Match Group, Inc. — Call Transcript 2026

Hi, everyone. Welcome to our first-ever CEO Connection event. This is a new series where we'll dive into a topic of particular interest. We're excited to have you here on webcast and live stream. On earnings calls, obviously, we spend most of our time focusing on financial performance and operating metrics. This event gives us a chance to go deeper on the consumer insights that inform how we think about the category and our product strategy. We get asked versions of the same question all the time, which is, has Gen Z basically abandoned dating apps? Our answer to that is no, not at all. They still want connection, their needs around what that connection looks like have evolved. Today, we'll help frame an understanding around Gen Z. This is not a product presentation like our SPARKS event, it's not a quarterly earnings update. It's a discussion on the future of human connection and what we're learning from younger generations, how expectations are evolving, and how those insights inform how we build products across the company. Today's discussion may include forward-looking statements. Some of those risks related to that are listed here and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Before we get into the research, I want to introduce today's speakers. I have with me two of the world's foremost experts on Gen Z and on consumer insights. I'm joined by Emily Dods, who leads global brand strategy at Tinder. Before coming to Tinder, Emily spent over a decade in creative advertising, where she helped brands bridge the gap between culture and data. She helped brands like Meta and AT&T connect with impact to their consumers. Also here with me is Max Izenberg. Hello, Max. Welcome. Max leads consumer research across Match Group. He has a PhD in public policy with over a decade of peer-reviewed published research on risk perception, vulnerability, and public safety. These are two of the people closest to how young daters are thinking, behaving, and talking about relationships. They spend all their time on research, interviews, focus groups, doing original consumer work behind these insights. My role today is to just sort of provide a canvas and highlight what their insights are and lead the discussion, and then moderate the Q&A. Max? Great. Thanks, Spencer. Hi, all. As Spencer noted, today is about understanding how Gen Z is thinking about relationships and connection. We'll first start with an overview of how we're listening to Gen Z across Match Group and the ways that we're collecting insights regularly. We'll spend a minute walking through what we're seeing in the data. Emily will walk through the four evolving expectations that we're seeing among Gen Z for how they want to connect. We'll connect then those insights with the product evolution that we're seeing with Tinder and Hinge in particular. Finally, we'll look ahead at a sneak preview of the emerging insights we're seeing amongst older Gen Alpha, and then we'll open it up for Q&A. Great. Let's start with the broader context. Before we fully get started, I want to share with you all how we collect insights that we will be sharing today and across Match Group to inform marketing and product development. One of our advantages at Match Group is the amount of time we spend listening to our consumers. We are always on in conversations in so many different ways with Gen Z. Our insights do not come from a single survey. They come through a vast array of different methodologies. This can include focus groups of various different sizes, traditional survey research techniques, ethnographies, in-person observation, intercepts. We meet them where they are at. We are not just saying, "Who is in L.A.? Come to us for convenience." We go where it is often very difficult to talk to them, in college campuses, in their third spaces where they like to hang out, coffee shops. Social listening plays a massive role. We are trying to be everywhere and really take advantage of the breadth of insights that we are seeing and the multiple different ways in which people prefer to communicate and gathering our insights to paint a more holistic understanding of Gen Z attitudes and behaviors. We are studying not just what people do, but how they feel about their own identity, ways of connection, and journey of self-exploration. And that gives us an always-on window into how young daters are evolving. You see here that we say that we have a community-based research panel that has been going on for several years now, which we call Z Labs, which gives us immediate access to talking to various Gen Z cohorts across all of our brands. Our research is also not limited to the U.S. We have researchers across several continents and are regularly doing research in over a dozen countries at any given time. All these different ways of collecting insights, this gives us a way to separate the short-term noise that we are seeing from deeper, more foundational behavioral shifts. Now, who is Gen Z? The reason why we are all here. First and foremost, Gen Z is not a monolith. Within Gen Z, there is a lot of variation, as you can see, with any generational cohort. From our research, we make sure that we encompass a wide range of different identities, whether it is sexual identity and sexual expression, race or ethnic identity, urbanicity, religiosity, or the role of religion that plays into people's lives. The intent is not to reduce or flatten this experience by any means. However, it is important to acknowledge that there are some shared truths which shaped people's experiences across any particular generational cohort. For all intents and purposes here, we are going to define Gen Z as between 16 and 29 years old. And within this generational cohort, one thing that fundamentally identifies them is that they are digital by default. They have grown up specifically consuming different forms of internet media, whether it is through social media or community groups. This specifically was shaped through the pandemic. These formative years during the global pandemic created limited face-to-face interaction. There was also a lot of economic instability, heightened political polarization, rapid social change, all of which has huge implications on the way they see the world, their psychological outlook, and their preferences for socialization. Gen Z are also incredibly emotionally literate. We hear this all the time with research that therapy language, understanding their boundaries, exploring their identity, and how they show up in terms of preparing for themselves and what their priorities are. This is so fundamental for the ways that they think about connecting and the ways that they walk and approach the world. We also see this, specifically amongst Gen Z women. They find that going to therapy is really important for finding a partner, and that this language of establishing boundaries and even diagnostic terms are really fluent in their lexicon. It really speaks worlds to how readiness and emotional and psychological safety is so important when they're thinking about building new connections. There's also a phenomena which we refer to as milestone drift. Many researchers, external to Match Group, have talked about this phenomenon in different ways, is that there are these key milestones that are oftentimes prized in American society that are so emblematic of freedom and independence. For example, getting your driver's license, moving out of your parents' house. These are still by and large very important to Gen Z, but what we're seeing is that they want to achieve these milestones on their own terms, perhaps in a different way, and perhaps it's not linear, on a different timeline. They're also craving real-life connection. Perhaps despite or because of the pandemic, they're growing up online and they hold a lot of nostalgia for a time or a counterfactual that they never really knew existed. They are placing a high premium on these in-person connections that, whether it's starting a connection offline or just having some role, they do recognize the importance of a face-to-face interaction to complement the digital experiences which they also value and are so integrated into their lives. Sorry to interrupt. Yeah. Is that because they're using their phones and their computers all day at work, they want to put that down to connect in person? Or is it because they know that that digital layer is sort of bad for them on some level, this is like eat your vegetables, and they know they need to? Where does that come from? All of the above. It's functional. It's like, I want to put my phone down. I need to take a break. I want to prioritize, preserve my time and manage my emotions and see that there is so much value to getting to meet other people. There's also, yeah, you can feel free to kick in as well. Yes. No, I mean, a great example is thinking of when COVID-19 and lockdown and the pandemic hit them in their formative years. For younger Gen Z, that's a bit older, middle school, younger, lower classmen high school. For older Gen Z, it's older high school, lower classmen college. When that is taken away from you in a really formative time, it becomes ever more present and important as you age because you recognize, oh, this does feel different. You crave it. You know you feel different after the fact. They seek it out ever more presently. Absolutely. Great segue. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. Again, as mentioned earlier, Gen Z has grown up as truly the first digitally native generation. Other generations, of course, have leveraged technology in many different ways. We had Match.com. What is different is that this has fully been native to them. One of the reasons that they do look to put their phone down is because they've never had this counterfactual, and they're wondering, what would this experience be like if I didn't leverage technology as the first starting point, or if it had a different role? I'm wondering different ways to use technology in the process of making new connections, which is very exciting. The internet doesn't just influence how they communicate, but it fully transforms and shapes the lens in which they view the world and decide to communicate, whether it's through symbols like emojis or memes. This is absolutely a core and fundamental part of how they communicate. The digital world is kind of defined in three ways and influences them. One is, uncertainty is the norm. During this era of the pandemic, which defined them, there was, as mentioned previously, a lot of financial pressure, the perceptions around the macroeconomic certainty or uncertainty that is going on and the implications on their personal lives, political instability. For them, uncertainty is the norm. Many Gen Z are telling us consistently that they don't know what the future is going to look like. Sure, some of this is a part of life stage, that they're placing more value on the present. Specifically for Gen Z, because they have been so inundated with this information about this uncertainty, they're not really sure who to trust besides themselves, and that's why they place a high value on their own readiness before making the next steps and being cautious around decisions. Just on the point about communicating through memes. For those that work on Wall Street that are watching this, that maybe it's not normal in a presentation to see a meme. I remember only a couple of years ago, the first time I was in a business meeting and there was a slide deck and there was a meme in it. I remember thinking, that's so unprofessional. Wow. Like that's so weird to see some GIF in a presentation, and now it's constant, right? Constant. It's like every meeting I'm in, every slide basically is a meme. I know that hasn't made its way to certain circles out in the general business community, including probably some people watching this, but that's just the way they communicate. I mean, even in the workplace. Yeah. Much can be said with a simple GIF or meme. It's great. Exactly. Another influence is that information for Gen Z is everywhere, and it encompasses everything. Social media has really enabled Gen Z to fully absorb and also create a wide range of information, opinions, take from the world's biggest problems to problems that might not seem as big, but also still massively impactful things. How you expect your boyfriend to show up or who pays for the first date. This also at times can create a sort of emotional whiplash. One time, one second, you're looking at a quick reel that gives you anger, another one that gives you joy. Another element is that this is something we constantly hear from researchers, the feeling of being under surveillance and hyper-scrutiny. Whether or not it's online of saying, "I feel hesitant to share my opinion," or, "I'm really cautious about what I'm going to share this photo of myself, so I'm going to focus a lot on curating." To being in a classroom and saying, "Yes, I'm around a lot of people, but I'm just worried that someone might film me giving the wrong answer to the professor." That saying, "Oh, I do want to text this person I want to be friends with, but what if they screenshot it and what if this might damage my reputation? I get canceled. Exactly. This is a big problem in academia. Absolutely. Of students not expressing their opinion in the classroom because they're afraid they'll get canceled. Totally. Yeah. This is a big fear. Of course, it has implications on self-presentation and curation, both of yourself and the information that you're receiving. Absolutely. Another misconception that we regularly hear is that, oh, Gen Z are not open to romance, they're kind of done with dating, or it's not a priority. We very much disagree. Unequivocally, we hear time and time again in the research that Gen Z daters absolutely do believe in human connection. They're just defining how and when they want to get there on their own terms. We conducted a study with the Kinsey Institute at the end of last year, and one of the key findings was that four in five Gen Z singles believe that they will find true love. This is amazing. This is a significant majority. What was really telling is that it was actually statistically significantly higher than total 18+ singles. Not only do they want it, they might want it more than we look at the total single population. They overwhelmingly still want to find love, and they're comfortable using technology as part of this process. If there's anything to take away, it's that the desire for human connection absolutely remains durable, but what's evolving are their expectations for how they want to connect, when it should happen, and we're trying to evolve our tools to make sure we can support them in the ways that make sense for them and how they want to. Love is not lost. Definitely not lost. It's been canceled. No. Okay. Love hasn't been canceled. Yeah. Okay. Very much alive. Good. Max has done a really fantastic job of laying out the broader context that are shaping Gen Z. We want to get a little bit more specific of what we at Match Group are looking at when we think about Gen Z. There are really four core expectations shaping how they connect that we're going to dive into today. The first one is agency, right. The insistence that connection must be on their own terms and on their own timelines. Another important one is realness. As a generation that we've talked about who's grown up online in the public eye, they're looking for authenticity, for humanness, for realness across everything that they do. That leads really nicely into momentum. Momentum is where function and emotion really meet. It's the functional desire for lower friction, but also the need for the emotional experience to be valid, to feel true, and to feel like it's moving forward. Of course, we'll dive into trust. This is so important that the emotional and physical safety feels present and true so that you can be your authentic self and show up with that realness that they're craving. Held together, these four pillars, these themes really describe how the expectations around Gen Z are shaping and changing and evolving when it comes to connection. Going to dive deeper into all of them, but first, we're going to dive into agency. Because relationship and connection, as Max was just saying, still really matters for Gen Z. They want connection, but they're demanding it fit their lives and not the other way around. Which is why we see that 44% of under 30s want to spend time on my friends instead of love, or about 1:4 of under 30s list getting into a relationship as a primary goal for next year. We see that they want it, but what we do see that's a little different with Gen Z is that the hierarchy of priority falls in a different order than it does in other generations. Things like identity exploration, preparedness, friendship, and community, career, and personal growth are supplanting the dating sometimes here and there. Increasingly, people want connection to fit their lives rather than organizing their lives around connection. That's an important thing that we're paying attention to, is that the agency and desire and the timelines are a little bit different for Gen Z. I want to interrupt you and ask about identity exploration. Yeah. One, the percent of Gen Z that identify as seeking potential partners of either gender. is fascinating and very different from prior generations. Can one or both of you talk to that and why you think that is? Yeah. Yeah. I can start. I'll start. Yeah. We do see in the data that. Yeah. with younger Gen Z, 18-24, a higher instance of exploring it and figuring it out and diving a little bit deeper. Tools like that we provide actually help them explore that and poke around because it is more socially acceptable to be a bit more open, to be a bit more exploratory. This generation takes advantage of that, which is really exciting, I think. Yeah, exactly. I think it just goes on a longer trajectory of just being more openness to, for example, if we're talking about sexual identity, queer representation in the media, and all these cultural artifacts help them feel more comfortable. Yeah. It's just wonderful to hear in schools all across the country that many just feel open to even questioning masculinity norms, not even just necessarily sexual identity. This ties into the earlier insight on mental wellness and that. For many Gen Z, there is great space and digital communities play a big role in making them feel comfortable for people like them to even question, not necessarily change their sexual identity or explore, but just being open to the idea that things might be fluid. I'm just learning. I'm in this process of self-discovery. Alongside agency, which is definitely something that is more of an internal driver when you think about the human experience, our next one that we want to explore is both internal and external, and that's around authenticity and realness. One thing we hear consistently from all of the young people that we speak to is they want their experiences and their connections and their interactions to feel more genuine, to feel more real. With this, they want this authenticity, but there's also this pressure of perfectionism, judgment, and of course, rejection that goes alongside of this. Because this pressure to be perfect online is making this authentic connection that they crave a little bit harder and a lot more vulnerable. This fear of rejection in particular is one that we pay a lot of attention to in this category, because there's this concern about how they're being perceived. This makes dating feel really high stakes and super high pressure. Because when you've grown up in a world that's online, that anything can be snapped at a fingertips moment, and in these spaces, these social spaces that reward reactions and judgments and tear downs, showing up authentically becomes a really high-stakes act of vulnerability in your day-to-day. As a result, it's not so surprising when 81% of Gen Z want to move more slowly when getting to know someone more romantically. They want to really understand the playing board before they dive in and get vulnerable. There's also the fact that Gen Z is 1.7x more likely than total singles to be fearful of the dating process because of others' opinions, because of that prospect of judgment. This reality is really why we so often hear from users that they want lower pressure, higher context opportunities to get to know themselves and to know other people. Because this desire for self-expression is one that opens you up for vulnerability, but also opens you up for better connection in the long run. We're going to talk in a moment about the implications on our product roadmap and sort of what we're doing about all this. Let me be devil's advocate here for a second. You're saying young people get stressed out about potential rejection because there's this need to be performative and perfect, but dating apps sort of are all about putting yourself out there and subjecting yourself to rejection? Your profile is being shown and most people are choosing, no, they don't want to interact with you. How can dating apps have product market fit then if this generation is so worried about rejection? Their whole premise is kind of rejection-oriented. Dating has always had rejection as a key piece of it, whether it's on the dating apps or not, right? You put yourself out there to see if someone wants it, and you get your answer based off of that other person. Ways to combat this is to offer Gen Z the signals and the context that they've grown up with and that they crave. Things like more detail, like your astrology sign or your favorite Music Mode or campaign there offers these signals that they're accustomed to, and being more fluent in those in the experience allows them to better find a match more quickly and more efficiently, and hopefully reduce that friction. Mm-hmm. Okay. Awesome. Showing up authentically, as we've said, takes effort, it takes energy, and it takes time, which brings us to our next pillar, which is momentum. For Gen Z, momentum is really twofold, right? It's this perspective of efficacy in function as well as the emotional piece of it. Functionally, people want to see results and actions as a result of their effort, right? That is just a human desire, I would say. For Gen Z, particularly in this category, it's about quality over quantity. At the same time, it's also about that feeling like you're moving forward. That even though a match or a date isn't your person, isn't your end game, that you feel like you've taken, you've learned and earned something out of it, that you've got momentum, that you're moving forward, which is why I love this quote that I will read to you from a young female non-user actually, and saying that, "I'm really intentional with how I use dating apps. Even if I get a lot of likes, I only respond to people who feel like they could genuinely go somewhere. I want to make sure we're actually compatible before I invest time on meeting up in person." In this language, there's so much here, right? You've got that functional language of investing time, but there's also that emotion because this is a vulnerable space to be in of are we compatible? Do I feel like this is going to work? That's why momentum is something that we pay a lot of attention to, in not only the experience, but in the actions that we build that they hopefully take. Because when it comes to this experience, Gen Z wants to see and feel the fruits of their efforts and their labors. They're not necessarily asking for more interactions, but definitely asking for better ones or ones that make sense to them no matter what. The goal of what we do, everything here at Match Group is to move from match to spark to real-world interaction with less of that wasted effort. When we talk about momentum, we're really talking about relevance. It's quality. It's helping connections actually go somewhere. That is a huge key piece of this experience and the emotion that sort of laces the backdrop across of it. If you take the really long-term, say, 10-year view, is it fair to say that 10 or maybe 15 years ago, there was more novelty to online dating and the bar has been raised? The user expectation around product efficacy is a lot higher today. The entertainment value or the novelty has faded, and now it's all about does this thing actually get me out on dates? Absolutely. We think about the context in which we show up a lot, right? On someone's phone home screen, we're alongside things like Amazon, Uber, food order apps. There's this expectation that in that experience, you're going to get what you ask for. You're going to get what you decide. Those contexts, they're a part of the groundwater. It's important that we keep that in mind, that the efficacy is a piece of it. Also just take care of the beautifully vulnerable spaces that we're operating into. Right. Yeah, when you describe it like that and you think about the other apps where you get basically instant satisfaction, we already have a lot of challenges in this category because the best possible case is you open the app, you get a match, and you get into a conversation right away. Even still, there's friction to get to an in-person date that's going to take a couple days, a couple- Totally There's lots of friction. Keep that alive, too. Right. It just increases the burden on us to improve efficacy of product with things like better recommendation algorithms or better ways to start conversations inside of chat or a more performant app or all these features that we focus on are more important than ever. Absolutely. Exactly. To Emily's point, agency remains essential. People want to move at different timelines. Yes. Not everybody's on the same timeline and might want to feel comfortable scheduling a date or even exchanging contact information after a week or two when others prefer to do it immediately and assess compatibility and vibes more in person. Yeah, absolutely. This is a perfect segue because none of this works without trust. Trust is the starting point for us at Match Group, but more importantly for Gen Z. Trust isn't just table stakes, right? It's the foundation for showing up as their real selves, both emotionally and physically. There's that physical safety piece of it, too. It's shaped everything Gen Z has navigated outside of our ecosystems, too. As you were so wonderfully stating up at the top, that this generation has come of age amid real uncertainty, whether it's economic pressure or political instability, rapid social change, global pandemics. This context really, really matters, and it shapes them at a very formative time of their lives. When the world outside feels really unpredictable and unsteady, the stakes of personal vulnerability really change. When you think about sharing who you are, risking that rejection that we were just speaking about, trusting a stranger, that feels really, really high in this seemingly unstable and uncertain world. With this context as a backdrop, it makes sense that when we speak to these young people, that around one in three 18-29-year-old singles have concerns about sharing their info on dating apps, right? Of putting themselves out there in those ways. Or that 35% of 18-29-year-old women note that they fear feeling about being misled by someone's intentions on the app or even their identity during the dating process, right? You need to pay attention to these signals to feel comfortable. Trust and safety aren't separate from the dating backdrop. They're really, truly tied to it and lay such a key piece of the foundation of showing up in order to connect and find romance. This generation can be cautious about identity, about intentions, about information that they're sharing and promoting. If users don't feel safe or comfortable, they won't engage meaningfully. It's a really, really important piece of the puzzle that we pay a lot of attention to. The intersection of physical safety and emotional safety is interesting. What popped into my head when you were talking, Emily, I'm an alumni interviewer for my college, and I've interviewed five to 10 high school seniors for the last 25 years. I've got a pretty good longitudinal. I'm sure. Interaction. I noticed about five years ago, maybe seven years ago, these high school seniors started bringing their parents, or they would say, "My parent is waiting in the car outside. At first, that was a little surprising. That's one of the tests of this is to see if they have their act together as a high school senior, and they can be self-motivated and organized, and I was like, I didn't think that much of it. The last couple of years, increasingly, the parent is in the Starbucks with them at another table or nearby, or even if I do it in my office, they ask if they can wait in the lobby. It's that intersection of physical safety because they know they're meeting a stranger, and they want to make sure that they're safe, but also emotional safety. They know there's someone nearby that's there for them. Yeah. It's really changed in those 25 years. No, it's a great example, and it's that crossover that makes you be you, right? Right. That they can hopefully ace the interview and go to the school of their dreams. Right. Taking all these insights together, these are not just interesting observations, although many of them are. They really are baked into our product strategy. I think Maxie did a great job describing, at the beginning, just how global and deeply embedded this research is. If research doesn't also make its way into the product and our marketing, then it's only academically interesting. It's