Our 2024 Online Nation report revealed that one in ten (4.9 million) adults used an online dating service last year, but fewer people are swiping to find love, with Tinder losing 600,000 (5%) users, and Bumble Inc. dropping 300,000.
Tinder is the most-used dating service, reaching 1.9 million heartful hopefuls in May last year. Hinge took second place, reaching 1.4 million adults, followed by Bumble (1.1 million), Grindr (913k) and Badoo (521k). The majority use more than one dating service.
Cupid swiping straight for the heart
Nearly two million (1.9m) adults swiped right on Valentine's Day last year, spending an average of 19 minutes looking for love online on the big day. More than half (55%) the visitors were aged 18-34, and the majority of all adult visitors on this day were men (61% male vs 39% female).
The top five most-visited services on February 14 were Tinder (711k), Hinge (669k), Bumble (448k), Grindr (389k) and Plenty of Fish (170k).
More men on multiple apps
Dating apps are significantly more popular among men than women (65% v 35%), and Hinge was the only top 10 service in May 2024 where women outnumbered men (53% vs. 47%).
Nearly six in ten (57%), Bumble visitors, Hinge (56%) and Plenty of Fish (54%) also visited Tinder. 53% of Bumble visitors and 41% of Tinder visitors also visited Hinge during the month, and the majority (82%) of those who visited Scruff also visited Grindr.
Swiping silver surfers
Despite a small proportion (6%,) of 55- to 64-year-olds visiting a dating service, those that did spent an average of 5 hours 43 mins there – the longest time among all the age groups.
Turning to Gen Z, one in five online 18- to 24-year-olds used a dating service in May 2024, the highest reach among any adult age group. The second-highest cohort were 25- to 34-year-olds, with 17% (1.5m) visiting at least one dating service in the month.
A third visit pornographic services
Three in ten UK online adults accessed a pornographic content service in May 2024. Men remained far more likely to visit a pornographic content service, making up 72% of the audience and spending on average 1 hour 44 minutes on adult sites in May 2024, compared to 1 hour for women.
Pornhub continued to be the highest-reaching service, visited by 18% of UK online adults for an average of 50 minutes in May 2024. The largest share of its adult audience was among 25- to 34-year-olds (31%) and reach within this online age group was the highest (30%) of any age group.