While the containment measures put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19 are gradually lifted, it is time to take stock for dating applications, some of which have experienced a peak in use in recent months.
Match Group, which publishes several dating applications including Tinder, Meetic and OkCupid, noted a 27% increase in messages sent during the month of April. This figure even reached up to 35% among users under 30 years of age.
" Since the beginning of the epidemic, we have seen an increase in the activity of our users, on all our applications and worldwide, " detailed Match Group in its letter to shareholders. “ On Tinder, use was greatest during the height of the crisis. A success partly due to the relaxation of the conditions of use of Tinder, which made free during confinement a function which allows exploring profiles in cities other than one's own.
Allow long distance meetings
According to the company, the free Passport function, so far reserved for the 6 million paying users of Tinder, has enabled the virtual meeting of 175 million people. The upcoming arrival of a “global mode”, which will be free, will allow all Tinder users to meet on the other side of the world.
Even assessment at Happn, whose concept which proposes to two people who crossed to find themselves however offered few prospects in time of confinement. To remedy this, it made it possible to widen the search radius for profiles up to 90 kilometers away. Result: a 20% increase in written exchanges compared to usual, according to the company which claims 70 million users worldwide. The latter explains this increase by " the desire, for singles, to open up to the outside world and to new meetings, even if these must remain virtual ".
Radical adaptations for applications that like to present themselves as simple matchmakers, intermediate steps before a physical meeting. But the latter, aware that the social distancing rules put in place during confinement have not been lifted with the latter, envisage a future where meetings on the internet will be all the more able to stay there. Hence an increased need for richer communication tools.
Video meetings
Evidenced by the cascade of ads in recent weeks for video chat features. It's Once, an application with 3 million users in France, which opened the ball in March. "Without the possibility of meeting right away, video is an option that intends to respond to the exceptional situation we live in while protecting users, " said the company. A month later, 10,000 video meetings took place on the application, including one of 11 hours between two Parisians.
In May, it was Tinder who announced a video conversation tool integrated into his application. " We had to adapt to the way our users use our products ," said Match Group. Many of them favor meetings by telephone or video . ” This feature, which has already been integrated into Plenty of Fish, another Match Group app, is to be tested in June and will be free.
Happn will charge for the video after the first few minutes, but will offer it for free to try out first. The application intends to integrate this option from June. According to her, 54% of its users are planning a first video meeting. " In the years to come, we will be able to walk around with our 'date' virtually, thanks to augmented reality, in the place of our dreams, " even imagines its CEO Didier Rappaport.
