Recent research from Flurry shows that streaming music, games, and dating have a lot of frequency while you’re using them, but you soon abandon the apps and go somewhere else.
Original post at the Flurry Blog:
Quadrant II is comprised of apps that are used intensively, but for finite periods of time. They are perceived by consumers to deliver value in bursts. Streaming Music, Dating and Social Games best typify this quadrant. Consider for a moment why Dating is a category that appears in this quadrant. For most people, we can assume that finding a long-term “significant other” is the ultimate goal of dating. As a result, the app maker should expect customer churn. While usage may be high during the time when a consumer looks for a suitable partner, once that person is found, usage stops. An implication could be that to maintain a growing audience, apps in this category require heavy, constant acquisition to find consumers who are “in the market” for dating. Ironically, the better the app is at match making, the more churn it should expect.
Due to the reasonably high amount of churn (it varies widely) as a Quadrant II industry, dating sites need to try to make money right away, since you won’t keep members around for long. This is why sites like Zoosk and HowAboutWe are offering up products and services which cater to couples. One can only guess the amount of engagement and revenue derived from the post-dating category, it’s a game of chase-the-revenue at this point.
