Tinder, the pioneer of dating apps, launched in 2012 as a modern alternative to existing overly-complex desktop options. Through its revolutionary mobile-first UX and introduction of the now universally recognized swipe, it quickly became the leading platform for young people to connect.

But after seven years, Tinder was facing steep competition from other dating apps and user fatigue, particularly among 18-25 year olds. For digitally native Gen Z, swiping on Tinder amounted to a mindless pastime, not an engaging way to meet and connect with other young people. While we contemplated creating a traditional marketing campaign to shift perceptions, we realized that the most powerful tool for resetting their relationship with Tinder was Tinder itself. Our goal was to give Gen Z singles a more meaningful way to match, while breathing new energy and cultural relevance into the Tinder brand.

Swipe Night is a first-of-its-kind, live-action, interactive miniseries inside the Tinder app. Users’ phones are a portal into an apocalyptic adventure where at key points, they swipe to decide what happens next. Their choices dictate more than just the story; they impact who they match with and serve as icebreakers to start more meaningful conversations. By inviting users to match through appointment-viewing, Hollywood-standard entertainment, Swipe Night got the Tinder community on the app, all at once, swiping together.

By giving the Tinder community a shared experience in the form of a high-octane miniseries, it gave users both a reason to come back to the app and an enhanced matching experience. In using content for connection, Swipe Night gave people the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals. Tinder demonstrated how storytelling could elevate dating and pushed the online dating world forward.

Most dating sites have lengthy compatibility questionnaires and complex matching algorithms, but with a simple swipe, Tinder made online dating easy and fun. But today, with over 50% of its users between 18-25, Tinder needed to cater to a new generation who grew up on dating apps; they were hard to impress and increasingly disgruntled by the superficiality of the Tinder experience (especially women). They craved an experience that went beyond surface level profiles, and allowed them to connect with others on a deeper level -- but without getting too serious. Through interrogating the adage “actions speak louder than words,” we set out to build a revolutionary experience right into the Tinder app - designed to engage Gen Z in a cultural moment and help them form more meaningful connections with one another. It’s entertainment with purpose.

It’s Sunday night and you open Tinder, but instead of swiping on people, you enter a first-person POV, apocalyptic adventure where you swipe to make high-stakes, highly-revealing decisions. With seven seconds to choose, you have to go with your gut. Each choice results in a unique story path with easter eggs like celebrity cameos and mobile-first features like haptic feedback, push notifications from characters, and a live-view counter to see how many people are playing at the same time. After each episode, you enter Night Mode: a redesigned version of Tinder that pools more compatible users and displays their choices - providing plenty of icebreakers.

This four-part miniseries was built by an unprecedented team including Gen Z creators, Tinder engineers who enabled in-app streaming video for the first time, and a game designer who crafted a branching narrative with thousands of plotlines, blending interactive storytelling with Tinder’s iconic swipe feature.

Swipe Night created a cultural moment that disrupted the norms of dating, entertainment and beyond, reclaiming Tinder’s throne as the dating-app innovator.

Millions of people tuned in.

?More viewers than the entire 2018/2019 seasons of some of TV’s most popular shows,

including Saturday Night Live and The Bachelorette.

?The premiere had 4x the viewership of the pilot episode of HBO’s Gen Z hit Euphoria.

It enhanced their Tinder experience.

?26% increase in matches over a typical Sunday night

?12% increase in messages among matches in the US

Culture took notice in a big way.

?4 billion earned impressions

?1640% spike in Twitter mentions of Tinder upon release

?Dubbed everything from “Product? Experience? TV Show?” to “The Future of Dating”

reinforcing its first-of-its-kind and hard-to-classify nature

?Named “one of the most innovative video companies of 2020” by Fast Company

Swipe Night will launch internationally and a second season is in development.