Venture Capital and Private Equity firm Andreessen Horowitz has published a report on the most engaging social apps, which includes a specific focus on online dating products.
The study looked at the top 1,000 apps in the US app stores and used millions of data points to rank their stickiness, addictiveness and how fast they’re growing. It is part of the company’s ‘Social Strikes Back!’ series that explores how the tech industry is being shaped by the next generation of social networks.
Bumble was recognised as one of the stickiest products, with approximately 81% of its monthly active users (MAUs) opening the app on a specific day.
Bennett Carroccio, the author of the report, speculates that Bumble’s female-first approach is largely responsible for its continually active community. By removing “male-driven spam”, it’s created a space that a lot of women feel comfortable checking on a regular basis.
It was also deemed to be quite addictive. On average, its daily active users (DAUs) have 2.6 sessions per day, while Tinder’s DAU community has 2.4.
The online dating sector as a whole is very sticky, with only music and social media apps having a more engaged audience. However, singles tend to have very short sessions, on average seven minutes per day per DAU, meaning that it can’t be classed as absorbing.
It has also seen a 13% increase in MAUs compared to 2019, as singles turn to online dating in the lockdown and social-distancing world.
Hinge and MeetMe were the other dating apps that were listed as the fastest-growing. Both are very good at retaining users, a vector that is measured by how many users are still active 30 days after their first install date.
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