not actually applied. We've done a really good job of making sure that we apply these types of insights into our product development. I'm not sure that was always the case in years past. I think one of the reasons that Match Group kind of lost its way there for a couple of years and maybe missed some of these changing consumer attitudes as Gen Z aged into our category was because either we didn't have the network of consumer insights and/or it wasn't well baked into product development and marketing. I feel like today we're in a much, much better place on both those fronts. Just to tick through some of the products. Tinder's role is not to become Hinge. Tinder is all about possibility and discovery and lower pressure connections. The Tinder roadmap that leverages these types of insights has been focused on building features like Events and Double Date, which help make dating more social and less isolated. Astrology Mode, which gives users this lighter weight way to start a conversation and express their personality. Are You Sure? and Does This Bother You?, which create more respectful interactions. We're really encouraged by a lot of these features and how they're doing. Hinge is approaching this same generation, from a different relationship mindset. The way Hinge focuses on these types of things, oh, if we can go to the next slide, please. Thank you. Is by focusing on fewer but more meaningful interactions. Hinge features like Friends Take or Date Ideas or Signals, which is a badge that indicates whether you're there on Hinge with true intentionality or Match Note. These are all features that ladder up to helping people show that they're there with care and context. Tinder's about lowering the stakes for discovery, so it's a more chill, relaxed environment, and Hinge is about raising the bar for intentional dating. We think these two brands coexist really well, and even though they're both going after, to a large extent, people in the same age demographic, we think they serve different consumer needs. A metaphor that I like to use that we've talked a lot about is the difference between a music festival and a music concert. Yeah. If you have tickets to a music concert, you know you're going to see Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, whoever. Now you know my musical taste. You've got tickets for that show at a particular point in time. You know what you're going to get. In fact, I just took five Gen Z friends of my kids to a concert, and they were looking at the setlist ahead of time, which is posted online, and I was like, "Don't you want the serendipity of not knowing what songs are going to" I would never have looked at a setlist when I was their age. And they're like, "No, I want to know what I'm going to get. I'm going there with intentionality." That's a concert, that's like Hinge. Going to a festival, like a BottleRock or a Governors Ball or a Coachella, that's about kind of vibing your way through the experience and the serendipity of, maybe I'll watch four or five songs, and if I'm enjoying it, I'll stay for the whole set. Maybe I'll leave and I'll go to this other set that's playing at the same time, or I'll go check out some of the experiential brand activations and sort of find my way through that. The journey is the destination. Yeah In the case of the festival. Young people love concerts, they love festivals, but they play different roles, and that's how we think about Hinge relative to Tinder. I think, next slide, please. Max, over to you for some thoughts on the next generation. Thanks. Also love that metaphor. I did too. It was my favorite. The category's next generation of Gen Alpha is already forming. They're coming into their own identity, and we're seeing a lot of their social and emotional behaviors. First and foremost, Gen Alpha are very young. They're ages two to 15 years old. For the purposes of this, when we're talking about our research with Gen Alpha, we're really referring to older Gen Alpha and some research that we conducted amongst 14 and 15-year-olds with parental consent. We did this research to validate that the work that we're doing right now for Gen Z and younger Gen Z, for Tinder and Hinge and our products across the portfolio, will resonate once Gen Alpha turn 18, are ready to start dating on our products. From the preliminary research, which should absolutely be treated as an early signal and not at all a forecast, we remain quite optimistic of some of the preliminary findings. For example, older Gen Alpha are less pandemic defined. They're more optimistic and even in some ways enthusiastic about adulthood. They talk about their really thoughtful relationship that they have with technology and their phones and social media. Three in four of Gen Alpha are open to dating throughout their high school experiences. Again, these are really promising signals, and what's behind it, we think, are many different underlying factors. One of which is that their parents are mostly Millennials. Millennials who have seen this transition and understand a counterfactual of what a life like and social interactions were pre-pandemic. Another one is that in many jurisdictions across the country, schools, particularly public schools, have implemented phone bans. This in particular, we've heard from these older Gen Alpha, have really changed the way in which they're connecting in lunchrooms, the playground, even at recess and times, and what they expect and how they use their time during their extracurriculars and at home. It really differently changes the ways in which they engage with social media and consume different forms of media. I see this in my own situation. I have a 21-year-old who is Gen Z. She had phones in school. Missed critical years of high school and the beginning of college because of COVID-19. She is very similar to the way you're describing Gen Z, which is kind of reticent to put yourself out there. Then I've got a 15-year-old who have no phones in school because the ban happened since then. She has positive recollections of the pandemic because that was like a fun time when I got to be at home, but it didn't kind of affect the way she forms human connection. She and her friends are super social. They do date. They hook up. They do big group hangs at people's houses, like very, very social. It's very different between the Gen Alpha and the Gen Z. Is it fair to say, maybe, am I generalizing or is Gen Alpha a likely reversion to the mean, where from a dating app standpoint, You think look more like past generations or not? Not sure yet, or what do you think? It's a little early to say because those signals. Yeah. However, both might be true. We do see some that they have some shared DNA with younger Gen Z. They are also digitally native. They are very fluent with some of these mental health language, as well as using these different tools for connecting online. That is very comfortable and native to them. At the same time, these are promising signals that potentially a lot of these milestones might go back to what they were in older generational cohorts because they were less defined by the pandemic. The face-to-face interaction that they're having is still happening in their critical times of cognitive development and social development. Too early to see. Optimistic. Asking the right questions. Yeah. Yeah. We discussed a little bit about different trends regarding sexuality and sexual preference. Another thing that occurs to me that's different than Millennials is Gen Z and Gen Alpha potentially is relationship with alcohol. Tell us more about that and what impact you think that has on these generations. Yes. There's a lot of mixed information about alcohol consumption. Generally, it does appear in many ways for Gen Z to be down compared to generational cohorts, but it's not just overall consumption. It's more interesting to look at what types of alcohol are being consumed, because in some ways, like in some particular brands, we do see a growth. Yeah. That absolutely does impact behaviors. To your point exactly on like the festivals versus concerts, we are seeing Gen Z, again, also the mental health language, prioritizing wellness in different ways, and one of that does mean reducing the amount of alcohol consumption. This is not a generalization. We still know that there is a lot of alcohol consumption occurring amongst Gen Z who are over 21 on college campuses and other places. Yes, to a large extent, it is impacting social behaviors and what the nightlife scene looks like. Look around in L.A. as well, and you can see a 10:00 P.M. Yeah, we see the different events in L.A., the dry ones are very popular. Exactly. Yeah The ones that are more about self-improvement or learning or personal growth. Pottery class is- Exactly. Mahjong Mahjong is as popular or more popular than happy hour. Yeah. Exactly. I think we're going to turn to questions. We've got a lot of great questions here. Some have come in from some Wall Street analysts, and some of them have included their names. I'll include their names for attribution. Some of the questions have come in anonymously, but I'll just jump in here. Cory Carpenter from JPMorgan asks, "How do younger Gen Z and older Gen Z behave, and are there major differences between older and younger Gen Z? We define older Gen Z as 25-29, and what really defines them is life stage. We take a really close look at life stage across Gen Z because, as we've stated, Gen Z is not a monolith. They have a lot of nuance and detail. What we do see with older Gen Z is because they're older, they're more comfortable in these app spaces and leveraging dating apps in order to go on dates to find those connections. Because they're less socially embedded in their networks, like from university or early school places, like younger Gen Z is. Younger Gen Z, which is 18-24, they really find that they're socially embedded more so, as mentioned, because they're in those university spaces, those early schooling spaces. It's easier to meet new people when you're. It's easier to meet people by proximity. Higher up. Right They're comfortable with that, as we were just discussing with some of how COVID-19 sort of impacted their formative developmental years. What is really notable is that across both cohorts, regardless of life stage, is they actually both rank number one intent is serious relationships, that they want something longer term. The way that they approach that and access that is different based off of the life stage that they're currently active in. Of course, that varies across life stage too. You've got some people that may be 28, just broke up a very serious relationship. They might be seeking and sourcing relationships differently than someone their same age who hasn't had that longer term or something more serious as a relationship breakup like that. Totally. I'm thinking of a conversation we had recently with a younger Gen Z woman of 23. I believe she was in Raleigh, and she says, "Oh, yeah, I absolutely want a serious relationship, but I'm really going to put it into high gear when I'm much older. Yeah. I was like, "Okay, when is that? 25?" It's like when the next life stage is. To Emily's point, readiness and life stage play a massive role, but again, there is still this fundamental desire for a meaningful connection as the goal. It's just how and when they want to approach it looks a bit different. Okay. This user or this listener asks, "Do you think Gen Z will age into more traditional dating behaviors, or are they permanently changing the category? I believe they will. I believe that traditional milestones will prevail, and that we're seeing this, again, to Emily's point on the real importance of life stage and readiness, that yes, we're seeing that as they're getting older, they are going into these more traditional milestones, whether it's about connection or more broadly, trends that we're seeing around moving out of their parents' home, finding a certain sense of economic or financial stability. Yeah. Yeah. When I was running Zillow for a long time, we did a lot of research on this question around home ownership because as homes became less affordable, as the sharing economy grew and people were not buying cars, they were using ride sharing, or they were not buying their own music, they were using streaming, or not buying their own DVDs, they were watching streaming TV and film. There was this question of, Are people just not going to want to own homes anymore, and it's going to become kind of a renter nation? We did tons and tons of consumer research on it, and the answer is no. People still want to own homes. Yeah. They're just going to do it later. Exactly. The median age for a first-time home buyer now is 40, and it used to be 30 about a decade ago. They still want to own homes. It's still very high on their aspiration list, and they're still going to. They're just doing it later in life. Yeah. It sounds like you think something similar is applying to this category? Absolutely, that's why we spoke to Gen Z. It's the timeline that's shifted a little bit in how they want to get there. It's not always linear, but as Seth stated, number 1 intent is a serious relationship. They still want it. It's just a matter of the journey of getting there and when they hit that milestone. I have a question which wasn't submitted, but I feel like it's sort of the elephant in the room. Why does Gen Z not want meaningless hookups the way millennials did when they were 18-25 and hookups were okay, and now there's a stigma against shallow, meaningless hookups? It sounds like all the research we've shared is that they don't want that. They want more intentionality. What's wrong with hookups, and why doesn't Gen Z like them? I would argue that not all millennials wanted meaningless hookups at the time, but it's more so that it was accepted as a social norm, as one of the process to finding a meaningful relationship. Okay. There was a lot of social pressure, that this is one of the ways to demonstrate interest and signal interest. Gen Z, as mentioned with the prioritization and understanding of readiness and mental health, said this isn't the only way to get there. Yeah. There are other ways to demonstrate interest and more authentic connections that are not solely rooted on sexuality, of ways to court and find companionship and express values. The norms are changing, more so of expressed desires, the way that they seek companionship. This translates to sexual behaviors, the fundamental desire for human connection is ultimately the same. Yeah, absolutely. It brings to mind this discussion that we had around vice and alcohol, right? There's this desire in an unstable environment of control and controlling the things that you can, I think that's why we see a lot of reduction in some of these mind-altering vices. That changes, that goes similarly with sexuality, actually engaging in sex. You reduce control, you reduce risk of cancellation, of doing something wrong. I think in that subsegment of Gen Z is also probably an emotional response to why there's some of that reduction in sex. Okay. Jason Helfstein from Oppenheimer asks, "Gen Z appears to lack certain social norms that would facilitate successful dating. As such, even successful matches don't seem to convert to dates, or first dates don't convert to second dates. Do you feel this is something Match Group needs to address or correct to make Tinder or Hinge successful over the long term? I think the way we view it is that Gen Z has their own set of social norms. A lot of those exist digitally. As you were just mentioning with memes and GIFs showing up in the workspace, that is a fluency and a way and a social norm to communicate. You don't send someone a text to explain how you're feeling. You send them your favorite meme or your favorite sticker, your favorite emoji, which is a beautifully artful way to communicate your emotions, but that is the baseline social norm. The way that we use that and translate that for our products and our purposes is giving and offering higher context ways to communicate, right? It's offering things like a Music Mode or an Astrology Mode on Tinder to really showcase those signals and that juicy context and details that they're craving. That those social norms can be embedded in that experience and used to find a higher quality. Better match in that way. On the research side, this is why it's important to triangulate different sources of evidence. There are so many different ways to define and interpret those norms. For example, if you do a survey, and we do surveys like this all the time, where you say, "What was your most recent date?" What is a date to a Gen Z is so different from all. Yeah. Different generations. Oh, yeah. For the social norms of Millennials, many might think, oh, one-on-one could be let's get a drink at the bar. For Gen Z, this might be the third or fourth date already. What might be in some ways traditionally constructed in a survey as a date, they're already there, and this is why Tinder is building things like Events or Double Date to reshape and meet them where they are. In Double Date now, where on Tinder you can indicate your Date Ideas. Exactly. Many of the things listed there of Date Ideas, people of my generation wouldn't think of as a date. Exactly. I was talking to a Gen Alpha person the other day actually, and I used the term date, and they kind of looked at me kind of weird and she said, "Well, no, it's not really a date. It's more of a low-key kickback. Yeah. That's how she was describing what she and two, three girls, two, three guys were doing. It wasn't a date. I would call that a triple date. That is like, whoa, that's very intense. For millennials, we're just hanging out. Yeah. Exactly. Totally. Okay. Benjamin Black from Deutsche Bank asks, "Within dating, authenticity is clearly very important, particularly for Gen Z. How do you preserve authenticity in a world of AI, where prompts and profiles are increasingly leverage AI editing tools and AI recommendations?" Max, why don't you start with describing Gen Z's perception vis-à-vis AI, and then have Emily talk about how we bring it into the product? Sure. First of all, to a very large extent, Gen Z are already using AI in many different ways, whether it's at work, whether it's through school to help them with assignments or summarize large swaths of information. Many Gen Z are very comfortable, and they tell us, and we see that they are using AI essentially in their daily lives. It looks a bit different when it comes to meaningful connections, and many Gen Z tell us that when it comes to building products or even if it's other things, not just dating apps, the internal tooling doesn't really matter. It's more important that they're getting the outcomes that the things they want. When it comes to our apps, it's that AI should help connect people better in the real world. They just want better dating outcomes. They want to be able to connect and make new friends in different ways. How they get there is not as important to them, more so it's just getting to that destination in the way that fits for them. Yeah, absolutely. I think the way that we think about AI, particularly with our products, as you mentioned, it's about connecting people better, more quickly to the real world. Within that, as we were just talking about agency, we want to make sure the user is always in the driver's seat and that their choice isn't reduced, but their momentum is increased. AI really provides the depth and scale that allows us to do that. One way we see that across Hinge really wonderfully is AI prompts recommendations. It's that partner and that friend in the journey with you. Just like you would text your girlfriend like, "Oh my gosh, this is what they said. This is what I'm thinking of responding. What do you think?" Using AI as a partner in that process, because that increases your agency and makes you feel more confident, and hopefully helps you land that conversation a little bit more strongly. I think another really wonderful way that we've been implementing AI is in that trust and safety space. Because again, it gives you that depth and that scale to make sure we're considering all of the angles in this increasingly dynamic, technological world that we're navigating. What I'm hearing is we want to make sure that AI brings people closer together, doesn't stand in between them. Yes. We want to make sure that it increases authenticity, not creating superficiality. For example, in chat, if a chat kind of slows down and people aren't flirting or talking anymore, we might use AI to make a suggestion to one of them of, "Hey, on her profile, she talked about these interests. They're similar to yours. Why don't you start a conversation about that?" We wouldn't likely draft that exact copy for the user because that would be crossing a line. Yeah. towards inauthenticity. Yeah. The user needs to be in the driver's seat. It's ultimately them that pen it and click send, but we love the partnership and the tooling to help them. Right. That best version of themselves. It's about amplifying them rather than replacing them. Yeah. It might be tempting to draft it for the user so they can just hit submit, but then on the receiving end, that receiver will also get offered that, and then they'll know that probably it wasn't an. Yeah. overture from the other person. Exactly. the authenticity breaks down. To the earlier point on scrutiny, Gen Z are always oftentimes questioning whether things are AI. Like anybody across any generational cohort, there are false positives and negatives of what we think might be AI-generated, but there is this skepticism. Again, to Emily's point, preserving the sense of authenticity and ensuring agency is really crucial for the user experience across our products. Yeah. I guess another example would be on photos. We do provide an AI ability to improve the lighting or the clarity of a photo, but we don't let you change the background of the photo. Exactly. If it's a picture of you on a couch, it's still going to be a picture of you on a couch. We're not going to put you at the beach or in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, implying that you've been to those places. That would be an inauthentic use of AI. Exactly. Nathan Feather from Morgan Stanley asks, "With the goal of quality over quantity, how do you get users to slow down when using the product to try and encourage a more thorough analysis of any individual profile? How do you make sure to highlight the potential most relevant profiles such that they aren't skipped?" Emily, why don't you talk about some of the ways that we're trying to improve. Absolutely. Profile quality and people's. Yeah. Review of profiles. There's a lot of ways to do this. Again, this brings up the pillar of momentum, right? We want people to feel like they're moving forward with efficacy. There's also the right level of speed. We don't want things to be too quickly because you might miss something. You might be making rash decisions versus being intentional and thoughtful about it. Again, one way that I know we're doing this at Tinder is by increasing those Signals on profiles and apps in that way. Music Mode when you're looking at, oh, Max and I both like this one artist, this one song. That slows things down for you. That lets you have a bit of a signal of what Max is like in real life. Sure. You can imagine driving in Max's car and us playing this song and connecting over that, right? That slows people down to pay a little bit more attention to the profile, the bio, the details therein, in order to increase that efficacy and give momentum forward at the right pace. Yeah. Another example is, we now on Tinder, we put prompt content, so that's written words, prose, into the photo carousel. Yeah. Instead of just looking at photos in the photo carousel, we're kind of intermingling responses to prompts like, "What do you like to do on a Sunday?" Or, "What's your relationship with your friends like?" into the photo carousel, which definitely slows you down because now all of a sudden you have to read words. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Instead of looking at a photo. It gives people kind of a more considered experience when assessing actual compatibility. Absolutely. Actually, it's important also to remember that this overall topic of getting people to slow down, consider an authentic profile, this is really more of a Match Group initiative. Cross-brand. Obviously, Hinge does this very well already with a contextual like feature, where when you are looking at a profile on Hinge, you're indicating interest in a particular element of the profile rather than just saying, "I'm interested in this person," you're saying, "I'm interested in this thing about this person." Upward, our brand that focuses on people with traditional values, has a feature called Chivalry Mode where if you are photo verified and you have a more complete profile and you respond as a good actor in messaging, then you are allowed to participate in Chivalry Mode. It's kind of a different experience that's more highly considered and a slower profile. We're taking these types of learnings across lots of our brands. Actually, Chispa, also our brand for Hispanic daters, is testing something similar now where it's kind of a more considered profile rather than a quick-twitch photo evaluation. These insights that we develop at the Match Group level or even at the Tinder level, we scale them across all of our brands. Okay, last question here from Andrew Marok from Raymond James. Andrew asks, "With the shift in behaviors from Millennials to Gen Z, how does that impact how to think about future generational differences? Are they assured, and what are some of the signs that you monitor for cohort shifts? How has this shift affected how the voices of different ages are heard internally? Would it make sense to staff product orgs with employees primarily in the core age range, as well as young users and new grads in order to catch emerging shifts before they fully take hold?" Max, I'll let you take the beginning of this. I think we've already talked a little bit about how do we make sure that we're bringing insights from all ages, and then maybe Emily or I will close with how we bring that into the actual room for decision-making. Yeah. We have a lot of internal leading and lagging indicators when it comes to cultural signals. These generational desires and changes in mindsets are sometimes very slow-moving and sometimes very fast, and you can't anticipate everything that's going to be completely changing the way a whole set of society thinks. Like it could be one social media post that fundamentally reframes the narrative around the ways that people approach dating, for example, or connection. We collect all of these signals. We try to map it to the underlying cultural shift that we talked about. For example, pandemic, the macroeconomic environmental perceptions and how that impacts long-term thinking and companionship with these smaller cultural signals. We also leverage historical data to look at what we have learned from the transition from Millennials to present. It's a mix. We don't have a crystal ball. There are a lot of brilliant people that we collaborate with the science of trying to understand and interpret these waves for building products. The best tool that we have are listening to Gen Z and understanding their desires and how they're engaging with cultural media, social content, and all these different forms to make sure that the way our product develops is moving in their direction and will continue to do so with future generational cohorts. Absolutely. I mean, this is definitely a benefit of Match Group's scale. There's no doubt in my mind that we have a larger team, and we have more resources focused on consumer insights with respect to human connection globally across all age cohorts than any competitor by far. It's definitely a strength of ours. In terms of bringing these insights into the room, your teams are in the rooms when we're making these decisions on product and marketing. We've also significantly increased our presence of younger employees. Yesterday, I spoke to our intern class of 30, our largest-ever intern class. It's incredibly important that we have summer interns who are college students that are hanging out with employees in the kitchen, doing work, contributing to decisions, and helping bring those insights directly into the company. We have custom GPTs, which have been really useful. For each of our key personas, we have AI incarnations of them that employees, including me, use constantly to talk to all these different users to get instantaneous feedback on all of this through AI. There are lots of ways, including, just hiring more young people who are in our primary age cohort, that we bring these insights into the room. Definitely. Thank you very much for joining us today for this first-ever CEO Connection. I hope that you walked away with a better understanding of Gen Z and how their expectations around connection are evolving and how we're thinking about the future of our category. I want to thank Emily and Max for sharing their information and thank those who submitted such thoughtful questions. We'll continue this conversation at our Q2 earnings call. In the meantime, I share regular updates on these types of topics on my socials, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and my other social channels. I'd love to continue the conversation. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you both very much. Thanks, Spencer. Thank You.

