How Tinder has grown from one match to 1 billion matches in just two years

Launched in 2012, Tinder is one of the world’s most popular dating apps, having been downloaded over 530 million times and available in 190 countries and 45+ languages.

In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Anukool Kumar, Marketing Director, Tinder India, and Papri Dev, VP - Communications, APAC at Tinder, share their insights on Tinder’s various initiatives and strategies. Readers can expect to learn about the impactful Queer Made Weekend, Tinder’s innovative movie marketing campaigns, successful brand partnerships, and how Tinder is shaping the future of online dating in India. Kumar and Dev also discuss the evolution of consumer preferences in the Indian dating app landscape and the latest features Tinder has introduced to enhance user engagement.

Anukool Kumar, Marketing Director, Tinder India

Could you tell us more about Tinder’s ‘Queer Made Weekend’ and its impact?

In 2021, Tinder launched Queer Made in partnership with Little Black Book and Gaysi Family, to provide a digital space for over 100+ LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs and business owners. It is a space dedicated to celebrating, supporting and amplifying businesses and products made, owned and/or run by India’s LGBTQIA+ community. The aim was to empower entrepreneurial voices, foster discovery, and inspire users in-app and online to deepen their allyship, a commitment that continues today. The initiative expanded IRL in 2022, where Tinder organized a two-day festival, Queer Made Weekend in Delhi and in 2023, Tinder expanded the festival to Delhi and Mumbai, with a footfall of 30k+. This year, over 30 LGBTQIA+ owned businesses from diverse categories such as Fashion, Art, Merchandise, Accessories, etc., from across India were featured at Tinder’s Queer Made Weekend, along with 10+ artist line-ups in both cities such as Sushant Divgikar, Kofi Kofi, Anika Singh, among many more from the community. This year, the event was supported by partners such as DLF, Instax, Lone Wolf Co., Third Roast, and other brand partners who joined forces with Tinder. The fact that over 20K attendees participated over three days across two cities is a testament to the event’s scale and impact, making it one of the largest of its kind.

How has Tinder leveraged movie marketing to connect with its audience in India, and can you share any successful campaigns or strategies that have effectively resonated with users?

At Tinder, we have leveraged movie marketing tapping into India’s vibrant film culture that resonates with users on a personal level. One recent example is Tinder's collaboration with Netflix’s film ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kaha’. The film revolves around three friends as they navigate life in the mid 20’s, at a time when social media plays a monumental role in society. To leverage this connection, we integrated Tinder into the movie by showcasing the lead character using our app to meet new people. Additionally, we spotlighted our Tinder Matchmaker™ feature through a social collaboration with the movie’s characters. This feature lets friends and family recommend profiles for a user without needing to download the app or create a Tinder account.

The campaign included a video that seamlessly showcases the camaraderie shared by the movie characters. In the video, the characters use the Tinder Matchmaker™ feature to recommend profiles for their friend, who eventually matches with the suggested profiles. This storytelling approach not only highlighted the ease and fun of using Tinder but also resonated with our audience, demonstrating how Tinder can be an integral part of their social lives.

How do Tinder’s partnerships with various brands and collaborations enhance the overall experience for Tinder users, and can you provide examples of successful initiatives that have resulted from these collaborations?

Almost 60% of our users are 18-30 years old globally and they are all about vibing, meeting up and being their authentic selves. They’re also incredibly intentional in both who they choose to date and how they choose to date and are looking for shared experiences to get to know each other and make their first dates count. For 54% young singles in India, shared interests such as a music taste is one of the top factors that make a match more attractive. (A study of 1,000 18-25 year old dating singles across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Guwahati between April and May 2023 conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Tinder). Our partnerships thus revolve around our users, keeping their interests at the heart of everything we do, whether it is interests such as food, music, travel or pop-culture trends.

Mentioned below are some of the partnerships and collaborations done in the recent-times offering users a chance to explore new activities or products while fostering connections:

• Tinder Mixers: In response to the growing trend of young daters seeking intentional connections and shared experiences, Tinder has been hosting IRL Tinder Mixers across cities such as Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Pune, and Kolkata. These curated events in partnership with brands such as Fastrack, FlowerAura, celebrate popular interests like food, music, dance, pets, and more, providing unique ice-breakers and casual activities for first dates. Tinder Mixers adapt our product experience to physical spaces, allowing singles to connect based on similar interests in a low-pressure environment.
• Tinder’s Queer Made Weekend: To create a space for queer singles and allies to meet like-minded individuals and support LGBTQIA+ business owners and entrepreneurs, Tinder organized the Queer Made Weekend, a two-day IRL pride festival in Delhi and Mumbai in 2022 and 2023. Over the years, 30+ LGBTQIA+ owned businesses from fashion, art, merchandise, home decor, and 10+ home-grown musicians have participated in the event. This year, Tinder’s Queer Made Weekend returned with its third edition in Delhi and Mumbai, continuing to support and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community.
• DOT X Incognito: Last year, we collaborated with DOT., from Netflix’s The Archies film, to spotlight Incognito Mode, a feature which offers Tinder subscribers the ability to maintain full control over their visibility while engaging with the Tinder app.
• Swipe Ride Series: Swipe Ride is a show that celebrates uninhibited, meaningful conversations about what Indian women really want from their dating lives. It showcases women trusting each other and relying on each other’s experience while navigating their own dating and romantic lives. Popular social media content creator and actor, Kusha Kapila, takes the driver’s seat here to pick up Tinder users to meet their dates. Joining the two ladies for the journey is a surprise celebrity guest. For our Swipe Ride Series, we have so far collaborated with celebrities who are strong female icons such as Swara Bhaskar, Rashmika Mandanna, Pooja Bhatt, Uorfi Javed, Zeenat Aman, Janhvi Kapoor and more.

Papri Dev, VP - Communications, APAC at Tinder

The Queer Dating Starter Pack developed with the Gaysi Family offers practical advice for first-time queer daters. Could you share some insights that influenced the creation of this pack?

Dating apps are becoming a space where young adults comfortably explore and express their gender and sexuality, with 7 out of 10 young daters in India agreeing that dating apps offer more freedom for self-exploration and have helped dismantle stereotypes and expectations surrounding gender, sex, and relationships. (A study of 1000 18-25-year-old dating singles pan-India between April - May 2023 conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Tinder.) Given the growing comfort in using dating apps for self-discovery, Tinder’s Queer Dating Starter Pack, curated by Gaysi Family with insights from The QKnit, was released to give first-time queer daters a crucial edge in navigating various dating scenarios with confidence and clarity.

Building on the LetsTalkGender.in guide and glossary launched by Tinder in 2022, the new checklist integrates with this resource, providing quick check-ins as they navigate their dating firsts on Tinder. Supporting queer newbies to be their most authentic selves on their dating journeys, the checklist offers practical advice based on real-life experiences of the queer community. The FAQ section further addresses common concerns and uncertainties that may arise during the dating process, such as readiness to date, exploring one’s identity, and understanding boundaries.

How have consumer preferences in the Indian dating app landscape evolved over the past few years, particularly pre- and post-COVID, and what trends do you see shaping the future of online dating in India?

Tinder has been the first stepping stone in the dating journey of many. It has revolutionized how people meet, growing from 1 match to one billion matches in just two years. This rapid growth demonstrates its ability to fulfill a fundamental human need: real connection. Tinder transformed the way new connections were being made, taking all the angst and mustered-up courage of approaching someone at a party, on campus, or on the street and simplified it into a Swipe gesture.

During the pandemic, Tinder emerged as one of the few places young people could go for much-needed human interaction. Conversations got 33% longer during the pandemic as users turned to Tinder as a lifeline to combat loneliness and make connections while the world was closed¹. The isolation and seclusion caused by the pandemic increased people’s interest in first dates to be more about activities than icebreakers. Daters picked more interesting, unique first-date activities that helped them get to know each other.

Last year, the trends revealed in the Year in Swipe Report 2023, such as the emphasis on ‘main character energy’, dating ‘for the plot’ and the popularity of emojis like offer a glimpse into the desire of young singles being open to meeting new people to have new experiences and fun stories to tell, rather than taking a traditional goal-oriented approach. They are increasingly focusing on the connection and are N.A.T.O (not attached to outcomes). In fact, 51% of surveyed young singles said they were open to new ways of fitting dating around their daily schedules. They ditched the pressure of rushing to a “happily ever after” in favour of using the dating process to build a roster of new experiences and memories that bolstered their own personal stories.

What are some of the latest innovations and features Tinder has introduced to enhance user engagement, and how have they been received by the community?

For us at Tinder, our work continues to make dating the safest and best that it can be by innovating and creating features that the young adults of today want. Examples of this would be:

