正文
Soon Tinder and its rivals had transformed
courtship
. A report published last year by the Pew Research Centre found that
30% of American adults had used an online dating service, including more than
half of those aged between 18 and 29.
很快，Tinder 及其竞争对手们彻底革新了约会的方式。皮尤研究中心去年发布的一份调研报告显示，30%的美国成年人曾使用过在线交友服务，其中超过一半为18岁至29岁之间的年轻人。
One in five couples of that age had met through such a service. Usage surged during the pandemic, as lonely locked-down singles sought out partners. The market capitalisation of Bumble, a rival to Tinder, surged to $13bn on its first day of trading in February 2021.
在这个年龄段中，有五分之一的情侣是通过在线交友软件相识的。特别是在疫情期间，由于封锁措施导致的孤独感加剧，单身群体纷纷寻求伴侣，使得在线交友软件的使用量急剧上升。Tinder 的竞争对手 Bumble 在2021年2月上市首日，其市值便飙升至130亿美元。
Later that year the value of Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and scores of other dating services, reached nearly $50bn. Today roughly 350m people around the world have a dating app on their phone, up from 250m in 2018, according to Business of Apps, a research firm. In June Tokyo’s government even said it would launch a matchmaking app of its own to pair up singles in the city.
同年底，旗下拥有 Tinder、Hinge 等数十种约会服务提供商的 Match Group，其市值也逼近500亿美元。研究公司 Business of Apps 的数据显示，目前全球约有3.5亿人在手机上安装了交友软件，这一数字相较于2018年的2.5亿人有了显著提升。今年6月，东京政府甚至宣布将推出官方婚介软件，旨在为城市的单身男女搭建鹊桥。
Yet lately online dating has lost its
spark. The apps were downloaded 237m times globally last year, down from 287m
in 2020. According to Sensor Tower, another research firm, the number of people
who use them at least once a month has dwindled from 154m in 2021 to 137m in
the second quarter of this year.
然而，近期的在线交友软件已然失去了往昔的光芒。去年，交友软件的全球下载量为2.37亿次，低于2020年的2.87亿次。据另一家研究公司 Sensor Tower 的数据，每月至少使用一次交友软件的人数已从2021年的1.54亿下降至今年第二季度的1.37亿。
On August 7th Bumble reported revenue growth of just 3%, year on year, in the quarter from April to June, and lowered its forecast for the full year to 1-2%. Its shares plunged by a third in after-hours trading.
On July 30th Match Group reported that its revenue for the same quarter grew by only 4%.
8月7日，Bumble 公布的财报显示，今年4-6月季度收入同比增长仅为3%，并将全年预期下调至1-2%。公司股价在盘后交易中暴跌三分之一。
Match Group 也在7月30日报告称，其同期收入增幅仅为4%。
