Valentine's Day 2024 is not stirring up as much romance in the dating app market as it used to be. Despite a modest uptick in global downloads of dating apps, the industry is showing signs of a slowdown, according to a new analysis by app intelligence provider data.ai.

TechCrunch reported that while the growth in global downloads in January 2024 increased by 1.9% compared to the previous year, the United States witnessed a sluggish 2.38% year-over-year increase, reaching approximately 12.7 million installs, down from the almost 16% growth observed in January 2023.

Dating App Market Is Slowing Down

Match Group's fourth-quarter earnings report in January further underscores the slowdown in the dating app market, revealing a 5% decrease in its total number of paying customers compared to the previous year.

In the prior quarter, it reported a 6% drop in paying customers for its flagship app, Tinder, which had a detrimental effect on the company's stock performance. 

Besides Tinder, Match Group also handles dating apps Match, Hinge, and OkCupid, among others. Despite Match Group's efforts to bolster earnings by introducing a premium subscription service called Tinder Select, the company still grapples with a decreasing user base. 

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Are Dating Apps Still Effective?

Three in 10 adults in the US were reported to have used a dating site or app. And while one in 10 adults claims to have met their partner on a dating app, the effectiveness of dating apps in finding lasting love rather than fleeting relationships is being questioned. 

Recent data from the US Census Bureau shows a rising trend of 40-year-olds who have never been married, TechCrunch reported.

Data.ai's new report shows that Tinder is slightly losing its hold on the US dating app market, with Match admitting in its fourth-quarter earnings report that both its US and global daily new users had dropped by the mid-single digits year-over-year, apart from the decline in its paying customers.

Data.ai found that Bumble's share also fell from 17.6% to 14.3 % year-over-year. Bumble is the second-most popular dating app in the US after Tinder.

However, the "other" category of dating apps, usually from the startups and smaller companies testing new AI models, increased to 29.2% in January 2024 from a 27.4% market share in the same period last year, which seems to be an indication that there's a growing desire among dating app users to try something new.

According to TechCrunch, a rising number of people are shifting to AI tools like ChatGPT to help them with their dating app chats. However, it remains to be seen whether AI can send more people back to dating apps. 

Despite the challenges, Data.ai reported that the dating app market still produced a record $505 million last month. Advancements in AI also present new opportunities for enhancing the dating app experience, although concerns persist about potential AI-driven scams and malicious activities. 

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