Speaker 3: Hi, everyone. Welcome to our first-ever CEO Connection event. This is a new series where we'll dive into a topic of particular interest. We're excited to have you here on webcast and live stream. On earnings calls, obviously, we spend most of our time focusing on financial performance and operating metrics. This event gives us a chance to go deeper on the consumer insights that inform how we think about the category and our product strategy. We get asked versions of the same question all the time, which is, has Gen Z basically abandoned dating apps? Our answer to that is no, not at all. They still want connection, their needs around what that connection looks like have evolved. Today, we'll help frame an understanding around Gen Z. This is not a product presentation like our SPARKS event, it's not a quarterly earnings update. Hi, everyone. hi everyone Welcome to our first-ever CEO Connection event. welcome to our first-ever ceo connection event This is a new series where we'll dive into a topic of particular interest. this is a new series where we'll dive into a topic of particular interest We're excited to have you here on webcast and live stream. we're excited to have you here on webcast and live stream On earnings calls, obviously, we spend most of our time focusing on financial performance and operating metrics. on earnings calls obviously we spend most of our time focusing on financial performance and operating metrics This event gives us a chance to go deeper on the consumer insights that inform how we think about the category and our product strategy. this event gives us a chance to go deeper on the consumer insights that inform how we think about the category and our product strategy We get asked versions of the same question all the time, which is, has Gen Z basically abandoned dating apps? we get asked versions of the same question all the time which is has gen z basically abandoned dating apps Our answer to that is no, not at all. our answer to that is no not at all They still want connection, their needs around what that connection looks like have evolved. they still want connection their needs around what that connection looks like have evolved Today, we'll help frame an understanding around Gen Z. today we'll help frame an understanding around gen z This is not a product presentation like our SPARKS event, it's not a quarterly earnings update. this is not a product presentation like our sparks event it's not a quarterly earnings update It's a discussion on the future of human connection and what we're learning from younger generations, how expectations are evolving, and how those insights inform how we build products across the company. Today's discussion may include forward-looking statements. Some of those risks related to that are listed here and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Before we get into the research, I want to introduce today's speakers. I have with me two of the world's foremost experts on Gen Z and on consumer insights. I'm joined by Emily Dods, who leads global brand strategy at Tinder. Before coming to Tinder, Emily spent over a decade in creative advertising, where she helped brands bridge the gap between culture and data. She helped brands like Meta and AT&T connect with impact to their consumers. Also here with me is Max Izenberg. Hello, Max. Welcome. It's a discussion on the future of human connection and what we're learning from younger generations, how expectations are evolving, and how those insights inform how we build products across the company. it's a discussion on the future of human connection and what we're learning from younger generations how expectations are evolving and how those insights inform how we build products across the company Today's discussion may include forward-looking statements. today's discussion may include forward-looking statements Some of those risks related to that are listed here and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. some of those risks related to that are listed here and in our filings with the securities and exchange commission Before we get into the research, I want to introduce today's speakers. before we get into the research i want to introduce today's speakers I have with me two of the world's foremost experts on Gen Z and on consumer insights. i have with me two of the world's foremost experts on gen z and on consumer insights I'm joined by Emily Dods, who leads global brand strategy at Tinder. i'm joined by emily dods who leads global brand strategy at tinder Before coming to Tinder, Emily spent over a decade in creative advertising, where she helped brands bridge the gap between culture and data. before coming to tinder emily spent over a decade in creative advertising where she helped brands bridge the gap between culture and data She helped brands like Meta and AT&T connect with impact to their consumers. she helped brands like meta and at&t connect with impact to their consumers Also here with me is Max Izenberg. also here with me is max izenberg Hello, Max. hello max Welcome. welcome Max leads consumer research across Match Group. He has a PhD in public policy with over a decade of peer-reviewed published research on risk perception, vulnerability, and public safety. These are two of the people closest to how young daters are thinking, behaving, and talking about relationships. They spend all their time on research, interviews, focus groups, doing original consumer work behind these insights. My role today is to just sort of provide a canvas and highlight what their insights are and lead the discussion, and then moderate the Q&A. Max? Max leads consumer research across Match Group. max leads consumer research across match group He has a PhD in public policy with over a decade of peer-reviewed published research on risk perception, vulnerability, and public safety. he has a phd in public policy with over a decade of peer-reviewed published research on risk perception vulnerability and public safety These are two of the people closest to how young daters are thinking, behaving, and talking about relationships. these are two of the people closest to how young daters are thinking behaving and talking about relationships They spend all their time on research, interviews, focus groups, doing original consumer work behind these insights. they spend all their time on research interviews focus groups doing original consumer work behind these insights My role today is to just sort of provide a canvas and highlight what their insights are and lead the discussion, and then moderate the Q&A. my role today is to just sort of provide a canvas and highlight what their insights are and lead the discussion and then moderate the q&a Max? max

Speaker 2: Great. Thanks, Spencer. Hi, all. As Spencer noted, today is about understanding how Gen Z is thinking about relationships and connection. We'll first start with an overview of how we're listening to Gen Z across Match Group and the ways that we're collecting insights regularly. We'll spend a minute walking through what we're seeing in the data. Emily will walk through the four evolving expectations that we're seeing among Gen Z for how they want to connect. We'll connect then those insights with the product evolution that we're seeing with Tinder and Hinge in particular. Finally, we'll look ahead at a sneak preview of the emerging insights we're seeing amongst older Gen Alpha, and then we'll open it up for Q&A. Great. Let's start with the broader context. Great. great Thanks, Spencer. thanks spencer Hi, all. hi all As Spencer noted, today is about understanding how Gen Z is thinking about relationships and connection. as spencer noted today is about understanding how gen z is thinking about relationships and connection We'll first start with an overview of how we're listening to Gen Z across Match Group and the ways that we're collecting insights regularly. we'll first start with an overview of how we're listening to gen z across match group and the ways that we're collecting insights regularly We'll spend a minute walking through what we're seeing in the data. we'll spend a minute walking through what we're seeing in the data Emily will walk through the four evolving expectations that we're seeing among Gen Z for how they want to connect. emily will walk through the four evolving expectations that we're seeing among gen z for how they want to connect We'll connect then those insights with the product evolution that we're seeing with Tinder and Hinge in particular. we'll connect then those insights with the product evolution that we're seeing with tinder and hinge in particular Finally, we'll look ahead at a sneak preview of the emerging insights we're seeing amongst older Gen Alpha, and then we'll open it up for Q&A. finally we'll look ahead at a sneak preview of the emerging insights we're seeing amongst older gen alpha and then we'll open it up for q&a Great. great Let's start with the broader context. let's start with the broader context Before we fully get started, I want to share with you all how we collect insights that we will be sharing today and across Match Group to inform marketing and product development. One of our advantages at Match Group is the amount of time we spend listening to our consumers. We are always on in conversations in so many different ways with Gen Z. Our insights do not come from a single survey. They come through a vast array of different methodologies. This can include focus groups of various different sizes, traditional survey research techniques, ethnographies, in-person observation, intercepts. We meet them where they are at. We are not just saying, "Who is in L.A.? Come to us for convenience." We go where it is often very difficult to talk to them, in college campuses, in their third spaces where they like to hang out, coffee shops. Social listening plays a massive role. Before we fully get started, I want to share with you all how we collect insights that we will be sharing today and across Match Group to inform marketing and product development. before we fully get started i want to share with you all how we collect insights that we will be sharing today and across match group to inform marketing and product development One of our advantages at Match Group is the amount of time we spend listening to our consumers. one of our advantages at match group is the amount of time we spend listening to our consumers We are always on in conversations in so many different ways with Gen Z. we are always on in conversations in so many different ways with gen z Our insights do not come from a single survey. our insights do not come from a single survey They come through a vast array of different methodologies. they come through a vast array of different methodologies This can include focus groups of various different sizes, traditional survey research techniques, ethnographies, in-person observation, intercepts. this can include focus groups of various different sizes traditional survey research techniques ethnographies in-person observation intercepts We meet them where they are at. we meet them where they are at We are not just saying, "Who is in L.A.? we are not just saying "who is in l.a Come to us for convenience." We go where it is often very difficult to talk to them, in college campuses, in their third spaces where they like to hang out, coffee shops. come to us for convenience." we go where it is often very difficult to talk to them in college campuses in their third spaces where they like to hang out coffee shops Social listening plays a massive role. social listening plays a massive role We are trying to be everywhere and really take advantage of the breadth of insights that we are seeing and the multiple different ways in which people prefer to communicate and gathering our insights to paint a more holistic understanding of Gen Z attitudes and behaviors. We are studying not just what people do, but how they feel about their own identity, ways of connection, and journey of self-exploration. And that gives us an always-on window into how young daters are evolving. You see here that we say that we have a community-based research panel that has been going on for several years now, which we call Z Labs, which gives us immediate access to talking to various Gen Z cohorts across all of our brands. Our research is also not limited to the U.S. We are trying to be everywhere and really take advantage of the breadth of insights that we are seeing and the multiple different ways in which people prefer to communicate and gathering our insights to paint a more holistic understanding of Gen Z attitudes and behaviors. we are trying to be everywhere and really take advantage of the breadth of insights that we are seeing and the multiple different ways in which people prefer to communicate and gathering our insights to paint a more holistic understanding of gen z attitudes and behaviors We are studying not just what people do, but how they feel about their own identity, ways of connection, and journey of self-exploration. we are studying not just what people do but how they feel about their own identity ways of connection and journey of self-exploration And that gives us an always-on window into how young daters are evolving. and that gives us an always-on window into how young daters are evolving You see here that we say that we have a community-based research panel that has been going on for several years now, which we call Z Labs, which gives us immediate access to talking to various Gen Z cohorts across all of our brands. you see here that we say that we have a community-based research panel that has been going on for several years now which we call z labs which gives us immediate access to talking to various gen z cohorts across all of our brands Our research is also not limited to the U.S. our research is also not limited to the u.s We have researchers across several continents and are regularly doing research in over a dozen countries at any given time. All these different ways of collecting insights, this gives us a way to separate the short-term noise that we are seeing from deeper, more foundational behavioral shifts. Now, who is Gen Z? The reason why we are all here. First and foremost, Gen Z is not a monolith. Within Gen Z, there is a lot of variation, as you can see, with any generational cohort. From our research, we make sure that we encompass a wide range of different identities, whether it is sexual identity and sexual expression, race or ethnic identity, urbanicity, religiosity, or the role of religion that plays into people's lives. The intent is not to reduce or flatten this experience by any means. We have researchers across several continents and are regularly doing research in over a dozen countries at any given time. we have researchers across several continents and are regularly doing research in over a dozen countries at any given time All these different ways of collecting insights, this gives us a way to separate the short-term noise that we are seeing from deeper, more foundational behavioral shifts. all these different ways of collecting insights this gives us a way to separate the short-term noise that we are seeing from deeper more foundational behavioral shifts Now, who is Gen Z? now who is gen z The reason why we are all here. the reason why we are all here First and foremost, Gen Z is not a monolith. first and foremost gen z is not a monolith Within Gen Z, there is a lot of variation, as you can see, with any generational cohort. within gen z there is a lot of variation as you can see with any generational cohort From our research, we make sure that we encompass a wide range of different identities, whether it is sexual identity and sexual expression, race or ethnic identity, urbanicity, religiosity, or the role of religion that plays into people's lives. from our research we make sure that we encompass a wide range of different identities whether it is sexual identity and sexual expression race or ethnic identity urbanicity religiosity or the role of religion that plays into people's lives The intent is not to reduce or flatten this experience by any means. the intent is not to reduce or flatten this experience by any means However, it is important to acknowledge that there are some shared truths which shaped people's experiences across any particular generational cohort. For all intents and purposes here, we are going to define Gen Z as between 16 and 29 years old. And within this generational cohort, one thing that fundamentally identifies them is that they are digital by default. They have grown up specifically consuming different forms of internet media, whether it is through social media or community groups. This specifically was shaped through the pandemic. These formative years during the global pandemic created limited face-to-face interaction. There was also a lot of economic instability, heightened political polarization, rapid social change, all of which has huge implications on the way they see the world, their psychological outlook, and their preferences for socialization. Gen Z are also incredibly emotionally literate. However, it is important to acknowledge that there are some shared truths which shaped people's experiences across any particular generational cohort. however it is important to acknowledge that there are some shared truths which shaped people's experiences across any particular generational cohort For all intents and purposes here, we are going to define Gen Z as between 16 and 29 years old. for all intents and purposes here we are going to define gen z as between 16 and 29 years old And within this generational cohort, one thing that fundamentally identifies them is that they are digital by default. and within this generational cohort one thing that fundamentally identifies them is that they are digital by default They have grown up specifically consuming different forms of internet media, whether it is through social media or community groups. they have grown up specifically consuming different forms of internet media whether it is through social media or community groups This specifically was shaped through the pandemic. this specifically was shaped through the pandemic These formative years during the global pandemic created limited face-to-face interaction. these formative years during the global pandemic created limited face-to-face interaction There was also a lot of economic instability, heightened political polarization, rapid social change, all of which has huge implications on the way they see the world, their psychological outlook, and their preferences for socialization. Gen Z are also incredibly emotionally literate. there was also a lot of economic instability heightened political polarization rapid social change all of which has huge implications on the way they see the world their psychological outlook and their preferences for socialization. gen z are also incredibly emotionally literate We hear this all the time with research that therapy language, understanding their boundaries, exploring their identity, and how they show up in terms of preparing for themselves and what their priorities are. This is so fundamental for the ways that they think about connecting and the ways that they walk and approach the world. We also see this, specifically amongst Gen Z women. They find that going to therapy is really important for finding a partner, and that this language of establishing boundaries and even diagnostic terms are really fluent in their lexicon. It really speaks worlds to how readiness and emotional and psychological safety is so important when they're thinking about building new connections. There's also a phenomena which we refer to as milestone drift. We hear this all the time with research that therapy language, understanding their boundaries, exploring their identity, and how they show up in terms of preparing for themselves and what their priorities are. we hear this all the time with research that therapy language understanding their boundaries exploring their identity and how they show up in terms of preparing for themselves and what their priorities are This is so fundamental for the ways that they think about connecting and the ways that they walk and approach the world. this is so fundamental for the ways that they think about connecting and the ways that they walk and approach the world We also see this, specifically amongst Gen Z women. we also see this specifically amongst gen z women They find that going to therapy is really important for finding a partner, and that this language of establishing boundaries and even diagnostic terms are really fluent in their lexicon. they find that going to therapy is really important for finding a partner and that this language of establishing boundaries and even diagnostic terms are really fluent in their lexicon It really speaks worlds to how readiness and emotional and psychological safety is so important when they're thinking about building new connections. it really speaks worlds to how readiness and emotional and psychological safety is so important when they're thinking about building new connections There's also a phenomena which we refer to as milestone drift. there's also a phenomena which we refer to as milestone drift Many researchers, external to Match Group, have talked about this phenomenon in different ways, is that there are these key milestones that are oftentimes prized in American society that are so emblematic of freedom and independence. For example, getting your driver's license, moving out of your parents' house. These are still by and large very important to Gen Z, but what we're seeing is that they want to achieve these milestones on their own terms, perhaps in a different way, and perhaps it's not linear, on a different timeline. They're also craving real-life connection. Perhaps despite or because of the pandemic, they're growing up online and they hold a lot of nostalgia for a time or a counterfactual that they never really knew existed. Many researchers, external to Match Group, have talked about this phenomenon in different ways, is that there are these key milestones that are oftentimes prized in American society that are so emblematic of freedom and independence. many researchers external to match group have talked about this phenomenon in different ways is that there are these key milestones that are oftentimes prized in american society that are so emblematic of freedom and independence For example, getting your driver's license, moving out of your parents' house. for example getting your driver's license moving out of your parents' house These are still by and large very important to Gen Z, but what we're seeing is that they want to achieve these milestones on their own terms, perhaps in a different way, and perhaps it's not linear, on a different timeline. these are still by and large very important to gen z but what we're seeing is that they want to achieve these milestones on their own terms perhaps in a different way and perhaps it's not linear on a different timeline They're also craving real-life connection. they're also craving real-life connection Perhaps despite or because of the pandemic, they're growing up online and they hold a lot of nostalgia for a time or a counterfactual that they never really knew existed. perhaps despite or because of the pandemic they're growing up online and they hold a lot of nostalgia for a time or a counterfactual that they never really knew existed They are placing a high premium on these in-person connections that, whether it's starting a connection offline or just having some role, they do recognize the importance of a face-to-face interaction to complement the digital experiences which they also value and are so integrated into their lives. They are placing a high premium on these in-person connections that, whether it's starting a connection offline or just having some role, they do recognize the importance of a face-to-face interaction to complement the digital experiences which they also value and are so integrated into their lives. they are placing a high premium on these in-person connections that whether it's starting a connection offline or just having some role they do recognize the importance of a face-to-face interaction to complement the digital experiences which they also value and are so integrated into their lives

