The Sudden Rise of Virtual, Video Based Dating

Posted on May 10, 2020

QUARTZ – May 10 – Covid-19 has forced a pivot to video for many online singles. A shift (towards video) within the (dating) industry has accelerated. Bumble launched in-app video chat in 2019 and said its use increased 56% worldwide over the last two weeks of March.

Online dating consultant Mark Brooks envisions a landslide industry shift to video, similar to Tinder's expansion to smartphones in 2013. His first client, Webdate, attempted this in 2005. The same year, what eventually became YouTube initially flailed as a video dating website. "It's been a long time coming, but I think in a couple of years it will be unusual not to be able to do a first date on a dating app," he said.

Virtual first dates address problems that plague online dating. According to Pew Research (2019) 45% of those polled (in US) said dating apps left them feeling frustrated, and ~50% consider the platforms to be unsafe. In that sense, virtual dates can serve as both a quick authentication and vibe check.

by Meghan Mc Donough & Eduardo Araújo
See full article at Quartz

Mark Brooks: The video above is a 2 minute segment from a 7+minute news feature on dating. Through interviewing with Quartz I discovered the wonderful QZ.com news platform. Very impressed, and hooked. I recommend signing up so you can see this full video feature. I'm also subscribed to WSJ and The Economist, and find QZ to be a nice complement to these more formal and traditional news outlets.  

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