logo

Brandwatch Bulletin #90: Dating Returns

Get on your dancing shoes.

1 October 2021

Welcome to this week’s bulletin. Today we’re looking at how dating is back on the cards for many after the pandemic made it difficult to meet new people and closed classic date locations.

Let’s get to it.

Subscribe to the Brandwatch Bulletin

Table for two, please

Trying to date in a pandemic is a weird experience. Last year saw the rise of Zoom dates and socially-distanced meetings as people tried to keep romance alive amidst lockdowns. Meanwhile, said lockdowns made it much harder to meet new people without relying on technology.

Search interest in dating apps has peaked this year, but this comes after a slowdown in 2020.

Up until the very beginning of 2020, search interest in dating apps was rising at a dizzying speed. At this point the stigma of online dating and dating apps had begun to disappear as this approach became a standard way to meet someone and dating apps were enjoying excellent growth.

But then it seemed interest had hit its peak, with growth in searches stagnating. This was likely caused by Covid-19 and lockdowns making dating difficult, especially in person.

Then we reached 2021. Search interest jumped in January, dropped in the following months, but then rebounded over the summer to the highest levels ever. With lockdowns less common and vaccination rates on the rise, it seems people were looking to make up for lost time.

We found a similar trend on Reddit by using Brandwatch Consumer Research to look at two subreddits: /r/dating and /r/dating_advice.

Again, we see years of strong growth up until 2019 (although activity did slow towards the end of the year). The following year saw sluggish growth leading to a drop in winter. This is most likely a reflection of colder weather making dating outdoors to lower the risk of Covid more difficult.

Activity recovered as we went into 2021 and then suddenly jumped in July. Warmer weather meant outdoor dates were back on the cards, while newly vaccinated people likely felt more safe meeting up with new people inside.

All in all, it’s clear that people are ready and raring to go on the date front, and this shouldn’t be seen as a frivolous conclusion. Dates contribute a lot to the economy, and can be especially important for bars, restaurants, cinemas, and other date-friendly venues. It’s these establishments that have been hit incredibly hard by Covid, so this will be good news for them.

Of course, dating does not always end well.

For those unaware, ghosting is when you stop responding to someone’s messages without explanation. It’s a fairly brutal way to end things, but it’s common nonetheless as it means avoiding the need for uncomfortable in-person or over-the-phone breakups.

We found mentions of ghosting have been at their highest this year as people get back out to date. Technology may have made it easier to meet someone, but it’s also made it easier to break it off with them too. That suggests there are a lot of left-on-read, broken hearts out there.

Based on our data, it looks like there will be more of this to come. But as sad as that might be, more first dates could be good news for restaurants and bars.

What should we cover next?

Is there a topic, trend, or industry you’d like us to feature in the Brandwatch Bulletin? We want to hear your ideas to make sure our readers are getting what they want. We may even ask to interview you if you’re involved with the topic.

Send any and all ideas to [email protected] and let’s talk.

Thanks for reading

That’s it for today, but we’ll be back next Friday. Have a great weekend. And if you were forwarded this email and want in on the action, get subscribed to the Brandwatch Bulletin now.

Stay safe,

The Brandwatch React team

logo
  Our Suite     Use Cases     Industries     Get started  

Runtime Collective Limited (trading as Brandwatch). English company number 3898053
New York | Boston | Chicago | Austin | Toronto | Brighton | London | Copenhagen | Berlin | Stuttgart | Frankfurt | Paris | Madrid | Budapest | Sofia | Chennai | Singapore | Sydney | Melbourne

Privacy Policy

Update subscription preferences

Unsubscribe

We value your privacy

We use cookies and similar technologies to personalize ads and content (including by sharing data with Google), to measure site performance, and to improve your experience. Learn more in our cookie policy

Privacy & Safety • Terms of Service

No, take me to settings
Yes, I agree
More info.

By using our site you agree to our use of cookies —