Speaker 3: Sorry to interrupt. Sorry to interrupt. sorry to interrupt

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: Is that because they're using their phones and their computers all day at work, they want to put that down to connect in person? Or is it because they know that that digital layer is sort of bad for them on some level, this is like eat your vegetables, and they know they need to? Where does that come from? Is that because they're using their phones and their computers all day at work, they want to put that down to connect in person? is that because they're using their phones and their computers all day at work they want to put that down to connect in person Or is it because they know that that digital layer is sort of bad for them on some level, this is like eat your vegetables, and they know they need to? or is it because they know that that digital layer is sort of bad for them on some level this is like eat your vegetables and they know they need to Where does that come from? where does that come from

Speaker 2: All of the above. It's functional. It's like, I want to put my phone down. I need to take a break. I want to prioritize, preserve my time and manage my emotions and see that there is so much value to getting to meet other people. There's also, yeah, you can feel free to kick in as well. All of the above. all of the above It's functional. it's functional It's like, I want to put my phone down. it's like i want to put my phone down I need to take a break. i need to take a break I want to prioritize, preserve my time and manage my emotions and see that there is so much value to getting to meet other people. i want to prioritize preserve my time and manage my emotions and see that there is so much value to getting to meet other people There's also, yeah, you can feel free to kick in as well. there's also yeah you can feel free to kick in as well

Speaker 1: Yes. No, I mean, a great example is thinking of when COVID-19 and lockdown and the pandemic hit them in their formative years. For younger Gen Z, that's a bit older, middle school, younger, lower classmen high school. For older Gen Z, it's older high school, lower classmen college. When that is taken away from you in a really formative time, it becomes ever more present and important as you age because you recognize, oh, this does feel different. You crave it. You know you feel different after the fact. They seek it out ever more presently. Yes. yes No, I mean, a great example is thinking of when COVID-19 and lockdown and the pandemic hit them in their formative years. no i mean a great example is thinking of when covid-19 and lockdown and the pandemic hit them in their formative years For younger Gen Z, that's a bit older, middle school, younger, lower classmen high school. for younger gen z that's a bit older middle school younger lower classmen high school For older Gen Z, it's older high school, lower classmen college. for older gen z it's older high school lower classmen college When that is taken away from you in a really formative time, it becomes ever more present and important as you age because you recognize, oh, this does feel different. when that is taken away from you in a really formative time it becomes ever more present and important as you age because you recognize oh this does feel different You crave it. you crave it You know you feel different after the fact. you know you feel different after the fact They seek it out ever more presently. they seek it out ever more presently

Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely. absolutely

Speaker 1: Great segue. Great segue. great segue

Speaker 2: Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. yeah Perfect. perfect

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: Again, as mentioned earlier, Gen Z has grown up as truly the first digitally native generation. Other generations, of course, have leveraged technology in many different ways. We had Match.com. What is different is that this has fully been native to them. One of the reasons that they do look to put their phone down is because they've never had this counterfactual, and they're wondering, what would this experience be like if I didn't leverage technology as the first starting point, or if it had a different role? I'm wondering different ways to use technology in the process of making new connections, which is very exciting. The internet doesn't just influence how they communicate, but it fully transforms and shapes the lens in which they view the world and decide to communicate, whether it's through symbols like emojis or memes. Again, as mentioned earlier, Gen Z has grown up as truly the first digitally native generation. again as mentioned earlier gen z has grown up as truly the first digitally native generation Other generations, of course, have leveraged technology in many different ways. other generations of course have leveraged technology in many different ways We had Match.com. we had match.com What is different is that this has fully been native to them. what is different is that this has fully been native to them One of the reasons that they do look to put their phone down is because they've never had this counterfactual, and they're wondering, what would this experience be like if I didn't leverage technology as the first starting point, or if it had a different role? one of the reasons that they do look to put their phone down is because they've never had this counterfactual and they're wondering what would this experience be like if i didn't leverage technology as the first starting point or if it had a different role I'm wondering different ways to use technology in the process of making new connections, which is very exciting. i'm wondering different ways to use technology in the process of making new connections which is very exciting The internet doesn't just influence how they communicate, but it fully transforms and shapes the lens in which they view the world and decide to communicate, whether it's through symbols like emojis or memes. the internet doesn't just influence how they communicate but it fully transforms and shapes the lens in which they view the world and decide to communicate whether it's through symbols like emojis or memes This is absolutely a core and fundamental part of how they communicate. The digital world is kind of defined in three ways and influences them. One is, uncertainty is the norm. During this era of the pandemic, which defined them, there was, as mentioned previously, a lot of financial pressure, the perceptions around the macroeconomic certainty or uncertainty that is going on and the implications on their personal lives, political instability. For them, uncertainty is the norm. Many Gen Z are telling us consistently that they don't know what the future is going to look like. Sure, some of this is a part of life stage, that they're placing more value on the present. This is absolutely a core and fundamental part of how they communicate. this is absolutely a core and fundamental part of how they communicate The digital world is kind of defined in three ways and influences them. the digital world is kind of defined in three ways and influences them One is, uncertainty is the norm. one is uncertainty is the norm During this era of the pandemic, which defined them, there was, as mentioned previously, a lot of financial pressure, the perceptions around the macroeconomic certainty or uncertainty that is going on and the implications on their personal lives, political instability. during this era of the pandemic which defined them there was as mentioned previously a lot of financial pressure the perceptions around the macroeconomic certainty or uncertainty that is going on and the implications on their personal lives political instability For them, uncertainty is the norm. for them uncertainty is the norm Many Gen Z are telling us consistently that they don't know what the future is going to look like. many gen z are telling us consistently that they don't know what the future is going to look like Sure, some of this is a part of life stage, that they're placing more value on the present. sure some of this is a part of life stage that they're placing more value on the present Specifically for Gen Z, because they have been so inundated with this information about this uncertainty, they're not really sure who to trust besides themselves, and that's why they place a high value on their own readiness before making the next steps and being cautious around decisions. Specifically for Gen Z, because they have been so inundated with this information about this uncertainty, they're not really sure who to trust besides themselves, and that's why they place a high value on their own readiness before making the next steps and being cautious around decisions. specifically for gen z because they have been so inundated with this information about this uncertainty they're not really sure who to trust besides themselves and that's why they place a high value on their own readiness before making the next steps and being cautious around decisions

Speaker 3: Just on the point about communicating through memes. For those that work on Wall Street that are watching this, that maybe it's not normal in a presentation to see a meme. I remember only a couple of years ago, the first time I was in a business meeting and there was a slide deck and there was a meme in it. I remember thinking, that's so unprofessional. Just on the point about communicating through memes. just on the point about communicating through memes For those that work on Wall Street that are watching this, that maybe it's not normal in a presentation to see a meme. for those that work on wall street that are watching this that maybe it's not normal in a presentation to see a meme I remember only a couple of years ago, the first time I was in a business meeting and there was a slide deck and there was a meme in it. i remember only a couple of years ago the first time i was in a business meeting and there was a slide deck and there was a meme in it I remember thinking, that's so unprofessional. i remember thinking that's so unprofessional

Speaker 1: Wow. Wow. wow

Speaker 3: Like that's so weird to see some GIF in a presentation, and now it's constant, right? Like that's so weird to see some GIF in a presentation, and now it's constant, right? like that's so weird to see some gif in a presentation and now it's constant right

Speaker 1: Constant. Constant. constant

Speaker 3: It's like every meeting I'm in, every slide basically is a meme. I know that hasn't made its way to certain circles out in the general business community, including probably some people watching this, but that's just the way they communicate. It's like every meeting I'm in, every slide basically is a meme. it's like every meeting i'm in every slide basically is a meme I know that hasn't made its way to certain circles out in the general business community, including probably some people watching this, but that's just the way they communicate. i know that hasn't made its way to certain circles out in the general business community including probably some people watching this but that's just the way they communicate I mean, even in the workplace. I mean, even in the workplace. i mean even in the workplace

Speaker 1: Yeah. Much can be said with a simple GIF or meme. It's great. Yeah. yeah Much can be said with a simple GIF or meme. much can be said with a simple gif or meme It's great. it's great

Speaker 2: Exactly. Another influence is that information for Gen Z is everywhere, and it encompasses everything. Social media has really enabled Gen Z to fully absorb and also create a wide range of information, opinions, take from the world's biggest problems to problems that might not seem as big, but also still massively impactful things. How you expect your boyfriend to show up or who pays for the first date. This also at times can create a sort of emotional whiplash. One time, one second, you're looking at a quick reel that gives you anger, another one that gives you joy. Another element is that this is something we constantly hear from researchers, the feeling of being under surveillance and hyper-scrutiny. Exactly. exactly Another influence is that information for Gen Z is everywhere, and it encompasses everything. another influence is that information for gen z is everywhere and it encompasses everything Social media has really enabled Gen Z to fully absorb and also create a wide range of information, opinions, take from the world's biggest problems to problems that might not seem as big, but also still massively impactful things. social media has really enabled gen z to fully absorb and also create a wide range of information opinions take from the world's biggest problems to problems that might not seem as big but also still massively impactful things How you expect your boyfriend to show up or who pays for the first date. This also at times can create a sort of emotional whiplash. how you expect your boyfriend to show up or who pays for the first date. this also at times can create a sort of emotional whiplash One time, one second, you're looking at a quick reel that gives you anger, another one that gives you joy. one time one second you're looking at a quick reel that gives you anger another one that gives you joy Another element is that this is something we constantly hear from researchers, the feeling of being under surveillance and hyper-scrutiny. another element is that this is something we constantly hear from researchers the feeling of being under surveillance and hyper-scrutiny Whether or not it's online of saying, "I feel hesitant to share my opinion," or, "I'm really cautious about what I'm going to share this photo of myself, so I'm going to focus a lot on curating." To being in a classroom and saying, "Yes, I'm around a lot of people, but I'm just worried that someone might film me giving the wrong answer to the professor." That saying, "Oh, I do want to text this person I want to be friends with, but what if they screenshot it and what if this might damage my reputation? Whether or not it's online of saying, "I feel hesitant to share my opinion," or, "I'm really cautious about what I'm going to share this photo of myself, so I'm going to focus a lot on curating." To being in a classroom and saying, "Yes, I'm around a lot of people, but I'm just worried that someone might film me giving the wrong answer to the professor." That saying, "Oh, I do want to text this person I want to be friends with, but what if they screenshot it and what if this might damage my reputation? whether or not it's online of saying "i feel hesitant to share my opinion," or "i'm really cautious about what i'm going to share this photo of myself so i'm going to focus a lot on curating." to being in a classroom and saying "yes i'm around a lot of people but i'm just worried that someone might film me giving the wrong answer to the professor." that saying "oh i do want to text this person i want to be friends with but what if they screenshot it and what if this might damage my reputation

Speaker 3: I get canceled. I get canceled. i get canceled

Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 3: This is a big problem in academia. This is a big problem in academia. this is a big problem in academia

Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely. absolutely

Speaker 3: Of students not expressing their opinion in the classroom because they're afraid they'll get canceled. Of students not expressing their opinion in the classroom because they're afraid they'll get canceled. of students not expressing their opinion in the classroom because they're afraid they'll get canceled

Speaker 2: Totally. Yeah. This is a big fear. Of course, it has implications on self-presentation and curation, both of yourself and the information that you're receiving. Totally. totally Yeah. yeah This is a big fear. this is a big fear Of course, it has implications on self-presentation and curation, both of yourself and the information that you're receiving. of course it has implications on self-presentation and curation both of yourself and the information that you're receiving

Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely. absolutely

Speaker 2: Another misconception that we regularly hear is that, oh, Gen Z are not open to romance, they're kind of done with dating, or it's not a priority. We very much disagree. Unequivocally, we hear time and time again in the research that Gen Z daters absolutely do believe in human connection. They're just defining how and when they want to get there on their own terms. We conducted a study with the Kinsey Institute at the end of last year, and one of the key findings was that four in five Gen Z singles believe that they will find true love. This is amazing. This is a significant majority. What was really telling is that it was actually statistically significantly higher than total 18+ singles. Not only do they want it, they might want it more than we look at the total single population. Another misconception that we regularly hear is that, oh, Gen Z are not open to romance, they're kind of done with dating, or it's not a priority. another misconception that we regularly hear is that oh gen z are not open to romance they're kind of done with dating or it's not a priority We very much disagree. we very much disagree Unequivocally, we hear time and time again in the research that Gen Z daters absolutely do believe in human connection. unequivocally we hear time and time again in the research that gen z daters absolutely do believe in human connection They're just defining how and when they want to get there on their own terms. they're just defining how and when they want to get there on their own terms We conducted a study with the Kinsey Institute at the end of last year, and one of the key findings was that four in five Gen Z singles believe that they will find true love. we conducted a study with the kinsey institute at the end of last year and one of the key findings was that four in five gen z singles believe that they will find true love This is amazing. this is amazing This is a significant majority. this is a significant majority What was really telling is that it was actually statistically significantly higher than total 18+ singles. what was really telling is that it was actually statistically significantly higher than total 18+ singles Not only do they want it, they might want it more than we look at the total single population. not only do they want it they might want it more than we look at the total single population They overwhelmingly still want to find love, and they're comfortable using technology as part of this process. If there's anything to take away, it's that the desire for human connection absolutely remains durable, but what's evolving are their expectations for how they want to connect, when it should happen, and we're trying to evolve our tools to make sure we can support them in the ways that make sense for them and how they want to. They overwhelmingly still want to find love, and they're comfortable using technology as part of this process. they overwhelmingly still want to find love and they're comfortable using technology as part of this process If there's anything to take away, it's that the desire for human connection absolutely remains durable, but what's evolving are their expectations for how they want to connect, when it should happen, and we're trying to evolve our tools to make sure we can support them in the ways that make sense for them and how they want to. if there's anything to take away it's that the desire for human connection absolutely remains durable but what's evolving are their expectations for how they want to connect when it should happen and we're trying to evolve our tools to make sure we can support them in the ways that make sense for them and how they want to

Speaker 3: Love is not lost. Love is not lost. love is not lost

Speaker 2: Definitely not lost. Definitely not lost. definitely not lost

Speaker 1: It's been canceled. No. It's been canceled. it's been canceled no No. no

Speaker 3: Okay. Love hasn't been canceled. Okay. okay Love hasn't been canceled. love hasn't been canceled

