MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/. The transition of Russian users from the Tinder online dating service to domestic platforms may take somewhere between twelve to eighteen months, CEO of the Russian dating service Mamba, Andrey Bronetsky told TASS.
"It is difficult to make any accurate forecasts in this regard but I believe it will take a year - a year and a half at the least," the chief executive said. "Speaking about the inflow of registrations, we now have about 30,000 people signing up per day but I think that figure may reach 45,000-50,000 as Tinder pulls out," Bronetsky noted.
According to his estimates, Tinder’s share in the Russian dating app market is 20-25%, he said. The final exit of the Tinder company from Russia may mean the app will be unavailable for download inside Russia in the AppStore and Google Play, Bronetsky said. "Perhaps they will leave the app for users already registered but make it unavailable for download to new users, and will ban users physically located in Russia from using the service. This is exactly what Badoo did," he noted.
More than 90% of Tinder users in Russia will switch to domestic platforms throughout 2023, CEO of Telecom Daily Denis Kuskov told TASS.
"Some people will remain on Tinder - mainly those who have foreign cards, and they will probably enter the app using a VPN service. Still, the share of remaining Russian users will not be above 3-5%," Kuskov noted.
Match Group, the owner of the Tinder online dating service, announced earlier that it would withdraw from Russia. Its brands are taking steps to restrict access to their services in Russia and will complete their withdrawal from the Russian market by June 30, 2023, the company announced.