• Tinder Matchmaker: Tinder Matchmaker makes modern dating a team activity by essentially integrating the “friend test” into Tinder. Users can invite others, whether they have a Tinder profile or not, to view and suggest potential matches. It gives Tinder users the added intel of seeing who their friends Like for them when considering a potential match but, just like in real life, the user ultimately decides who they want to send a Like to.
• Share My Date: Share My Date feature lets users share their date plans directly with friends and loved ones from the app. Share My Date is designed for pals, parents, and peers alike. With one easy link, users can share date information—including location, date, time, and a photo of their match—directly from the app. They can decide who they want to share their date with and create an unlimited number of dates within the app up to 30 days in advance
• Relationship Goal: A profile feature that lets users signal what they’re looking for. Users can choose from six different intent options including: long-term relationship, long-term open to short, short-term open to long, short term, new friends, or still figuring it out. As per Tinder’s Year in Swipe Report, this feature tops the list as the most popular information on profiles.
• Photo Verification: Authenticity is hugely important when it comes to dating, so what better way to put one’s authentic self forward than by having a verified profile. Tinder’s enhanced Photo Verification process encourages users to take a selfie video, a better way for them to prove who they are. For 18-25 year old users, being Photo Verified gives them a 10% higher chance to match. Additionally, Photo Verified users can ask their match to do the same before chatting, giving them more control over how they interact with others. Within their Message Settings, Photo Verified users can also opt to only receive messages from Photo Verified users.

How does your organization position its brand communication to ensure inclusivity and diverse representation, both in internal communications and marketing efforts? Can you share some best practices your company follows to create inclusive content that resonates with a diverse audience?

Like our users, our company represents people from a wide range of backgrounds. Women account for 75% of Tinder’s leadership team and a third of our employees are Gen Z. On top of that, our product organization is 50% women. More than 1/3 of the global Tinder team is Gen Z.

Tinder’s mission is to keep the magic of human connection alive. To achieve that mission, we have to build our app with an understanding that people with different identities have varying experiences with online dating. If we want everyone to thrive on and at Tinder, we start by empowering underrepresented voices and centering inclusion in everything we do.

Tinder has supported the LGBTQIA+ community by including queer narratives across campaigns, content, and stories all year round. This Pride month, along with the Queer Dating Starter Pack we also introduced a series of new profile stickers such as ‘Came Out Online’, ‘My First Pride’ and more, giving more options to users to express themselves and connect with others in an authentic and relatable way. These stickers were designed by Tinder’s LGBTQIA+ staff, to help users express their identities, show support, and connect with others this Pride month. Through our campaigns and community initiatives, in partnership with experts and organizations, we seek to bridge that gap and create digital and IRL spaces for people of the community to explore dating and relationships.

Ensuring user safety is a top priority. Could you elaborate on the specific steps Tinder takes to create a secure and inclusive online dating environment?

Safety is part of our DNA and we’re always working in close collaboration with different NGOs across the world to improve the dating experience for our users. The majority of Tinder’s users are 18-25, and Tinder is often their first dating experience. We take this responsibility seriously. Earlier this year, we launched a new warnings feature to help users understand Tinder’s “house rules” for our platform. Tinder lets users know about all of the safety features available in the Safety Center app.

Tinder pioneered safety standards in dating apps with features like mutual matching, which requires double opt-in before conversations can start. We offer in-app chat so users don't have to share personal information such as mobile numbers or emails. There is no way to send photos within Tinder. This protects our users from receiving unwanted images. In the past three years, Tinder has introduced over 20 safety innovations, including Incognito Mode and Block Profile, which empower users to manage their visibility and interactions more securely. We continue to evolve our safety toolkit with proactive measures like updated ‘Does This Bother You?’ and ‘Are You Sure?’ features (supported by AI technology), which has led to a meaningful reduction in harmful behaviours.

Over the years, we’ve introduced several initiatives in India to address important yet often overlooked themes around dating. These initiatives focus on consent, self-care, gender expression, individuality, and safety, all aimed at enhancing and improving the online dating experience.

• Let’s Talk Consent: In 2021, we launched LetsTalkConsent (in partnership with Yuvva and Pink Legal) a resource center for all things consent – on and off the app. We also released films called Closure and We Need to Talk, which are important educational pieces. In 2022, we launched a first-of-its-kind Consent and Safe Dating curriculum, developed by Yuvaa and other experts in select universities and in 2024, we took the Let’s Talk Consent course online hosted on Coursera.
• Dating Safety Guide: Last year, we partnered with Centre for Social Research (CSR) to launch a first-of-its-kind Dating Safety Guide in India, a comprehensive resource aimed to educate users on our Community Guidelines, in-app safety features, and crucial topics like diversity, sexual health, and consent, empowering young adults to navigate the dating landscape safely and responsibly.
• Let’s Talk Gender: in, is a guide and glossary developed by Tinder India in partnership with Gaysi Family to encourage conversations about ways in which individuals identify and express their gender. This dynamic, living guide and glossary, has been developed with a diverse group of several contributors from the LGBTQIA+ community.
• Tinder Love and Care: In 2023, we collaborated with That Sassy Thing to release a dating wellness guide Tinder Love and Care for young women daters in India. The wellness guide features advice and insights from prominent female experts and queer voices in India, covering a range of topics such as sexual health, intimacy and fostering honest conversations with dates, all while prioritizing self-care.