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: Okay. Okay. okay

Speaker 1: Very much alive. Very much alive. very much alive

Speaker 3: Good. Good. good

Speaker 1: Max has done a really fantastic job of laying out the broader context that are shaping Gen Z. We want to get a little bit more specific of what we at Match Group are looking at when we think about Gen Z. There are really four core expectations shaping how they connect that we're going to dive into today. The first one is agency, right. The insistence that connection must be on their own terms and on their own timelines. Another important one is realness. As a generation that we've talked about who's grown up online in the public eye, they're looking for authenticity, for humanness, for realness across everything that they do. That leads really nicely into momentum. Momentum is where function and emotion really meet. Max has done a really fantastic job of laying out the broader context that are shaping Gen Z. max has done a really fantastic job of laying out the broader context that are shaping gen z We want to get a little bit more specific of what we at Match Group are looking at when we think about Gen Z. we want to get a little bit more specific of what we at match group are looking at when we think about gen z There are really four core expectations shaping how they connect that we're going to dive into today. there are really four core expectations shaping how they connect that we're going to dive into today The first one is agency, right. the first one is agency right The insistence that connection must be on their own terms and on their own timelines. the insistence that connection must be on their own terms and on their own timelines Another important one is realness. another important one is realness As a generation that we've talked about who's grown up online in the public eye, they're looking for authenticity, for humanness, for realness across everything that they do. as a generation that we've talked about who's grown up online in the public eye they're looking for authenticity for humanness for realness across everything that they do That leads really nicely into momentum. that leads really nicely into momentum Momentum is where function and emotion really meet. momentum is where function and emotion really meet It's the functional desire for lower friction, but also the need for the emotional experience to be valid, to feel true, and to feel like it's moving forward. Of course, we'll dive into trust. This is so important that the emotional and physical safety feels present and true so that you can be your authentic self and show up with that realness that they're craving. Held together, these four pillars, these themes really describe how the expectations around Gen Z are shaping and changing and evolving when it comes to connection. Going to dive deeper into all of them, but first, we're going to dive into agency. Because relationship and connection, as Max was just saying, still really matters for Gen Z. They want connection, but they're demanding it fit their lives and not the other way around. It's the functional desire for lower friction, but also the need for the emotional experience to be valid, to feel true, and to feel like it's moving forward. it's the functional desire for lower friction but also the need for the emotional experience to be valid to feel true and to feel like it's moving forward Of course, we'll dive into trust. of course we'll dive into trust This is so important that the emotional and physical safety feels present and true so that you can be your authentic self and show up with that realness that they're craving. this is so important that the emotional and physical safety feels present and true so that you can be your authentic self and show up with that realness that they're craving Held together, these four pillars, these themes really describe how the expectations around Gen Z are shaping and changing and evolving when it comes to connection. held together these four pillars these themes really describe how the expectations around gen z are shaping and changing and evolving when it comes to connection Going to dive deeper into all of them, but first, we're going to dive into agency. going to dive deeper into all of them but first we're going to dive into agency Because relationship and connection, as Max was just saying, still really matters for Gen Z. because relationship and connection as max was just saying still really matters for gen z They want connection, but they're demanding it fit their lives and not the other way around. they want connection but they're demanding it fit their lives and not the other way around Which is why we see that 44% of under 30s want to spend time on my friends instead of love, or about 1:4 of under 30s list getting into a relationship as a primary goal for next year. We see that they want it, but what we do see that's a little different with Gen Z is that the hierarchy of priority falls in a different order than it does in other generations. Things like identity exploration, preparedness, friendship, and community, career, and personal growth are supplanting the dating sometimes here and there. Increasingly, people want connection to fit their lives rather than organizing their lives around connection. That's an important thing that we're paying attention to, is that the agency and desire and the timelines are a little bit different for Gen Z. Which is why we see that 44% of under 30s want to spend time on my friends instead of love, or about 1:4 of under 30s list getting into a relationship as a primary goal for next year. which is why we see that 44% of under 30s want to spend time on my friends instead of love or about 1:4 of under 30s list getting into a relationship as a primary goal for next year We see that they want it, but what we do see that's a little different with Gen Z is that the hierarchy of priority falls in a different order than it does in other generations. we see that they want it but what we do see that's a little different with gen z is that the hierarchy of priority falls in a different order than it does in other generations Things like identity exploration, preparedness, friendship, and community, career, and personal growth are supplanting the dating sometimes here and there. things like identity exploration preparedness friendship and community career and personal growth are supplanting the dating sometimes here and there Increasingly, people want connection to fit their lives rather than organizing their lives around connection. increasingly people want connection to fit their lives rather than organizing their lives around connection That's an important thing that we're paying attention to, is that the agency and desire and the timelines are a little bit different for Gen Z. that's an important thing that we're paying attention to is that the agency and desire and the timelines are a little bit different for gen z

Speaker 3: I want to interrupt you and ask about identity exploration. I want to interrupt you and ask about identity exploration. i want to interrupt you and ask about identity exploration

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: One, the percent of Gen Z that identify as seeking potential partners of either gender. One, the percent of Gen Z that identify as seeking potential partners of either gender. one the percent of gen z that identify as seeking potential partners of either gender is fascinating and very different from prior generations. Can one or both of you talk to that and why you think that is? is fascinating and very different from prior generations. is fascinating and very different from prior generations Can one or both of you talk to that and why you think that is? can one or both of you talk to that and why you think that is

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: Yeah. I can start. Yeah. yeah I can start. i can start

Speaker 1: I'll start. I'll start. i'll start

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 1: We do see in the data that. We do see in the data that. we do see in the data that

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 1: with younger Gen Z, 18-24, a higher instance of exploring it and figuring it out and diving a little bit deeper. Tools like that we provide actually help them explore that and poke around because it is more socially acceptable to be a bit more open, to be a bit more exploratory. This generation takes advantage of that, which is really exciting, I think. with younger Gen Z, 18-24, a higher instance of exploring it and figuring it out and diving a little bit deeper. with younger gen z 18-24 a higher instance of exploring it and figuring it out and diving a little bit deeper Tools like that we provide actually help them explore that and poke around because it is more socially acceptable to be a bit more open, to be a bit more exploratory. tools like that we provide actually help them explore that and poke around because it is more socially acceptable to be a bit more open to be a bit more exploratory This generation takes advantage of that, which is really exciting, I think. this generation takes advantage of that which is really exciting i think

Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. I think it just goes on a longer trajectory of just being more openness to, for example, if we're talking about sexual identity, queer representation in the media, and all these cultural artifacts help them feel more comfortable. Yeah, exactly. yeah exactly I think it just goes on a longer trajectory of just being more openness to, for example, if we're talking about sexual identity, queer representation in the media, and all these cultural artifacts help them feel more comfortable. i think it just goes on a longer trajectory of just being more openness to for example if we're talking about sexual identity queer representation in the media and all these cultural artifacts help them feel more comfortable

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: It's just wonderful to hear in schools all across the country that many just feel open to even questioning masculinity norms, not even just necessarily sexual identity. This ties into the earlier insight on mental wellness and that. For many Gen Z, there is great space and digital communities play a big role in making them feel comfortable for people like them to even question, not necessarily change their sexual identity or explore, but just being open to the idea that things might be fluid. I'm just learning. I'm in this process of self-discovery. It's just wonderful to hear in schools all across the country that many just feel open to even questioning masculinity norms, not even just necessarily sexual identity. it's just wonderful to hear in schools all across the country that many just feel open to even questioning masculinity norms not even just necessarily sexual identity This ties into the earlier insight on mental wellness and that. For many Gen Z, there is great space and digital communities play a big role in making them feel comfortable for people like them to even question, not necessarily change their sexual identity or explore, but just being open to the idea that things might be fluid. this ties into the earlier insight on mental wellness and that. for many gen z there is great space and digital communities play a big role in making them feel comfortable for people like them to even question not necessarily change their sexual identity or explore but just being open to the idea that things might be fluid I'm just learning. i'm just learning I'm in this process of self-discovery. i'm in this process of self-discovery

Speaker 1: Alongside agency, which is definitely something that is more of an internal driver when you think about the human experience, our next one that we want to explore is both internal and external, and that's around authenticity and realness. One thing we hear consistently from all of the young people that we speak to is they want their experiences and their connections and their interactions to feel more genuine, to feel more real. With this, they want this authenticity, but there's also this pressure of perfectionism, judgment, and of course, rejection that goes alongside of this. Because this pressure to be perfect online is making this authentic connection that they crave a little bit harder and a lot more vulnerable. Alongside agency, which is definitely something that is more of an internal driver when you think about the human experience, our next one that we want to explore is both internal and external, and that's around authenticity and realness. alongside agency which is definitely something that is more of an internal driver when you think about the human experience our next one that we want to explore is both internal and external and that's around authenticity and realness One thing we hear consistently from all of the young people that we speak to is they want their experiences and their connections and their interactions to feel more genuine, to feel more real. one thing we hear consistently from all of the young people that we speak to is they want their experiences and their connections and their interactions to feel more genuine to feel more real With this, they want this authenticity, but there's also this pressure of perfectionism, judgment, and of course, rejection that goes alongside of this. with this they want this authenticity but there's also this pressure of perfectionism judgment and of course rejection that goes alongside of this Because this pressure to be perfect online is making this authentic connection that they crave a little bit harder and a lot more vulnerable. because this pressure to be perfect online is making this authentic connection that they crave a little bit harder and a lot more vulnerable This fear of rejection in particular is one that we pay a lot of attention to in this category, because there's this concern about how they're being perceived. This makes dating feel really high stakes and super high pressure. Because when you've grown up in a world that's online, that anything can be snapped at a fingertips moment, and in these spaces, these social spaces that reward reactions and judgments and tear downs, showing up authentically becomes a really high-stakes act of vulnerability in your day-to-day. As a result, it's not so surprising when 81% of Gen Z want to move more slowly when getting to know someone more romantically. They want to really understand the playing board before they dive in and get vulnerable. This fear of rejection in particular is one that we pay a lot of attention to in this category, because there's this concern about how they're being perceived. this fear of rejection in particular is one that we pay a lot of attention to in this category because there's this concern about how they're being perceived This makes dating feel really high stakes and super high pressure. this makes dating feel really high stakes and super high pressure Because when you've grown up in a world that's online, that anything can be snapped at a fingertips moment, and in these spaces, these social spaces that reward reactions and judgments and tear downs, showing up authentically becomes a really high-stakes act of vulnerability in your day-to-day. because when you've grown up in a world that's online that anything can be snapped at a fingertips moment and in these spaces these social spaces that reward reactions and judgments and tear downs showing up authentically becomes a really high-stakes act of vulnerability in your day-to-day As a result, it's not so surprising when 81% of Gen Z want to move more slowly when getting to know someone more romantically. as a result it's not so surprising when 81% of gen z want to move more slowly when getting to know someone more romantically They want to really understand the playing board before they dive in and get vulnerable. they want to really understand the playing board before they dive in and get vulnerable There's also the fact that Gen Z is 1.7x more likely than total singles to be fearful of the dating process because of others' opinions, because of that prospect of judgment. This reality is really why we so often hear from users that they want lower pressure, higher context opportunities to get to know themselves and to know other people. Because this desire for self-expression is one that opens you up for vulnerability, but also opens you up for better connection in the long run. There's also the fact that Gen Z is 1.7 x more likely than total singles to be fearful of the dating process because of others' opinions, because of that prospect of judgment. there's also the fact that gen z is 1.7 x more likely than total singles to be fearful of the dating process because of others' opinions because of that prospect of judgment This reality is really why we so often hear from users that they want lower pressure, higher context opportunities to get to know themselves and to know other people. this reality is really why we so often hear from users that they want lower pressure higher context opportunities to get to know themselves and to know other people Because this desire for self-expression is one that opens you up for vulnerability, but also opens you up for better connection in the long run. because this desire for self-expression is one that opens you up for vulnerability but also opens you up for better connection in the long run

Speaker 3: We're going to talk in a moment about the implications on our product roadmap and sort of what we're doing about all this. Let me be devil's advocate here for a second. You're saying young people get stressed out about potential rejection because there's this need to be performative and perfect, but dating apps sort of are all about putting yourself out there and subjecting yourself to rejection? We're going to talk in a moment about the implications on our product roadmap and sort of what we're doing about all this. we're going to talk in a moment about the implications on our product roadmap and sort of what we're doing about all this Let me be devil's advocate here for a second. let me be devil's advocate here for a second You're saying young people get stressed out about potential rejection because there's this need to be performative and perfect, but dating apps sort of are all about putting yourself out there and subjecting yourself to rejection? you're saying young people get stressed out about potential rejection because there's this need to be performative and perfect but dating apps sort of are all about putting yourself out there and subjecting yourself to rejection Your profile is being shown and most people are choosing, no, they don't want to interact with you. How can dating apps have product market fit then if this generation is so worried about rejection? Their whole premise is kind of rejection-oriented. Your profile is being shown and most people are choosing, no, they don't want to interact with you. your profile is being shown and most people are choosing no they don't want to interact with you How can dating apps have product market fit then if this generation is so worried about rejection? how can dating apps have product market fit then if this generation is so worried about rejection Their whole premise is kind of rejection-oriented. their whole premise is kind of rejection-oriented

Speaker 1: Dating has always had rejection as a key piece of it, whether it's on the dating apps or not, right? You put yourself out there to see if someone wants it, and you get your answer based off of that other person. Ways to combat this is to offer Gen Z the signals and the context that they've grown up with and that they crave. Things like more detail, like your astrology sign or your favorite Music Mode or campaign there offers these signals that they're accustomed to, and being more fluent in those in the experience allows them to better find a match more quickly and more efficiently, and hopefully reduce that friction. Dating has always had rejection as a key piece of it, whether it's on the dating apps or not, right? dating has always had rejection as a key piece of it whether it's on the dating apps or not right You put yourself out there to see if someone wants it, and you get your answer based off of that other person. you put yourself out there to see if someone wants it and you get your answer based off of that other person Ways to combat this is to offer Gen Z the signals and the context that they've grown up with and that they crave. ways to combat this is to offer gen z the signals and the context that they've grown up with and that they crave Things like more detail, like your astrology sign or your favorite Music Mode or campaign there offers these signals that they're accustomed to, and being more fluent in those in the experience allows them to better find a match more quickly and more efficiently, and hopefully reduce that friction. things like more detail like your astrology sign or your favorite music mode or campaign there offers these signals that they're accustomed to and being more fluent in those in the experience allows them to better find a match more quickly and more efficiently and hopefully reduce that friction

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm. mm-hmm Okay. okay

Speaker 1: Awesome. Showing up authentically, as we've said, takes effort, it takes energy, and it takes time, which brings us to our next pillar, which is momentum. For Gen Z, momentum is really twofold, right? It's this perspective of efficacy in function as well as the emotional piece of it. Functionally, people want to see results and actions as a result of their effort, right? That is just a human desire, I would say. For Gen Z, particularly in this category, it's about quality over quantity. At the same time, it's also about that feeling like you're moving forward. Awesome. awesome Showing up authentically, as we've said, takes effort, it takes energy, and it takes time, which brings us to our next pillar, which is momentum. showing up authentically as we've said takes effort it takes energy and it takes time which brings us to our next pillar which is momentum For Gen Z, momentum is really twofold, right? for gen z momentum is really twofold right It's this perspective of efficacy in function as well as the emotional piece of it. it's this perspective of efficacy in function as well as the emotional piece of it Functionally, people want to see results and actions as a result of their effort, right? functionally people want to see results and actions as a result of their effort right That is just a human desire, I would say. that is just a human desire i would say For Gen Z, particularly in this category, it's about quality over quantity. for gen z particularly in this category it's about quality over quantity At the same time, it's also about that feeling like you're moving forward. at the same time it's also about that feeling like you're moving forward That even though a match or a date isn't your person, isn't your end game, that you feel like you've taken, you've learned and earned something out of it, that you've got momentum, that you're moving forward, which is why I love this quote that I will read to you from a young female non-user actually, and saying that, "I'm really intentional with how I use dating apps. Even if I get a lot of likes, I only respond to people who feel like they could genuinely go somewhere. I want to make sure we're actually compatible before I invest time on meeting up in person." In this language, there's so much here, right? You've got that functional language of investing time, but there's also that emotion because this is a vulnerable space to be in of are we compatible? Do I feel like this is going to work? That even though a match or a date isn't your person, isn't your end game, that you feel like you've taken, you've learned and earned something out of it, that you've got momentum, that you're moving forward, which is why I love this quote that I will read to you from a young female non-user actually, and saying that, "I'm really intentional with how I use dating apps. that even though a match or a date isn't your person isn't your end game that you feel like you've taken you've learned and earned something out of it that you've got momentum that you're moving forward which is why i love this quote that i will read to you from a young female non-user actually and saying that "i'm really intentional with how i use dating apps Even if I get a lot of likes, I only respond to people who feel like they could genuinely go somewhere. even if i get a lot of likes i only respond to people who feel like they could genuinely go somewhere I want to make sure we're actually compatible before I invest time on meeting up in person." In this language, there's so much here, right? i want to make sure we're actually compatible before i invest time on meeting up in person." in this language there's so much here right You've got that functional language of investing time, but there's also that emotion because this is a vulnerable space to be in of are we compatible? you've got that functional language of investing time but there's also that emotion because this is a vulnerable space to be in of are we compatible Do I feel like this is going to work? do i feel like this is going to work That's why momentum is something that we pay a lot of attention to, in not only the experience, but in the actions that we build that they hopefully take. Because when it comes to this experience, Gen Z wants to see and feel the fruits of their efforts and their labors. They're not necessarily asking for more interactions, but definitely asking for better ones or ones that make sense to them no matter what. The goal of what we do, everything here at Match Group is to move from match to spark to real-world interaction with less of that wasted effort. When we talk about momentum, we're really talking about relevance. It's quality. It's helping connections actually go somewhere. That is a huge key piece of this experience and the emotion that sort of laces the backdrop across of it. That's why momentum is something that we pay a lot of attention to, in not only the experience, but in the actions that we build that they hopefully take. that's why momentum is something that we pay a lot of attention to in not only the experience but in the actions that we build that they hopefully take Because when it comes to this experience, Gen Z wants to see and feel the fruits of their efforts and their labors. because when it comes to this experience gen z wants to see and feel the fruits of their efforts and their labors They're not necessarily asking for more interactions, but definitely asking for better ones or ones that make sense to them no matter what. they're not necessarily asking for more interactions but definitely asking for better ones or ones that make sense to them no matter what The goal of what we do, everything here at Match Group is to move from match to spark to real-world interaction with less of that wasted effort. the goal of what we do everything here at match group is to move from match to spark to real-world interaction with less of that wasted effort When we talk about momentum, we're really talking about relevance. when we talk about momentum we're really talking about relevance It's quality. it's quality It's helping connections actually go somewhere. it's helping connections actually go somewhere That is a huge key piece of this experience and the emotion that sort of laces the backdrop across of it. that is a huge key piece of this experience and the emotion that sort of laces the backdrop across of it

Speaker 3: If you take the really long-term, say, 10-year view, is it fair to say that 10 or maybe 15 years ago, there was more novelty to online dating and the bar has been raised? The user expectation around product efficacy is a lot higher today. The entertainment value or the novelty has faded, and now it's all about does this thing actually get me out on dates? If you take the really long-term, say, 10-year view, is it fair to say that 10 or maybe 15 years ago, there was more novelty to online dating and the bar has been raised? if you take the really long-term say 10-year view is it fair to say that 10 or maybe 15 years ago there was more novelty to online dating and the bar has been raised The user expectation around product efficacy is a lot higher today. the user expectation around product efficacy is a lot higher today The entertainment value or the novelty has faded, and now it's all about does this thing actually get me out on dates? the entertainment value or the novelty has faded and now it's all about does this thing actually get me out on dates

Speaker 1: Absolutely. We think about the context in which we show up a lot, right? On someone's phone home screen, we're alongside things like Amazon, Uber, food order apps. There's this expectation that in that experience, you're going to get what you ask for. You're going to get what you decide. Those contexts, they're a part of the groundwater. It's important that we keep that in mind, that the efficacy is a piece of it. Also just take care of the beautifully vulnerable spaces that we're operating into. Absolutely. absolutely We think about the context in which we show up a lot, right? we think about the context in which we show up a lot right On someone's phone home screen, we're alongside things like Amazon, Uber, food order apps. on someone's phone home screen we're alongside things like amazon uber food order apps There's this expectation that in that experience, you're going to get what you ask for. there's this expectation that in that experience you're going to get what you ask for You're going to get what you decide. you're going to get what you decide Those contexts, they're a part of the groundwater. those contexts they're a part of the groundwater It's important that we keep that in mind, that the efficacy is a piece of it. it's important that we keep that in mind that the efficacy is a piece of it Also just take care of the beautifully vulnerable spaces that we're operating into. also just take care of the beautifully vulnerable spaces that we're operating into

