Data has been released from various corners of the industry showing how user activity changed during this year’s Dating Sunday.
The first Sunday of January is annually noted as the busiest day for online dating, as singles spend time over the holidays speaking to family about relationships, making new year resolutions and challenging themselves to find a partner before Valentine’s Day.
Inner Circle saw a 147% growth in messages sent on 3rd January, compared to a Sunday earlier in December. New matches were also up by 37%, while the number of new members increased by a third.
CEO and founder David Vermeulen explained in a statement: “The online dating industry is growing at pace with more singles choosing to use dating apps to find compatible partners. As a result, Dating Sunday is having a bigger impact year-on-year.
“This will set the tone for the month with ‘Dating Sunday’ looking like it will become more like ‘Dating January’.”
OkCupid agrees with Vermeulen as the brand also anticipates the increase in usage to continue throughout the rest of the month. The team is expecting a total of 25 million matches will be made during the first month of the year.
Elsewhere, S’More, the anti-superficial dating app, saw member activity grow by three times just a couple of days after the first stage of its redesign was released.
However, there is one app that is now downplaying the significance of Dating Sunday, and is proposing a new date for the unofficial holiday.
A spokesperson for Hinge told Global Dating Insights that they believe the busiest period is now the first weekend of February. They are seeing singles take more time to reflect on their dating lives before committing to start the best possible relationship before the 14th.