Is the Honeymoon Over for Dating Apps?

Are Americans falling out of love with dating apps? Usage is still going up, but dating app audiences have been growing slower than expected in recent years, leading to downward revisions to eMarketer’s user estimates.

This year, 25.1 million adults in the US will use a dating app on their smartphones at least monthly. eMarketer's Q3 2018 forecast for the dating app audience last year was 25.4 million. Due to lower-than-expected usage last year, they now estimate just 23.8 million adults used dating apps in 2018, representing 6.5% growth over 2017. That slow growth continues, with usage expected to tick up 5.3% this year.

“At this point, we see existing users switching between apps rather than new users trying dating apps for the first time,“ said eMarketer forecasting analyst Nazmul Islam. This year, 21.0% of single adults in the US will use a dating app, with that figure barely reaching 23% by 2023.

Among millennials, Tinder takes the top spot, followed by Bumble and PlentyofFish, according to a Google study. Despite slowing user growth, revenues for most of the dating apps is still growing at a healthy rate. Tinder’s revenues grew 62% between February 2018 and February 2019, while Bumble’s grew 135% during the same period, according to a Sensor Tower study.

“Initiatives like app optimization focused on messaging, better matching and localization are increasingly convincing free users to switch to premium subscriptions, which is helping drive revenue growth despite slowing user growth,“ Islam said.