Speaker 3: Right. Yeah, when you describe it like that and you think about the other apps where you get basically instant satisfaction, we already have a lot of challenges in this category because the best possible case is you open the app, you get a match, and you get into a conversation right away. Even still, there's friction to get to an in-person date that's going to take a couple days, a couple- Right. right Yeah, when you describe it like that and you think about the other apps where you get basically instant satisfaction, we already have a lot of challenges in this category because the best possible case is you open the app, you get a match, and you get into a conversation right away. yeah when you describe it like that and you think about the other apps where you get basically instant satisfaction we already have a lot of challenges in this category because the best possible case is you open the app you get a match and you get into a conversation right away Even still, there's friction to get to an in-person date that's going to take a couple days, a couple- even still there's friction to get to an in-person date that's going to take a couple days a couple-

Speaker 1: Totally Totally totally

Speaker 3: There's lots of friction. There's lots of friction. there's lots of friction

Speaker 1: Keep that alive, too. Keep that alive, too. keep that alive too

Speaker 3: Right. It just increases the burden on us to improve efficacy of product with things like better recommendation algorithms or better ways to start conversations inside of chat or a more performant app or all these features that we focus on are more important than ever. Right. right It just increases the burden on us to improve efficacy of product with things like better recommendation algorithms or better ways to start conversations inside of chat or a more performant app or all these features that we focus on are more important than ever. it just increases the burden on us to improve efficacy of product with things like better recommendation algorithms or better ways to start conversations inside of chat or a more performant app or all these features that we focus on are more important than ever

Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely. absolutely

Speaker 2: Exactly. To Emily's point, agency remains essential. People want to move at different timelines. Exactly. exactly To Emily's point, agency remains essential. to emily's point agency remains essential People want to move at different timelines. people want to move at different timelines

Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. yes

Speaker 2: Not everybody's on the same timeline and might want to feel comfortable scheduling a date or even exchanging contact information after a week or two when others prefer to do it immediately and assess compatibility and vibes more in person. Not everybody's on the same timeline and might want to feel comfortable scheduling a date or even exchanging contact information after a week or two when others prefer to do it immediately and assess compatibility and vibes more in person. not everybody's on the same timeline and might want to feel comfortable scheduling a date or even exchanging contact information after a week or two when others prefer to do it immediately and assess compatibility and vibes more in person

Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. This is a perfect segue because none of this works without trust. Yeah, absolutely. yeah absolutely This is a perfect segue because none of this works without trust. this is a perfect segue because none of this works without trust Trust is the starting point for us at Match Group, but more importantly for Gen Z. Trust isn't just table stakes, right? It's the foundation for showing up as their real selves, both emotionally and physically. There's that physical safety piece of it, too. It's shaped everything Gen Z has navigated outside of our ecosystems, too. As you were so wonderfully stating up at the top, that this generation has come of age amid real uncertainty, whether it's economic pressure or political instability, rapid social change, global pandemics. This context really, really matters, and it shapes them at a very formative time of their lives. When the world outside feels really unpredictable and unsteady, the stakes of personal vulnerability really change. Trust is the starting point for us at Match Group, but more importantly for Gen Z. trust is the starting point for us at match group but more importantly for gen z Trust isn't just table stakes, right? trust isn't just table stakes right It's the foundation for showing up as their real selves, both emotionally and physically. it's the foundation for showing up as their real selves both emotionally and physically There's that physical safety piece of it, too. there's that physical safety piece of it too It's shaped everything Gen Z has navigated outside of our ecosystems, too. it's shaped everything gen z has navigated outside of our ecosystems too As you were so wonderfully stating up at the top, that this generation has come of age amid real uncertainty, whether it's economic pressure or political instability, rapid social change, global pandemics. as you were so wonderfully stating up at the top that this generation has come of age amid real uncertainty whether it's economic pressure or political instability rapid social change global pandemics This context really, really matters, and it shapes them at a very formative time of their lives. this context really really matters and it shapes them at a very formative time of their lives When the world outside feels really unpredictable and unsteady, the stakes of personal vulnerability really change. when the world outside feels really unpredictable and unsteady the stakes of personal vulnerability really change When you think about sharing who you are, risking that rejection that we were just speaking about, trusting a stranger, that feels really, really high in this seemingly unstable and uncertain world. With this context as a backdrop, it makes sense that when we speak to these young people, that around one in three 18-29-year-old singles have concerns about sharing their info on dating apps, right? Of putting themselves out there in those ways. Or that 35% of 18-29-year-old women note that they fear feeling about being misled by someone's intentions on the app or even their identity during the dating process, right? You need to pay attention to these signals to feel comfortable. Trust and safety aren't separate from the dating backdrop. When you think about sharing who you are, risking that rejection that we were just speaking about, trusting a stranger, that feels really, really high in this seemingly unstable and uncertain world. when you think about sharing who you are risking that rejection that we were just speaking about trusting a stranger that feels really really high in this seemingly unstable and uncertain world With this context as a backdrop, it makes sense that when we speak to these young people, that around one in three 18- 29-year-old singles have concerns about sharing their info on dating apps, right? with this context as a backdrop it makes sense that when we speak to these young people that around one in three 18- 29-year-old singles have concerns about sharing their info on dating apps right Of putting themselves out there in those ways. of putting themselves out there in those ways Or that 35% of 18- 29-year-old women note that they fear feeling about being misled by someone's intentions on the app or even their identity during the dating process, right? or that 35% of 18- 29-year-old women note that they fear feeling about being misled by someone's intentions on the app or even their identity during the dating process right You need to pay attention to these signals to feel comfortable. you need to pay attention to these signals to feel comfortable Trust and safety aren't separate from the dating backdrop. trust and safety aren't separate from the dating backdrop They're really, truly tied to it and lay such a key piece of the foundation of showing up in order to connect and find romance. This generation can be cautious about identity, about intentions, about information that they're sharing and promoting. If users don't feel safe or comfortable, they won't engage meaningfully. It's a really, really important piece of the puzzle that we pay a lot of attention to. They're really, truly tied to it and lay such a key piece of the foundation of showing up in order to connect and find romance. they're really truly tied to it and lay such a key piece of the foundation of showing up in order to connect and find romance This generation can be cautious about identity, about intentions, about information that they're sharing and promoting. this generation can be cautious about identity about intentions about information that they're sharing and promoting If users don't feel safe or comfortable, they won't engage meaningfully. if users don't feel safe or comfortable they won't engage meaningfully It's a really, really important piece of the puzzle that we pay a lot of attention to. it's a really really important piece of the puzzle that we pay a lot of attention to

Speaker 3: The intersection of physical safety and emotional safety is interesting. What popped into my head when you were talking, Emily, I'm an alumni interviewer for my college, and I've interviewed five to 10 high school seniors for the last 25 years. The intersection of physical safety and emotional safety is interesting. the intersection of physical safety and emotional safety is interesting What popped into my head when you were talking, Emily, I'm an alumni interviewer for my college, and I've interviewed five to 10 high school seniors for the last 25 years. what popped into my head when you were talking emily i'm an alumni interviewer for my college and i've interviewed five to 10 high school seniors for the last 25 years I've got a pretty good longitudinal. I've got a pretty good longitudinal. i've got a pretty good longitudinal

Speaker 1: I'm sure. I'm sure. i'm sure

Speaker 3: Interaction. I noticed about five years ago, maybe seven years ago, these high school seniors started bringing their parents, or they would say, "My parent is waiting in the car outside. Interaction. interaction I noticed about five years ago, maybe seven years ago, these high school seniors started bringing their parents, or they would say, "My parent is waiting in the car outside. i noticed about five years ago maybe seven years ago these high school seniors started bringing their parents or they would say "my parent is waiting in the car outside At first, that was a little surprising. That's one of the tests of this is to see if they have their act together as a high school senior, and they can be self-motivated and organized, and I was like, I didn't think that much of it. The last couple of years, increasingly, the parent is in the Starbucks with them at another table or nearby, or even if I do it in my office, they ask if they can wait in the lobby. It's that intersection of physical safety because they know they're meeting a stranger, and they want to make sure that they're safe, but also emotional safety. They know there's someone nearby that's there for them. At first, that was a little surprising. at first that was a little surprising That's one of the tests of this is to see if they have their act together as a high school senior, and they can be self-motivated and organized, and I was like, I didn't think that much of it. that's one of the tests of this is to see if they have their act together as a high school senior and they can be self-motivated and organized and i was like i didn't think that much of it The last couple of years, increasingly, the parent is in the Starbucks with them at another table or nearby, or even if I do it in my office, they ask if they can wait in the lobby. the last couple of years increasingly the parent is in the starbucks with them at another table or nearby or even if i do it in my office they ask if they can wait in the lobby It's that intersection of physical safety because they know they're meeting a stranger, and they want to make sure that they're safe, but also emotional safety. it's that intersection of physical safety because they know they're meeting a stranger and they want to make sure that they're safe but also emotional safety They know there's someone nearby that's there for them. they know there's someone nearby that's there for them

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: It's really changed in those 25 years. It's really changed in those 25 years. it's really changed in those 25 years

Speaker 1: No, it's a great example, and it's that crossover that makes you be you, right? No, it's a great example, and it's that crossover that makes you be you, right? no it's a great example and it's that crossover that makes you be you right

Speaker 3: Right. Right. right

Speaker 1: That they can hopefully ace the interview and go to the school of their dreams. That they can hopefully ace the interview and go to the school of their dreams. that they can hopefully ace the interview and go to the school of their dreams

Speaker 3: Right. Taking all these insights together, these are not just interesting observations, although many of them are. They really are baked into our product strategy. I think Maxie did a great job describing, at the beginning, just how global and deeply embedded this research is. If research doesn't also make its way into the product and our marketing, then it's only academically interesting. It's not actually applied. We've done a really good job of making sure that we apply these types of insights into our product development. I'm not sure that was always the case in years past. Right. right Taking all these insights together, these are not just interesting observations, although many of them are. taking all these insights together these are not just interesting observations although many of them are They really are baked into our product strategy. they really are baked into our product strategy I think Maxie did a great job describing, at the beginning, just how global and deeply embedded this research is. i think maxie did a great job describing at the beginning just how global and deeply embedded this research is If research doesn't also make its way into the product and our marketing, then it's only academically interesting. if research doesn't also make its way into the product and our marketing then it's only academically interesting It's not actually applied. it's not actually applied We've done a really good job of making sure that we apply these types of insights into our product development. we've done a really good job of making sure that we apply these types of insights into our product development I'm not sure that was always the case in years past. i'm not sure that was always the case in years past I think one of the reasons that Match Group kind of lost its way there for a couple of years and maybe missed some of these changing consumer attitudes as Gen Z aged into our category was because either we didn't have the network of consumer insights and/or it wasn't well baked into product development and marketing. I feel like today we're in a much, much better place on both those fronts. Just to tick through some of the products. Tinder's role is not to become Hinge. Tinder is all about possibility and discovery and lower pressure connections. The Tinder roadmap that leverages these types of insights has been focused on building features like Events and Double Date, which help make dating more social and less isolated. Astrology Mode, which gives users this lighter weight way to start a conversation and express their personality. I think one of the reasons that Match Group kind of lost its way there for a couple of years and maybe missed some of these changing consumer attitudes as Gen Z aged into our category was because either we didn't have the network of consumer insights and/or it wasn't well baked into product development and marketing. i think one of the reasons that match group kind of lost its way there for a couple of years and maybe missed some of these changing consumer attitudes as gen z aged into our category was because either we didn't have the network of consumer insights and/or it wasn't well baked into product development and marketing I feel like today we're in a much, much better place on both those fronts. i feel like today we're in a much much better place on both those fronts Just to tick through some of the products. just to tick through some of the products Tinder's role is not to become Hinge. tinder's role is not to become hinge Tinder is all about possibility and discovery and lower pressure connections. tinder is all about possibility and discovery and lower pressure connections The Tinder roadmap that leverages these types of insights has been focused on building features like Events and Double Date, which help make dating more social and less isolated. the tinder roadmap that leverages these types of insights has been focused on building features like events and double date which help make dating more social and less isolated Astrology Mode, which gives users this lighter weight way to start a conversation and express their personality. astrology mode which gives users this lighter weight way to start a conversation and express their personality Are You Sure? and Does This Bother You?, which create more respectful interactions. We're really encouraged by a lot of these features and how they're doing. Hinge is approaching this same generation, from a different relationship mindset. The way Hinge focuses on these types of things, oh, if we can go to the next slide, please. Thank you. Are You Sure? and Does This Bother You?, which create more respectful interactions. are you sure and does this bother you which create more respectful interactions We're really encouraged by a lot of these features and how they're doing. we're really encouraged by a lot of these features and how they're doing Hinge is approaching this same generation, from a different relationship mindset. hinge is approaching this same generation from a different relationship mindset The way Hinge focuses on these types of things, oh, if we can go to the next slide, please. the way hinge focuses on these types of things oh if we can go to the next slide please Thank you. thank you Is by focusing on fewer but more meaningful interactions. Hinge features like Friends Take or Date Ideas or Signals, which is a badge that indicates whether you're there on Hinge with true intentionality or Match Note. These are all features that ladder up to helping people show that they're there with care and context. Tinder's about lowering the stakes for discovery, so it's a more chill, relaxed environment, and Hinge is about raising the bar for intentional dating. We think these two brands coexist really well, and even though they're both going after, to a large extent, people in the same age demographic, we think they serve different consumer needs. A metaphor that I like to use that we've talked a lot about is the difference between a music festival and a music concert. Is by focusing on fewer but more meaningful interactions. is by focusing on fewer but more meaningful interactions Hinge features like Friends Take or Date Ideas or Signals, which is a badge that indicates whether you're there on Hinge with true intentionality or Match Note. hinge features like friends take or date ideas or signals which is a badge that indicates whether you're there on hinge with true intentionality or match note These are all features that ladder up to helping people show that they're there with care and context. these are all features that ladder up to helping people show that they're there with care and context Tinder's about lowering the stakes for discovery, so it's a more chill, relaxed environment, and Hinge is about raising the bar for intentional dating. tinder's about lowering the stakes for discovery so it's a more chill relaxed environment and hinge is about raising the bar for intentional dating We think these two brands coexist really well, and even though they're both going after, to a large extent, people in the same age demographic, we think they serve different consumer needs. we think these two brands coexist really well and even though they're both going after to a large extent people in the same age demographic we think they serve different consumer needs A metaphor that I like to use that we've talked a lot about is the difference between a music festival and a music concert. a metaphor that i like to use that we've talked a lot about is the difference between a music festival and a music concert

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: If you have tickets to a music concert, you know you're going to see Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, whoever. Now you know my musical taste. You've got tickets for that show at a particular point in time. You know what you're going to get. In fact, I just took five Gen Z friends of my kids to a concert, and they were looking at the setlist ahead of time, which is posted online, and I was like, "Don't you want the serendipity of not knowing what songs are going to" I would never have looked at a setlist when I was their age. And they're like, "No, I want to know what I'm going to get. I'm going there with intentionality." That's a concert, that's like Hinge. If you have tickets to a music concert, you know you're going to see Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, whoever. if you have tickets to a music concert you know you're going to see ariana grande sabrina carpenter taylor swift olivia rodrigo whoever Now you know my musical taste. now you know my musical taste You've got tickets for that show at a particular point in time. you've got tickets for that show at a particular point in time You know what you're going to get. you know what you're going to get In fact, I just took five Gen Z friends of my kids to a concert, and they were looking at the setlist ahead of time, which is posted online, and I was like, "Don't you want the serendipity of not knowing what songs are going to" I would never have looked at a setlist when I was their age. in fact i just took five gen z friends of my kids to a concert and they were looking at the setlist ahead of time which is posted online and i was like "don't you want the serendipity of not knowing what songs are going to" i would never have looked at a setlist when i was their age And they're like, "No, I want to know what I'm going to get. and they're like "no i want to know what i'm going to get I'm going there with intentionality." That's a concert, that's like Hinge. i'm going there with intentionality." that's a concert that's like hinge Going to a festival, like a BottleRock or a Governors Ball or a Coachella, that's about kind of vibing your way through the experience and the serendipity of, maybe I'll watch four or five songs, and if I'm enjoying it, I'll stay for the whole set. Maybe I'll leave and I'll go to this other set that's playing at the same time, or I'll go check out some of the experiential brand activations and sort of find my way through that. The journey is the destination. Going to a festival, like a BottleRock or a Governors Ball or a Coachella, that's about kind of vibing your way through the experience and the serendipity of, maybe I'll watch four or five songs, and if I'm enjoying it, I'll stay for the whole set. going to a festival like a bottlerock or a governors ball or a coachella that's about kind of vibing your way through the experience and the serendipity of maybe i'll watch four or five songs and if i'm enjoying it i'll stay for the whole set Maybe I'll leave and I'll go to this other set that's playing at the same time, or I'll go check out some of the experiential brand activations and sort of find my way through that. maybe i'll leave and i'll go to this other set that's playing at the same time or i'll go check out some of the experiential brand activations and sort of find my way through that The journey is the destination. the journey is the destination

Speaker 2: Yeah Yeah yeah

Speaker 3: In the case of the festival. Young people love concerts, they love festivals, but they play different roles, and that's how we think about Hinge relative to Tinder. I think, next slide, please. Max, over to you for some thoughts on the next generation. In the case of the festival. in the case of the festival Young people love concerts, they love festivals, but they play different roles, and that's how we think about Hinge relative to Tinder. young people love concerts they love festivals but they play different roles and that's how we think about hinge relative to tinder I think, next slide, please. i think next slide please Max, over to you for some thoughts on the next generation. max over to you for some thoughts on the next generation

