The newsroom for the people building the dating industry.
This Week in Dating Business

The Romance Scam Prevention Act Is Now Law. Dating Apps Have Until October 2027.

Match and Grindr Report Next Week. Here Is What to Watch.

States Challenge Character.AI's Sale Process Ahead of October 30 Hearing

Match Group Partners With India's Cybercrime Centre on Romance Scam Warnings

Three Plead Guilty in $9 Million Romance Fraud Case Built on Fake Dating Profiles
PeopleNicky Wake Built Two Widow Dating Apps, Not One. Here's the Logic.Chapter 2 Dating has reached 25,000 users across a dual-platform model targeting bereaved singles Founder Nicky Wake operates two separate apps: Chapter 2 for serious relationships, WidowsFire for cas…
EarningsBumble Beat Revenue, Lost 21% of Payers, and Bet It All on AIBumble (BMBL) Q1 revenue: $212.4M, just above consensus, but paying users fell 21.1% year-over-year to 3.2 million Net earnings surged 165.4% to $52.6M; adjusted EBITDA up 28.3% to $82.6M, driven by a…
Platforms47% of Gen Z Picks Book Clubs Over Dating Apps. Now What?47% of Gen Z say they would prefer to meet a romantic partner at a book club than on a dating app, per ThriftBooks/Talker Research. 78-79% of Gen Z dating app users report burnout, citing lack of mean…
EarningsMatch Group Beats Revenue, Loses Subscribers, Leans on AIMatch Group (MTCH) reported Q1 revenue of $864M, beating analyst estimates of $854.9M, while total paying subscribers fell 5% year-over-year to 13.5 million. Hinge remains the portfolio's standout, gr…
The DataThe $189 Date Is Pricing Half of America Out of the Dating MarketThe average cost of a US date hit $189 in 2026, up 12.5% from $168 the year before, according to Bank of Montreal's Real Financial Progress Index. 47% of single Americans now say dating is no longer f…
PolicyMeta's Body-Scanning AI Sets the Age-Check Bar. Dating Is Next.Meta deployed AI that analyzes height, bone structure, and physical markers in photos to identify users under 13 on Facebook and Instagram, months after a New Mexico court ordered the company to pay $…
M&AMatch Group's $100M Sniffies Bet Puts Gay Cruising Culture on a TimerMatch Group (MTCH) invested $100M for a minority stake in Sniffies, with an option to acquire the platform outright later. Within hours of the April 27 announcement, Sniffies' Instagram filled with us…
PlatformsHinge's Signals Badge Rewards Behavior, Not OutcomesHinge's new 'Signals' badge marks users who send personalized messages, confirm dates, and sustain platform activity. It cannot be purchased. Match Group (MTCH) reported year-over-year revenue decline…
PlatformsTinder Bets Its Future on a Biometric Partner Two Nations BannedMatch Group (MTCH) has partnered with World, Sam Altman's biometric scanning company, to offer iris-scanning verification on Tinder. World has faced a regulatory suspension in Spain, an outright ban i…
FundingGame of War's Co-Founder Backs an Anti-Screen-Time Dating AppMike Sherrill, co-founder of Machine Zone and architect of Game of War ($2.8B in revenue before AppLovin acquired the company), has invested an undisclosed sum in SPARK, a Singapore dating startup bui…
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