This Week On Bullish: Meeting Your Match Online

Hello and welcome to Bullish, TechCrunch’s first talk show. This week we took a look at online dating, which was once a curiosity. It’s now just a bit more than that.

In the wake of the recent Match Group public offering (the company owns Tinder, a popular dating app), eyes are back on the space. How much room is there in online dating? Is it better to go niche or big and enjoy stronger network effects?

It’s a big industry, so TechCrunch asked Arum Kang, the founder of Coffee Meets Bagel, to pop into the studio and help us understand the market.

Here’s TechCrunch’s first take: Online dating is now so normal, that to try to mock it sounds nearly desperate, but in the other direction. There isn’t much room in our current culture for being anti-tech when it comes to meeting people.

To draw something of an analogy, video games were once considered by polite company to be the provenance of nerds, and are now the fodder of everyone. Similarly, online dating has managed to cross over from being something that you didn’t bring up, to a staple of modern life. Tinder did not become a household name on accident.

According to data reviewed by TechCrunch, relationships that start online do not last as long as relationships that start in what were once considered conventional ways. That said, no one can discount the importance of online connections both for romantic, and platonic relationships.

So, swipe right, and let’s have a wee natter.

Oh, did I mention that Coffee Meets Bagel was recently on Shark Tank?

Bullish airs every Wednesday at 7 am Pacific, 10 pm Eastern. We’ll see you all next week.