. Romance is brewing in unexpected places such as fitness clubs, cooking classes and video games. People are bonding over their shared interests.
'[Online] fitness communities are becoming big places to find partners,' Nichi Hodgson, the author of The Curious History of Dating, told BBC.
Even Letterboxd, an online platform to share one's taste in films, has become a place to meet your partner.
'While some dating apps can bring out the worst behaviours, these other online spaces can do the opposite, because people are sharing something they enjoy,' Hodgson added.
But the rise in hobby apps does not signal the death of dating apps. Many platforms are adapting and offering new features to users.
Breeze users who agree to go on a date are not allowed to message each other before they meet. Some apps are catering to specific audiences, such as gay men or single parents.
The queer community continues to use dating apps as they are 'more accessible for those who may not feel safe being visible or 'out' in physical queer spaces', Sophie Goddard, a tutor in applied ethics at Leeds University, told The Gaurdian.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) will become an integral part of dating apps. Herd, who is also Bumble's founder, said the future could entail one person's AI bot going on 'dates' with another's.
However, if dating apps really want to bring users back to their platforms, they need to 'figure out how to put the human aspect back,' Hodgson said.
It is either this or they risk losing their young users who have started discovering 'real-life' connections.
With inputs from agencies