Grindr routes advertisers wary of its app into event sponsorships

Business Insider reports that Grindr's real-world events open partnership routes for brands nervous about buying inside the app, particularly for CMOs worried about content adjacency ^[17]. Many brands are still wary of running ads inside a gay hook-up app ^[4]. Since its free app launched in 2009, Grindr has pitched marketers on a global audience of millions of predominantly affluent, tech-savvy men ^[22]. "We can get some of their brand glow, they can get our reach and a partnership with the community," Pineiro said ^[18].

Grindr's disclosed revenue makes the size of the withdrawal hard to judge. Working back from the reported growth rate, 2024 indirect revenue lands near $53.7 million. That means the line added roughly $19.9 million over a year in which, Pineiro says, brands felt emboldened to stop bothering ^[10][2]. Business Insider did not report how many advertisers left or what they had been spending ^[25].

Duolingo, Lowe's and Anthropic have all expanded their experiential work in recent months ^[19]. A Brandwatch study published last year, covering more than 900 million online mentions, found that brand-owned accounts start fewer than 1% of posts about their own brands on X ^[20]. Pineiro gave two reasons for the move, and the first was reach: the photos and videos people share at an event travel further on social media than the brand's own posts ^[1][23]. "There is a lot of nervousness about it, with the whole rollback of DEI, a lot of brands have felt emboldened to say, 'Oh well, we don't need to bother anymore,'" he said ^[2].

Nathan Feather, the Morgan Stanley internet analyst, tests the spending on perception. He said "Grindr's lack of marketing has limited its ability to tell its own story" ^[12]. "If Grindr is able to improve brand perception, that could help bring in more advertisers who want to reach its higher-income demographic," he said ^[13]. He also said events can make money directly through VIP offerings ^[14]. The Times Square turnout came to about 0.3% of Grindr's roughly 15 million monthly active users ^[16][15]. "I always say footfall isn't enough," Pineiro said. "It's great to have people experience it in real life," he said. "But if they're not taking a picture of it, and sharing it, and talking about it, and writing about it, then we haven't really done our job." ^[21]

The Madonna work ran four months and included exclusive merch, an in-app takeover, a celebrity quiz in the "Grindr Presents" hub and a London launch party ^[24]. Pineiro said the Grindr-exclusive picture disc vinyl was "the best-selling by far" of the "Confessions II" records ^[6]. It also produced a complaint the ad business does not usually generate. Users who opened the app heard an audio message from Madonna saying, "Hi Grindr, it's mother," and some said it could unexpectedly out them in public. Grindr apologized and removed the message ^[8].