4 days ago
Hinge Serves Up More Cute Couples, Even as Dating Apps Get Dumped
Dating apps have been part of singles' lives since debuted 30 years ago. But even though today, swiping left and right is as routine a part of dating as a movie and popcorn, many Americans are still reluctant to admit that they met someone online. The reasons tend to center around the persistent association of apps as places people go for hookups, not candlelit dinners.
That stigma isn't entirely deserved. Pew data shows that 12% of Americans are married to or in a committed relationship with someone they met online-so dating apps actually have a fairly decent track record.
Funny thing, huh? Well, Hinge thinks so.
Last year, the dating platform seized on that idiom with a campaign called "It's Funny We Met on Hinge,' featuring real-life couples who had crossed paths in their daily lives but failed to act, only to connect later on the dating platform. This week, Hinge released the second installment of the campaign.
Like the inaugural effort, this one was developed by agency Birthday and directed by India Sleem of production company Somesuch. And, once again, we see a gaggle of couples telling their own how-we-met stories on camera. But this variant shows couples who were casually acquainted at first and then united via Hinge, or who met on Hinge, lost touch for whatever reason, then crossed paths again in their regular lives, rekindling the connections first made online.
The work's intent is to "challenge the binary of meeting either in person or on a dating app,' according to corporate. 'Instead, [the stories] show how the path to a meaningful relationship doesn't necessarily fit into a single mold."
Say what you will about the banality of lovebirds enthusing about their hearts aflutter, Hinge is clearly doing something right.
While the dating app sector continues to lose users, Hinge has been growing. Its Q2 revenues rang in at $168 million, up 25% from the same period last year. During that time, its paying users grew by 18% to 1.7 million.
On an August 5 earnings call, CEO Spencer Rascoff of Match Group-which owns Match, Hinge, and Tinder-told analysts that "Hinge is crushing it."
It's not clear how much of a role Hinge's marketing is playing in that, but its business model is clearly in tune with the times-specifically, an architecture built around deeper, substantive connections instead of the smash-or-pass variety.
While Tinder relies on speed and ease of use, and Bumble allows only women to initiate a conversation, Hinge positions itself as the relationship app-one that works so well that it's "designed to be deleted," a trademarked slogan. Hinge encourages members to share as much personal information as they're willing to, including education level, political views, and even substance use.
Logically, then, "It's Funny We Met on Hinge" reinforces the implied promise that Hinge is the birthplace of lasting relationships-even if that message falls on the ears of a shrinking audience for dating apps overall.
A growing number of dating-app users report suffering from "swipe fatigue," driven by a sense of detachment, dread of rejection, and a feeling that the algorithms are designed to build corporate profits more than interpersonal relationships. A Forbes Health/OnePoll survey released in July revealed that 80% of millennial respondents said they felt burned out by dating apps.
As a result, former swipers have been trying the IRL thing by joining hobby groups and depending on friends to introduce them to new people. In a survey of college students conducted by Generation Lab and Axios two years ago, over 50% of respondents said they'd met their current or most recent partner "through in-person connections."
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