Speaker 2: Thanks. Also love that metaphor. I did too. It was my favorite. The category's next generation of Gen Alpha is already forming. They're coming into their own identity, and we're seeing a lot of their social and emotional behaviors. First and foremost, Gen Alpha are very young. They're ages two to 15 years old. For the purposes of this, when we're talking about our research with Gen Alpha, we're really referring to older Gen Alpha and some research that we conducted amongst 14 and 15-year-olds with parental consent. We did this research to validate that the work that we're doing right now for Gen Z and younger Gen Z, for Tinder and Hinge and our products across the portfolio, will resonate once Gen Alpha turn 18, are ready to start dating on our products. Thanks. thanks Also love that metaphor. also love that metaphor I did too. i did too It was my favorite. it was my favorite The category's next generation of Gen Alpha is already forming. the category's next generation of gen alpha is already forming They're coming into their own identity, and we're seeing a lot of their social and emotional behaviors. they're coming into their own identity and we're seeing a lot of their social and emotional behaviors First and foremost, Gen Alpha are very young. first and foremost gen alpha are very young They're ages two to 1 5 years old. they're ages two to 1 5 years old For the purposes of this, when we're talking about our research with Gen Alpha, we're really referring to older Gen Alpha and some research that we conducted amongst 14 and 15-year-olds with parental consent. for the purposes of this when we're talking about our research with gen alpha we're really referring to older gen alpha and some research that we conducted amongst 14 and 15-year-olds with parental consent We did this research to validate that the work that we're doing right now for Gen Z and younger Gen Z, for Tinder and Hinge and our products across the portfolio, will resonate once Gen Alpha turn 18, are ready to start dating on our products. we did this research to validate that the work that we're doing right now for gen z and younger gen z for tinder and hinge and our products across the portfolio will resonate once gen alpha turn 18 are ready to start dating on our products From the preliminary research, which should absolutely be treated as an early signal and not at all a forecast, we remain quite optimistic of some of the preliminary findings. For example, older Gen Alpha are less pandemic defined. They're more optimistic and even in some ways enthusiastic about adulthood. They talk about their really thoughtful relationship that they have with technology and their phones and social media. Three in four of Gen Alpha are open to dating throughout their high school experiences. Again, these are really promising signals, and what's behind it, we think, are many different underlying factors. One of which is that their parents are mostly Millennials. Millennials who have seen this transition and understand a counterfactual of what a life like and social interactions were pre-pandemic. Another one is that in many jurisdictions across the country, schools, particularly public schools, have implemented phone bans. From the preliminary research, which should absolutely be treated as an early signal and not at all a forecast, we remain quite optimistic of some of the preliminary findings. from the preliminary research which should absolutely be treated as an early signal and not at all a forecast we remain quite optimistic of some of the preliminary findings For example, older Gen Alpha are less pandemic defined. for example older gen alpha are less pandemic defined They're more optimistic and even in some ways enthusiastic about adulthood. they're more optimistic and even in some ways enthusiastic about adulthood They talk about their really thoughtful relationship that they have with technology and their phones and social media. they talk about their really thoughtful relationship that they have with technology and their phones and social media Three in four of Gen Alpha are open to dating throughout their high school experiences. three in four of gen alpha are open to dating throughout their high school experiences Again, these are really promising signals, and what's behind it, we think, are many different underlying factors. again these are really promising signals and what's behind it we think are many different underlying factors One of which is that their parents are mostly Millennials. one of which is that their parents are mostly millennials Millennials who have seen this transition and understand a counterfactual of what a life like and social interactions were pre-pandemic. millennials who have seen this transition and understand a counterfactual of what a life like and social interactions were pre-pandemic Another one is that in many jurisdictions across the country, schools, particularly public schools, have implemented phone bans. another one is that in many jurisdictions across the country schools particularly public schools have implemented phone bans This in particular, we've heard from these older Gen Alpha, have really changed the way in which they're connecting in lunchrooms, the playground, even at recess and times, and what they expect and how they use their time during their extracurriculars and at home. It really differently changes the ways in which they engage with social media and consume different forms of media. This in particular, we've heard from these older Gen Alpha, have really changed the way in which they're connecting in lunchrooms, the playground, even at recess and times, and what they expect and how they use their time during their extracurriculars and at home. this in particular we've heard from these older gen alpha have really changed the way in which they're connecting in lunchrooms the playground even at recess and times and what they expect and how they use their time during their extracurriculars and at home It really differently changes the ways in which they engage with social media and consume different forms of media. it really differently changes the ways in which they engage with social media and consume different forms of media

Speaker 3: I see this in my own situation. I have a 21-year-old who is Gen Z. She had phones in school. I see this in my own situation. i see this in my own situation I have a 21-year-old who is Gen Z. i have a 21-year-old who is gen z She had phones in school. she had phones in school Missed critical years of high school and the beginning of college because of COVID-19. She is very similar to the way you're describing Gen Z, which is kind of reticent to put yourself out there. Then I've got a 15-year-old who have no phones in school because the ban happened since then. She has positive recollections of the pandemic because that was like a fun time when I got to be at home, but it didn't kind of affect the way she forms human connection. She and her friends are super social. They do date. They hook up. They do big group hangs at people's houses, like very, very social. It's very different between the Gen Alpha and the Gen Z. Missed critical years of high school and the beginning of college because of COVID-19. missed critical years of high school and the beginning of college because of covid-19 She is very similar to the way you're describing Gen Z, which is kind of reticent to put yourself out there. she is very similar to the way you're describing gen z which is kind of reticent to put yourself out there Then I've got a 15-year-old who have no phones in school because the ban happened since then. then i've got a 15-year-old who have no phones in school because the ban happened since then She has positive recollections of the pandemic because that was like a fun time when I got to be at home, but it didn't kind of affect the way she forms human connection. she has positive recollections of the pandemic because that was like a fun time when i got to be at home but it didn't kind of affect the way she forms human connection She and her friends are super social. she and her friends are super social They do date. they do date They hook up. they hook up They do big group hangs at people's houses, like very, very social. they do big group hangs at people's houses like very very social It's very different between the Gen Alpha and the Gen Z. it's very different between the gen alpha and the gen z Is it fair to say, maybe, am I generalizing or is Gen Alpha a likely reversion to the mean, where from a dating app standpoint, You think look more like past generations or not? Not sure yet, or what do you think? Is it fair to say, maybe, am I generalizing or is Gen Alpha a likely reversion to the mean, where from a dating app standpoint, You think look more like past generations or not? is it fair to say maybe am i generalizing or is gen alpha a likely reversion to the mean where from a dating app standpoint you think look more like past generations or not Not sure yet, or what do you think? not sure yet or what do you think

Speaker 2: It's a little early to say because those signals. It's a little early to say because those signals. it's a little early to say because those signals

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: However, both might be true. We do see some that they have some shared DNA with younger Gen Z. They are also digitally native. They are very fluent with some of these mental health language, as well as using these different tools for connecting online. That is very comfortable and native to them. At the same time, these are promising signals that potentially a lot of these milestones might go back to what they were in older generational cohorts because they were less defined by the pandemic. However, both might be true. however both might be true We do see some that they have some shared DNA with younger Gen Z. we do see some that they have some shared dna with younger gen z They are also digitally native. they are also digitally native They are very fluent with some of these mental health language, as well as using these different tools for connecting online. they are very fluent with some of these mental health language as well as using these different tools for connecting online That is very comfortable and native to them. that is very comfortable and native to them At the same time, these are promising signals that potentially a lot of these milestones might go back to what they were in older generational cohorts because they were less defined by the pandemic. at the same time these are promising signals that potentially a lot of these milestones might go back to what they were in older generational cohorts because they were less defined by the pandemic The face-to-face interaction that they're having is still happening in their critical times of cognitive development and social development. Too early to see. The face-to-face interaction that they're having is still happening in their critical times of cognitive development and social development. the face-to-face interaction that they're having is still happening in their critical times of cognitive development and social development Too early to see. too early to see Optimistic. Optimistic. optimistic

Speaker 1: Asking the right questions. Asking the right questions. asking the right questions

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: We discussed a little bit about different trends regarding sexuality and sexual preference. Another thing that occurs to me that's different than Millennials is Gen Z and Gen Alpha potentially is relationship with alcohol. We discussed a little bit about different trends regarding sexuality and sexual preference. we discussed a little bit about different trends regarding sexuality and sexual preference Another thing that occurs to me that's different than Millennials is Gen Z and Gen Alpha potentially is relationship with alcohol. another thing that occurs to me that's different than millennials is gen z and gen alpha potentially is relationship with alcohol Tell us more about that and what impact you think that has on these generations. Tell us more about that and what impact you think that has on these generations. tell us more about that and what impact you think that has on these generations

Speaker 2: Yes. There's a lot of mixed information about alcohol consumption. Generally, it does appear in many ways for Gen Z to be down compared to generational cohorts, but it's not just overall consumption. It's more interesting to look at what types of alcohol are being consumed, because in some ways, like in some particular brands, we do see a growth. Yes. yes There's a lot of mixed information about alcohol consumption. there's a lot of mixed information about alcohol consumption Generally, it does appear in many ways for Gen Z to be down compared to generational cohorts, but it's not just overall consumption. generally it does appear in many ways for gen z to be down compared to generational cohorts but it's not just overall consumption It's more interesting to look at what types of alcohol are being consumed, because in some ways, like in some particular brands, we do see a growth. it's more interesting to look at what types of alcohol are being consumed because in some ways like in some particular brands we do see a growth

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: That absolutely does impact behaviors. To your point exactly on like the festivals versus concerts, we are seeing Gen Z, again, also the mental health language, prioritizing wellness in different ways, and one of that does mean reducing the amount of alcohol consumption. This is not a generalization. We still know that there is a lot of alcohol consumption occurring amongst Gen Z who are over 21 on college campuses and other places. Yes, to a large extent, it is impacting social behaviors and what the nightlife scene looks like. Look around in L.A. as well, and you can see a 10:00 P.M. That absolutely does impact behaviors. that absolutely does impact behaviors To your point exactly on like the festivals versus concerts, we are seeing Gen Z, again, also the mental health language, prioritizing wellness in different ways, and one of that does mean reducing the amount of alcohol consumption. to your point exactly on like the festivals versus concerts we are seeing gen z again also the mental health language prioritizing wellness in different ways and one of that does mean reducing the amount of alcohol consumption This is not a generalization. this is not a generalization We still know that there is a lot of alcohol consumption occurring amongst Gen Z who are over 21 on college campuses and other places. we still know that there is a lot of alcohol consumption occurring amongst gen z who are over 21 on college campuses and other places Yes, to a large extent, it is impacting social behaviors and what the nightlife scene looks like. yes to a large extent it is impacting social behaviors and what the nightlife scene looks like Look around in L.A. as well, and you can see a 10:00 P.M. look around in l.a as well and you can see a 10:00 p.m

Speaker 3: Yeah, we see the different events in L.A., the dry ones are very popular. Yeah, we see the different events in L.A., the dry ones are very popular. yeah we see the different events in l.a the dry ones are very popular

Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah Exactly. exactly Yeah yeah

Speaker 3: The ones that are more about self-improvement or learning or personal growth. Pottery class is- The ones that are more about self-improvement or learning or personal growth. the ones that are more about self-improvement or learning or personal growth Pottery class is- pottery class is-

Speaker 2: Exactly. Mahjong Exactly. exactly Mahjong mahjong

Speaker 3: Mahjong is as popular or more popular than happy hour. Mahjong is as popular or more popular than happy hour. mahjong is as popular or more popular than happy hour

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 3: I think we're going to turn to questions. We've got a lot of great questions here. Some have come in from some Wall Street analysts, and some of them have included their names. I'll include their names for attribution. Some of the questions have come in anonymously, but I'll just jump in here. Cory Carpenter from JPMorgan asks, "How do younger Gen Z and older Gen Z behave, and are there major differences between older and younger Gen Z? I think we're going to turn to questions. i think we're going to turn to questions We've got a lot of great questions here. we've got a lot of great questions here Some have come in from some Wall Street analysts, and some of them have included their names. some have come in from some wall street analysts and some of them have included their names I'll include their names for attribution. i'll include their names for attribution Some of the questions have come in anonymously, but I'll just jump in here. some of the questions have come in anonymously but i'll just jump in here Cory Carpenter from JP Morgan asks, "How do younger Gen Z and older Gen Z behave, and are there major differences between older and younger Gen Z? cory carpenter from jp morgan asks "how do younger gen z and older gen z behave and are there major differences between older and younger gen z

Speaker 1: We define older Gen Z as 25-29, and what really defines them is life stage. We take a really close look at life stage across Gen Z because, as we've stated, Gen Z is not a monolith. They have a lot of nuance and detail. What we do see with older Gen Z is because they're older, they're more comfortable in these app spaces and leveraging dating apps in order to go on dates to find those connections. Because they're less socially embedded in their networks, like from university or early school places, like younger Gen Z is. Younger Gen Z, which is 18-24, they really find that they're socially embedded more so, as mentioned, because they're in those university spaces, those early schooling spaces. We define older Gen Z as 25-29, and what really defines them is life stage. we define older gen z as 25-29 and what really defines them is life stage We take a really close look at life stage across Gen Z because, as we've stated, Gen Z is not a monolith. we take a really close look at life stage across gen z because as we've stated gen z is not a monolith They have a lot of nuance and detail. they have a lot of nuance and detail What we do see with older Gen Z is because they're older, they're more comfortable in these app spaces and leveraging dating apps in order to go on dates to find those connections. what we do see with older gen z is because they're older they're more comfortable in these app spaces and leveraging dating apps in order to go on dates to find those connections Because they're less socially embedded in their networks, like from university or early school places, like younger Gen Z is. because they're less socially embedded in their networks like from university or early school places like younger gen z is Younger Gen Z, which is 18-24, they really find that they're socially embedded more so, as mentioned, because they're in those university spaces, those early schooling spaces. younger gen z which is 18-24 they really find that they're socially embedded more so as mentioned because they're in those university spaces those early schooling spaces

Speaker 3: It's easier to meet new people when you're. It's easier to meet new people when you're. it's easier to meet new people when you're

Speaker 1: It's easier to meet people by proximity. It's easier to meet people by proximity. it's easier to meet people by proximity

Speaker 3: Higher up. Right Higher up. higher up right Right higher up right

Speaker 1: They're comfortable with that, as we were just discussing with some of how COVID-19 sort of impacted their formative developmental years. What is really notable is that across both cohorts, regardless of life stage, is they actually both rank number one intent is serious relationships, that they want something longer term. The way that they approach that and access that is different based off of the life stage that they're currently active in. Of course, that varies across life stage too. You've got some people that may be 28, just broke up a very serious relationship. They might be seeking and sourcing relationships differently than someone their same age who hasn't had that longer term or something more serious as a relationship breakup like that. They're comfortable with that, as we were just discussing with some of how COVID-19 sort of impacted their formative developmental years. they're comfortable with that as we were just discussing with some of how covid-19 sort of impacted their formative developmental years What is really notable is that across both cohorts, regardless of life stage, is they actually both rank number one intent is serious relationships, that they want something longer term. what is really notable is that across both cohorts regardless of life stage is they actually both rank number one intent is serious relationships that they want something longer term The way that they approach that and access that is different based off of the life stage that they're currently active in. the way that they approach that and access that is different based off of the life stage that they're currently active in Of course, that varies across life stage too. of course that varies across life stage too You've got some people that may be 28, just broke up a very serious relationship. you've got some people that may be 28 just broke up a very serious relationship They might be seeking and sourcing relationships differently than someone their same age who hasn't had that longer term or something more serious as a relationship breakup like that. they might be seeking and sourcing relationships differently than someone their same age who hasn't had that longer term or something more serious as a relationship breakup like that

Speaker 2: Totally. I'm thinking of a conversation we had recently with a younger Gen Z woman of 23. I believe she was in Raleigh, and she says, "Oh, yeah, I absolutely want a serious relationship, but I'm really going to put it into high gear when I'm much older. Totally. totally I'm thinking of a conversation we had recently with a younger Gen Z woman of 23. i'm thinking of a conversation we had recently with a younger gen z woman of 23 I believe she was in Raleigh, and she says, "Oh, yeah, I absolutely want a serious relationship, but I'm really going to put it into high gear when I'm much older. i believe she was in raleigh and she says "oh yeah i absolutely want a serious relationship but i'm really going to put it into high gear when i'm much older

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: I was like, "Okay, when is that? 25?" It's like when the next life stage is. To Emily's point, readiness and life stage play a massive role, but again, there is still this fundamental desire for a meaningful connection as the goal. It's just how and when they want to approach it looks a bit different. I was like, "Okay, when is that? 25?" It's like when the next life stage is. i was like "okay when is that 25?" it's like when the next life stage is To Emily's point, readiness and life stage play a massive role, but again, there is still this fundamental desire for a meaningful connection as the goal. to emily's point readiness and life stage play a massive role but again there is still this fundamental desire for a meaningful connection as the goal It's just how and when they want to approach it looks a bit different. it's just how and when they want to approach it looks a bit different

Speaker 3: Okay. This user or this listener asks, "Do you think Gen Z will age into more traditional dating behaviors, or are they permanently changing the category? Okay. okay This user or this listener asks, "Do you think Gen Z will age into more traditional dating behaviors, or are they permanently changing the category? this user or this listener asks "do you think gen z will age into more traditional dating behaviors or are they permanently changing the category

Speaker 2: I believe they will. I believe that traditional milestones will prevail, and that we're seeing this, again, to Emily's point on the real importance of life stage and readiness, that yes, we're seeing that as they're getting older, they are going into these more traditional milestones, whether it's about connection or more broadly, trends that we're seeing around moving out of their parents' home, finding a certain sense of economic or financial stability. I believe they will. i believe they will I believe that traditional milestones will prevail, and that we're seeing this, again, to Emily's point on the real importance of life stage and readiness, that yes, we're seeing that as they're getting older, they are going into these more traditional milestones, whether it's about connection or more broadly, trends that we're seeing around moving out of their parents' home, finding a certain sense of economic or financial stability. i believe that traditional milestones will prevail and that we're seeing this again to emily's point on the real importance of life stage and readiness that yes we're seeing that as they're getting older they are going into these more traditional milestones whether it's about connection or more broadly trends that we're seeing around moving out of their parents' home finding a certain sense of economic or financial stability

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: Yeah. When I was running Zillow for a long time, we did a lot of research on this question around home ownership because as homes became less affordable, as the sharing economy grew and people were not buying cars, they were using ride sharing, or they were not buying their own music, they were using streaming, or not buying their own DVDs, they were watching streaming TV and film. There was this question of, Are people just not going to want to own homes anymore, and it's going to become kind of a renter nation? We did tons and tons of consumer research on it, and the answer is no. People still want to own homes. Yeah. yeah When I was running Zillow for a long time, we did a lot of research on this question around home ownership because as homes became less affordable, as the sharing economy grew and people were not buying cars, they were using ride sharing, or they were not buying their own music, they were using streaming, or not buying their own DVDs, they were watching streaming TV and film. when i was running zillow for a long time we did a lot of research on this question around home ownership because as homes became less affordable as the sharing economy grew and people were not buying cars they were using ride sharing or they were not buying their own music they were using streaming or not buying their own dvds they were watching streaming tv and film There was this question of, Are people just not going to want to own homes anymore, and it's going to become kind of a renter nation? there was this question of, are people just not going to want to own homes anymore and it's going to become kind of a renter nation We did tons and tons of consumer research on it, and the answer is no. we did tons and tons of consumer research on it and the answer is no People still want to own homes. people still want to own homes

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: They're just going to do it later. They're just going to do it later. they're just going to do it later

Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 3: The median age for a first-time home buyer now is 40, and it used to be 30 about a decade ago. They still want to own homes. It's still very high on their aspiration list, and they're still going to. They're just doing it later in life. The median age for a first-time home buyer now is 40, and it used to be 30 about a decade ago. the median age for a first-time home buyer now is 40 and it used to be 30 about a decade ago They still want to own homes. they still want to own homes It's still very high on their aspiration list, and they're still going to. it's still very high on their aspiration list and they're still going to They're just doing it later in life. they're just doing it later in life

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: It sounds like you think something similar is applying to this category? It sounds like you think something similar is applying to this category? it sounds like you think something similar is applying to this category

Speaker 1: Absolutely, that's why we spoke to Gen Z. It's the timeline that's shifted a little bit in how they want to get there. It's not always linear, but as Seth stated, number 1 intent is a serious relationship. They still want it. It's just a matter of the journey of getting there and when they hit that milestone. Absolutely, that's why we spoke to Gen Z. absolutely that's why we spoke to gen z It's the timeline that's shifted a little bit in how they want to get there. it's the timeline that's shifted a little bit in how they want to get there It's not always linear, but as Seth stated, number 1 intent is a serious relationship. it's not always linear but as seth stated number 1 intent is a serious relationship They still want it. they still want it It's just a matter of the journey of getting there and when they hit that milestone. it's just a matter of the journey of getting there and when they hit that milestone

