It's been almost a year since Match Group announced the release of Archer, the online dating giant's first app for gay, bi and queer men. Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower estimates Archer has been downloaded more than 685,000 times since it was rolled out in New York last June. Archer completed its U.S. rollout in October of this year.
Archer's growth is certainly noteworthy as Match and other online dating companies face a downturn. Match's last financial results revealed a decline in paid users of Tinder, the company's flagship app and one of the top dating platforms on the market.
But even with over 500,000 installs, Archer still has a long way to go before it can catch up to the mighty Grindr. Grindr has amassed more than 10 million downloads in the last year alone, with a total of 87 million installs worldwide, per Sensor Tower data. . Another established competitor, Scruff, has more than 17 million mobile app installs at any given time.
Unlike rivals who have been accused of fostering a toxic dating culture, Archer takes a fresh look at gay online dating and aims to provide a safe space for its users. The app has various safety measures in place to prevent unwanted behavior, including integrating his AI into the chat feature to automatically blur potential nudity. (Users can, however, send penis pictures through the Private His Photos album.) Also, a selfie verification feature that prevents blank or headless profile pictures from being used when matching. There is also.
“We recognize that there is bad behavior on gay dating apps,” Michael Kay, director of brand marketing and communications at Archer, told TechCrunch. “There's a lot of body shaming, there's a lot of racism. And by requiring everyone to authenticate, [their selfie]This will help lower the rate of bad behavior because there is nothing to hide behind. ”
Archer also separates casual daters from serious daters, giving you two different layouts to choose from. Dating mode is a linear layout that allows users to like one partner at a time, and another that allows users to view multiple profiles at once featuring their activity status. Hookup mode. Whether you are looking for something casual. According to the company's research, 66% of users are looking for a date or relationship, and 66% use Archer to find a date or meet someone.
Additionally, Archer has a suite of social features that make it stand out, including the ability to follow users and add tags of interest (Harry Potter, Taylor Swift, Peloton, etc.) to your profile. The company recently launched emoji reactions. Users can respond to profiles with fun emojis to break the ice and start conversations.
In hopes of attracting more users and maintaining its upward trajectory, Archer plans to release new features this summer and fall. Knowing that his 74% of Archer users are looking for friendships, Kaye revealed that he prioritizes community-building features, such as the ability to find users by entering tags in the search bar. did. He also mentioned testing other features that will “further help people connect with other people with shared interests and participate in offline activities.” As Kaye previously told us, Archer is working on adding a Stories feature to the app, which will make it similar to his Instagram.
Additionally, Kay hinted at exploring new AI integration possibilities.
“We continue to explore ways to further integrate AI into our apps and create even more enhanced premium experiences for our users.Match Group recently partnered with OpenAI earlier this year; I'm sure that will happen as well.'' We'll work on that right away,'' Kay said.
Like many other companies, Match is increasing its investments in AI and plans to spend about $20 million to $30 million on the technology in 2024. The company currently has a deal with OpenAI and previously experimented with an AI photo selection feature on Tinder.