Tinder’s new chief executive wants to revamp the dating platform and its reputation as a “hookup app” — a bid to win over Gen Zers who he says “don’t have as much sex.”
After launching in 2012, Tinder revolutionized dating for a generation of millennials. But it’s been falling flat among members of Gen Z, or people aged 18 to 28, not including those too young to download dating apps.
“This generation of Gen Z, 18 to 28 – it’s not a hookup generation. They don’t drink as much alcohol, they don’t have as much sex,” Spencer Rascoff, 49, chief executive of Tinder owner Match Group, told investors this month.
“We need to adapt our products to accept that reality,” added Rascoff, the co-founder and former CEO of real estate marketplace Zillow.
The company is focused on creating low-pressure ways for people to meet on the app, like a “double dating” feature, to win over Gen Zers.
This feature, which allows users to pair up with friends and match with other pairs for dates, will be rolled out globally this summer, Rascoff told The Wall Street Journal. Tinder has been testing “double dating” in Europe and seen positive results.
Rascoff took the helm at Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, just a few months ago, and has said that fixing Tinder is his main concern.
He’s taking a hands-on approach. Last week, he announced that he’d be stepping in to lead Tinder, too, after Faye Iosotaluno posted on LinkedIn that she will depart in June after less than two years on the job.
In an internal memo sent late Tuesday, Rascoff called on staffers to speed up product changes, leverage artificial intelligence and focus on improving user safety, according to the Journal.
Employees should focus on improving the user experience, even if it comes at the expense of short-term revenue, he said.
“Users don’t want more matches, they want better ones,” he said in the memo.
That’s certainly true for Gen Zers, who have fled the platform in search of dating apps that could lead to more lasting relationships.
Among 500 dating app users, about 85% said they didn’t use Tinder because of its association with “hookups,” according to a 2023 Wells Fargo survey.
Growth on Hinge – also owned by Match Group – has outpaced that of Tinder, with daily active users jumping 17% in 2024 from the year before, according to a note by Wells Fargo analysts.
Tinder, meanwhile, saw a 10% decrease over the same period.
“Tinder has fought with – has been fighting with – a perception problem,” Ken Gawrelski, a Wells Fargo analyst, told Fortune at the time.
Meanwhile, Match Group has seen several leadership shakeups over the past few years.
Rascoff was only appointed Match Group’s new chief executive in February, succeeding Bernard Kim, who gave up the role after less than three years as activist investors started to build up stakes in the company.
It was announced last month that Match Group’s chief technology officer would be stepping down at the end of May. A replacement was not immediately named.
In March 2024, Match Group appointed two new members to its board and signed an agreement with Elliott Management after the activist fund reportedly bought a $1 billion stake in the company.
Starboard Value and Anson Funds have also amassed stakes in Match Group and pushed for changes that could cut costs and improve the dating conglomerate’s margins.
Rascoff has been leading a turnaround effort at the company, announcing a 13% workforce reduction earlier this month. The bulk of the cuts hit Tinder.
Executives are hoping to return Tinder to revenue growth, though Iosotaluno in December warned investors that this goal wouldn’t be reached until 2027.
