Name: Inside the multibillion‑dollar business of dating apps | Econ World podcast
Uploaded: 2026-02-11T17:04:39.000Z
Duration: 28 min 27 s
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So this week's show overlaps with Valentine's Day and we thought it a good opportunity to take a look at the economics of love, or more specifically the economics of dating apps.

Cause love em or hate em, they've transformed how we meet romantic partners.

We thought you'd want to know more about how they work, about the paradox at the heart of this multi billion dollar industry that for every successful match, a dating app in theory loses two customers.

I'm Carmel Crimmins and this is Reuters Econ World.

Every week we go deep on the economic principles and ideas driving the biggest news around the world.

On this week's show, the dating app paradox.

And what happens when pleasure becomes business.

I think the dating app is a fun to have thing, but

when you pay for it, it just comes across as desper.

I think that if you have to pay for it, it becomes really unromantic.

I don't think I get more of a dating app than the free features.

I think that most apps these days have a subscription element, so it seems much the same.

I think it's a great way to meet new people.

If the love of my life is behind a two pound paywall, maybe it's worth it.

They've tricked society into believing there's always a better option out there.

If I knew my friends were paying for it, I'd probably be more inclined to.

I met my boyfriend with a non premium version, so why would I pay?

I'm probably the worst person to be hosting this show because I met my significant other in the pre digital dating era where you sort of sidled up to someone in the pub or the club or if you're feeling really delusional on the bus or street and ask them out.

My producer Eliza tells me this kind of organic in person method is making a comeback.

She met her other half on Hinge, by the way.

So let's get into that app and all the others with someone who does know what he's talking about.

He's an expert in helping dating businesses grow and refine their strategy.

Have you got any plans for Valentine's Day?

I'm going to take my wife for a wonderful curry in Malta, which is where we work part here.

People always ask me that and we have to say nearly.

I was in Europe for the European Internet Dating Conference many years ago and my friend held a going away party and I met arena and I didn't go away.

So take us back because you're obviously the expert on dating apps.

Can you take us back to when all this started back in 1995 with match.com so back in 1995, things were very, very simple.

What we were trying to really do is compete with flat, boring personals and newspapers, Lonely hearts, as they were known back then.

You'd have to mail in a note and you'd have to wait a while to get a response.

You could say, I'm in San Francisco, I'm in London, I want to meet somebody within 20 miles.

And then you'd be able to communicate with them.

You'd find them and you'd be able to communicate very quickly.

We enable people to communicate very quickly.

The third thing, which I think is really the holy grail for us, which I think many apps still struggle with, is this element of compatibility.

Meeting someone is easy enough, but meeting the right person is quite a bit more difficult.

And Tinder really shook things up, didn't it, in 2012, kind of pioneering that the swipe right maneuver.

Back then there was eharmony, there was Match, and it was quite a bit of work.

And what Tinder did most, right, is they made it super simple and they kind of gamified it.

They made it kind of fun because you just look at a photograph and you say, do I fancy this person?

Because there's a whole universe of apps out there, right?

There's obviously Tinder, but we've also got Hinge, Bumble, Grindr.

Can you talk us through all the various apps that are out there, the big ones, There's a long tail of niche apps, but

You've got Tinder, which is the biggest app.

They do about three and a half billion dollars a year.

Then you've got Bumble, which kind of came in and disrupted Match for some time.

They're coming in at about a billion dollars a year.

Meat Group has Parship eHarmony, me Scout tag.

They've got a portfolio of products, but their main product right now is eharmony.

And match.com is the big player here, right?

They've got match.com of course, which is a hallmark service from years ago.

They also have a few niche products as well, like Black People Meet and Our Time.

So they, they also have delved into niches as well.

And how did the dating apps make their money originally?

VCs came in, we tried to get to critical mass.

It was free for a short while and then it became paid.

And about 10% of people converted to paid.

90% would just come in, look around, maybe match with a few people, maybe respond to a few people, but

Then we moved to mobile and the dynamic really changed again.

The VCs came in, they funded it, it was free for a while.

And it wasn't until fairly recently that metrics popped up to about 10% conversion again for the major brands.

And so you know, that we lowered the pay bar.

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Inside the multibillion‑dollar business of dating apps | Econ World podcast

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