Speaker 3: I have a question which wasn't submitted, but I feel like it's sort of the elephant in the room. Why does Gen Z not want meaningless hookups the way millennials did when they were 18-25 and hookups were okay, and now there's a stigma against shallow, meaningless hookups? It sounds like all the research we've shared is that they don't want that. They want more intentionality. What's wrong with hookups, and why doesn't Gen Z like them? I have a question which wasn't submitted, but I feel like it's sort of the elephant in the room. i have a question which wasn't submitted but i feel like it's sort of the elephant in the room Why does Gen Z not want meaningless hookups the way millennials did when they were 18-25 and hookups were okay, and now there's a stigma against shallow, meaningless hookups? why does gen z not want meaningless hookups the way millennials did when they were 18-25 and hookups were okay and now there's a stigma against shallow meaningless hookups It sounds like all the research we've shared is that they don't want that. it sounds like all the research we've shared is that they don't want that They want more intentionality. they want more intentionality What's wrong with hookups, and why doesn't Gen Z like them? what's wrong with hookups and why doesn't gen z like them

Speaker 2: I would argue that not all millennials wanted meaningless hookups at the time, but it's more so that it was accepted as a social norm, as one of the process to finding a meaningful relationship. I would argue that not all millennials wanted meaningless hookups at the time, but it's more so that it was accepted as a social norm, as one of the process to finding a meaningful relationship. i would argue that not all millennials wanted meaningless hookups at the time but it's more so that it was accepted as a social norm as one of the process to finding a meaningful relationship

Speaker 3: Okay. Okay. okay

Speaker 2: There was a lot of social pressure, that this is one of the ways to demonstrate interest and signal interest. Gen Z, as mentioned with the prioritization and understanding of readiness and mental health, said this isn't the only way to get there. There was a lot of social pressure, that this is one of the ways to demonstrate interest and signal interest. there was a lot of social pressure that this is one of the ways to demonstrate interest and signal interest Gen Z, as mentioned with the prioritization and understanding of readiness and mental health, said this isn't the only way to get there. gen z as mentioned with the prioritization and understanding of readiness and mental health said this isn't the only way to get there

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: There are other ways to demonstrate interest and more authentic connections that are not solely rooted on sexuality, of ways to court and find companionship and express values. The norms are changing, more so of expressed desires, the way that they seek companionship. This translates to sexual behaviors, the fundamental desire for human connection is ultimately the same. There are other ways to demonstrate interest and more authentic connections that are not solely rooted on sexuality, of ways to court and find companionship and express values. there are other ways to demonstrate interest and more authentic connections that are not solely rooted on sexuality of ways to court and find companionship and express values The norms are changing, more so of expressed desires, the way that they seek companionship. the norms are changing more so of expressed desires the way that they seek companionship This translates to sexual behaviors, the fundamental desire for human connection is ultimately the same. this translates to sexual behaviors the fundamental desire for human connection is ultimately the same

Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. It brings to mind this discussion that we had around vice and alcohol, right? There's this desire in an unstable environment of control and controlling the things that you can, I think that's why we see a lot of reduction in some of these mind-altering vices. Yeah, absolutely. yeah absolutely It brings to mind this discussion that we had around vice and alcohol, right? it brings to mind this discussion that we had around vice and alcohol right There's this desire in an unstable environment of control and controlling the things that you can, I think that's why we see a lot of reduction in some of these mind-altering vices. there's this desire in an unstable environment of control and controlling the things that you can i think that's why we see a lot of reduction in some of these mind-altering vices That changes, that goes similarly with sexuality, actually engaging in sex. You reduce control, you reduce risk of cancellation, of doing something wrong. I think in that subsegment of Gen Z is also probably an emotional response to why there's some of that reduction in sex. That changes, that goes similarly with sexuality, actually engaging in sex. that changes that goes similarly with sexuality actually engaging in sex You reduce control, you reduce risk of cancellation, of doing something wrong. you reduce control you reduce risk of cancellation of doing something wrong I think in that subsegment of Gen Z is also probably an emotional response to why there's some of that reduction in sex. i think in that subsegment of gen z is also probably an emotional response to why there's some of that reduction in sex

Speaker 3: Okay. Jason Helfstein from Oppenheimer asks, "Gen Z appears to lack certain social norms that would facilitate successful dating. As such, even successful matches don't seem to convert to dates, or first dates don't convert to second dates. Do you feel this is something Match Group needs to address or correct to make Tinder or Hinge successful over the long term? Okay. okay Jason Helfstein from Oppenheimer asks, "Gen Z appears to lack certain social norms that would facilitate successful dating. jason helfstein from oppenheimer asks "gen z appears to lack certain social norms that would facilitate successful dating As such, even successful matches don't seem to convert to dates, or first dates don't convert to second dates. as such even successful matches don't seem to convert to dates or first dates don't convert to second dates Do you feel this is something Match Group needs to address or correct to make Tinder or Hinge successful over the long term? do you feel this is something match group needs to address or correct to make tinder or hinge successful over the long term

Speaker 1: I think the way we view it is that Gen Z has their own set of social norms. A lot of those exist digitally. As you were just mentioning with memes and GIFs showing up in the workspace, that is a fluency and a way and a social norm to communicate. You don't send someone a text to explain how you're feeling. You send them your favorite meme or your favorite sticker, your favorite emoji, which is a beautifully artful way to communicate your emotions, but that is the baseline social norm. The way that we use that and translate that for our products and our purposes is giving and offering higher context ways to communicate, right? It's offering things like a Music Mode or an Astrology Mode on Tinder to really showcase those signals and that juicy context and details that they're craving. I think the way we view it is that Gen Z has their own set of social norms. i think the way we view it is that gen z has their own set of social norms A lot of those exist digitally. a lot of those exist digitally As you were just mentioning with memes and GIFs showing up in the workspace, that is a fluency and a way and a social norm to communicate. as you were just mentioning with memes and gifs showing up in the workspace that is a fluency and a way and a social norm to communicate You don't send someone a text to explain how you're feeling. you don't send someone a text to explain how you're feeling You send them your favorite meme or your favorite sticker, your favorite emoji, which is a beautifully artful way to communicate your emotions, but that is the baseline social norm. you send them your favorite meme or your favorite sticker your favorite emoji which is a beautifully artful way to communicate your emotions but that is the baseline social norm The way that we use that and translate that for our products and our purposes is giving and offering higher context ways to communicate, right? the way that we use that and translate that for our products and our purposes is giving and offering higher context ways to communicate right It's offering things like a Music Mode or an Astrology Mode on Tinder to really showcase those signals and that juicy context and details that they're craving. it's offering things like a music mode or an astrology mode on tinder to really showcase those signals and that juicy context and details that they're craving That those social norms can be embedded in that experience and used to find a higher quality. That those social norms can be embedded in that experience and used to find a higher quality. that those social norms can be embedded in that experience and used to find a higher quality Better match in that way. Better match in that way. better match in that way

Speaker 2: On the research side, this is why it's important to triangulate different sources of evidence. There are so many different ways to define and interpret those norms. For example, if you do a survey, and we do surveys like this all the time, where you say, "What was your most recent date?" What is a date to a Gen Z is so different from all. On the research side, this is why it's important to triangulate different sources of evidence. on the research side this is why it's important to triangulate different sources of evidence There are so many different ways to define and interpret those norms. there are so many different ways to define and interpret those norms For example, if you do a survey, and we do surveys like this all the time, where you say, "What was your most recent date?" What is a date to a Gen Z is so different from all. for example if you do a survey and we do surveys like this all the time where you say "what was your most recent date?" what is a date to a gen z is so different from all

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: Different generations. Different generations. different generations

Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. oh yeah

Speaker 2: For the social norms of Millennials, many might think, oh, one-on-one could be let's get a drink at the bar. For Gen Z, this might be the third or fourth date already. What might be in some ways traditionally constructed in a survey as a date, they're already there, and this is why Tinder is building things like Events or Double Date to reshape and meet them where they are. For the social norms of Millennials, many might think, oh, one-on-one could be let's get a drink at the bar. for the social norms of millennials many might think oh one-on-one could be let's get a drink at the bar For Gen Z, this might be the third or fourth date already. for gen z this might be the third or fourth date already What might be in some ways traditionally constructed in a survey as a date, they're already there, and this is why Tinder is building things like Events or Double Date to reshape and meet them where they are. what might be in some ways traditionally constructed in a survey as a date they're already there and this is why tinder is building things like events or double date to reshape and meet them where they are

Speaker 3: In Double Date now, where on Tinder you can indicate your Date Ideas. In Double Date now, where on Tinder you can indicate your Date Ideas. in double date now where on tinder you can indicate your date ideas

Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 3: Many of the things listed there of Date Ideas, people of my generation wouldn't think of as a date. Many of the things listed there of Date Ideas, people of my generation wouldn't think of as a date. many of the things listed there of date ideas people of my generation wouldn't think of as a date

Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 3: I was talking to a Gen Alpha person the other day actually, and I used the term date, and they kind of looked at me kind of weird and she said, "Well, no, it's not really a date. It's more of a low-key kickback. I was talking to a Gen Alpha person the other day actually, and I used the term date, and they kind of looked at me kind of weird and she said, "Well, no, it's not really a date. i was talking to a gen alpha person the other day actually and i used the term date and they kind of looked at me kind of weird and she said "well no it's not really a date It's more of a low-key kickback. it's more of a low-key kickback

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: That's how she was describing what she and two, three girls, two, three guys were doing. It wasn't a date. I would call that a triple date. That is like, whoa, that's very intense. That's how she was describing what she and two, three girls, two, three guys were doing. that's how she was describing what she and two three girls two three guys were doing It wasn't a date. it wasn't a date I would call that a triple date. i would call that a triple date That is like, whoa, that's very intense. that is like whoa that's very intense

Speaker 1: For millennials, we're just hanging out. Yeah. For millennials, we're just hanging out. for millennials we're just hanging out Yeah. yeah

Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 1: Totally. Totally. totally

Speaker 3: Okay. Benjamin Black from Deutsche Bank asks, "Within dating, authenticity is clearly very important, particularly for Gen Z. How do you preserve authenticity in a world of AI, where prompts and profiles are increasingly leverage AI editing tools and AI recommendations?" Max, why don't you start with describing Gen Z's perception vis-à-vis AI, and then have Emily talk about how we bring it into the product? Okay. okay Benjamin Black from Deutsche Bank asks, "Within dating, authenticity is clearly very important, particularly for Gen Z. benjamin black from deutsche bank asks "within dating authenticity is clearly very important particularly for gen z How do you preserve authenticity in a world of AI, where prompts and profiles are increasingly leverage AI editing tools and AI recommendations?" Max, why don't you start with describing Gen Z's perception vis-à-vis AI, and then have Emily talk about how we bring it into the product? how do you preserve authenticity in a world of ai where prompts and profiles are increasingly leverage ai editing tools and ai recommendations?" max why don't you start with describing gen z's perception vis-à-vis ai and then have emily talk about how we bring it into the product

Speaker 2: Sure. First of all, to a very large extent, Gen Z are already using AI in many different ways, whether it's at work, whether it's through school to help them with assignments or summarize large swaths of information. Many Gen Z are very comfortable, and they tell us, and we see that they are using AI essentially in their daily lives. It looks a bit different when it comes to meaningful connections, and many Gen Z tell us that when it comes to building products or even if it's other things, not just dating apps, the internal tooling doesn't really matter. It's more important that they're getting the outcomes that the things they want. When it comes to our apps, it's that AI should help connect people better in the real world. They just want better dating outcomes. Sure. sure First of all, to a very large extent, Gen Z are already using AI in many different ways, whether it's at work, whether it's through school to help them with assignments or summarize large swaths of information. first of all to a very large extent gen z are already using ai in many different ways whether it's at work whether it's through school to help them with assignments or summarize large swaths of information Many Gen Z are very comfortable, and they tell us, and we see that they are using AI essentially in their daily lives. many gen z are very comfortable and they tell us and we see that they are using ai essentially in their daily lives It looks a bit different when it comes to meaningful connections, and many Gen Z tell us that when it comes to building products or even if it's other things, not just dating apps, the internal tooling doesn't really matter. it looks a bit different when it comes to meaningful connections and many gen z tell us that when it comes to building products or even if it's other things not just dating apps the internal tooling doesn't really matter It's more important that they're getting the outcomes that the things they want. it's more important that they're getting the outcomes that the things they want When it comes to our apps, it's that AI should help connect people better in the real world. They just want better dating outcomes. when it comes to our apps it's that ai should help connect people better in the real world. they just want better dating outcomes They want to be able to connect and make new friends in different ways. How they get there is not as important to them, more so it's just getting to that destination in the way that fits for them. They want to be able to connect and make new friends in different ways. they want to be able to connect and make new friends in different ways How they get there is not as important to them, more so it's just getting to that destination in the way that fits for them. how they get there is not as important to them more so it's just getting to that destination in the way that fits for them

Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I think the way that we think about AI, particularly with our products, as you mentioned, it's about connecting people better, more quickly to the real world. Within that, as we were just talking about agency, we want to make sure the user is always in the driver's seat and that their choice isn't reduced, but their momentum is increased. AI really provides the depth and scale that allows us to do that. One way we see that across Hinge really wonderfully is AI prompts recommendations. It's that partner and that friend in the journey with you. Just like you would text your girlfriend like, "Oh my gosh, this is what they said. This is what I'm thinking of responding. Yeah, absolutely. yeah absolutely I think the way that we think about AI, particularly with our products, as you mentioned, it's about connecting people better, more quickly to the real world. i think the way that we think about ai particularly with our products as you mentioned it's about connecting people better more quickly to the real world Within that, as we were just talking about agency, we want to make sure the user is always in the driver's seat and that their choice isn't reduced, but their momentum is increased. within that as we were just talking about agency we want to make sure the user is always in the driver's seat and that their choice isn't reduced but their momentum is increased AI really provides the depth and scale that allows us to do that. ai really provides the depth and scale that allows us to do that One way we see that across Hinge really wonderfully is AI prompts recommendations. one way we see that across hinge really wonderfully is ai prompts recommendations It's that partner and that friend in the journey with you. it's that partner and that friend in the journey with you Just like you would text your girlfriend like, "Oh my gosh, this is what they said. just like you would text your girlfriend like "oh my gosh this is what they said This is what I'm thinking of responding. this is what i'm thinking of responding What do you think?" Using AI as a partner in that process, because that increases your agency and makes you feel more confident, and hopefully helps you land that conversation a little bit more strongly. I think another really wonderful way that we've been implementing AI is in that trust and safety space. Because again, it gives you that depth and that scale to make sure we're considering all of the angles in this increasingly dynamic, technological world that we're navigating. What do you think?" Using AI as a partner in that process, because that increases your agency and makes you feel more confident, and hopefully helps you land that conversation a little bit more strongly. what do you think?" using ai as a partner in that process because that increases your agency and makes you feel more confident and hopefully helps you land that conversation a little bit more strongly I think another really wonderful way that we've been implementing AI is in that trust and safety space. i think another really wonderful way that we've been implementing ai is in that trust and safety space Because again, it gives you that depth and that scale to make sure we're considering all of the angles in this increasingly dynamic, technological world that we're navigating. because again it gives you that depth and that scale to make sure we're considering all of the angles in this increasingly dynamic technological world that we're navigating

Speaker 3: What I'm hearing is we want to make sure that AI brings people closer together, doesn't stand in between them. What I'm hearing is we want to make sure that AI brings people closer together, doesn't stand in between them. what i'm hearing is we want to make sure that ai brings people closer together doesn't stand in between them

Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. yes

Speaker 3: We want to make sure that it increases authenticity, not creating superficiality. For example, in chat, if a chat kind of slows down and people aren't flirting or talking anymore, we might use AI to make a suggestion to one of them of, "Hey, on her profile, she talked about these interests. They're similar to yours. Why don't you start a conversation about that?" We wouldn't likely draft that exact copy for the user because that would be crossing a line. We want to make sure that it increases authenticity, not creating superficiality. we want to make sure that it increases authenticity not creating superficiality For example, in chat, if a chat kind of slows down and people aren't flirting or talking anymore, we might use AI to make a suggestion to one of them of, "Hey, on her profile, she talked about these interests. for example in chat if a chat kind of slows down and people aren't flirting or talking anymore we might use ai to make a suggestion to one of them of "hey on her profile she talked about these interests They're similar to yours. they're similar to yours Why don't you start a conversation about that?" We wouldn't likely draft that exact copy for the user because that would be crossing a line. why don't you start a conversation about that?" we wouldn't likely draft that exact copy for the user because that would be crossing a line

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: towards inauthenticity. towards inauthenticity. towards inauthenticity

Speaker 1: Yeah. The user needs to be in the driver's seat. It's ultimately them that pen it and click send, but we love the partnership and the tooling to help them. Yeah. yeah The user needs to be in the driver's seat. the user needs to be in the driver's seat It's ultimately them that pen it and click send, but we love the partnership and the tooling to help them. it's ultimately them that pen it and click send but we love the partnership and the tooling to help them

Speaker 3: Right. Right. right

Speaker 1: That best version of themselves. It's about amplifying them rather than replacing them. That best version of themselves. that best version of themselves It's about amplifying them rather than replacing them. it's about amplifying them rather than replacing them

Speaker 3: Yeah. It might be tempting to draft it for the user so they can just hit submit, but then on the receiving end, that receiver will also get offered that, and then they'll know that probably it wasn't an. Yeah. yeah It might be tempting to draft it for the user so they can just hit submit, but then on the receiving end, that receiver will also get offered that, and then they'll know that probably it wasn't an. it might be tempting to draft it for the user so they can just hit submit but then on the receiving end that receiver will also get offered that and then they'll know that probably it wasn't an

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: overture from the other person. overture from the other person. overture from the other person

Speaker 1: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 3: the authenticity breaks down. the authenticity breaks down. the authenticity breaks down

Speaker 2: To the earlier point on scrutiny, Gen Z are always oftentimes questioning whether things are AI. Like anybody across any generational cohort, there are false positives and negatives of what we think might be AI-generated, but there is this skepticism. Again, to Emily's point, preserving the sense of authenticity and ensuring agency is really crucial for the user experience across our products. To the earlier point on scrutiny, Gen Z are always oftentimes questioning whether things are AI. to the earlier point on scrutiny gen z are always oftentimes questioning whether things are ai Like anybody across any generational cohort, there are false positives and negatives of what we think might be AI-generated, but there is this skepticism. like anybody across any generational cohort there are false positives and negatives of what we think might be ai-generated but there is this skepticism Again, to Emily's point, preserving the sense of authenticity and ensuring agency is really crucial for the user experience across our products. again to emily's point preserving the sense of authenticity and ensuring agency is really crucial for the user experience across our products

Speaker 3: Yeah. I guess another example would be on photos. We do provide an AI ability to improve the lighting or the clarity of a photo, but we don't let you change the background of the photo. Yeah. yeah I guess another example would be on photos. i guess another example would be on photos We do provide an AI ability to improve the lighting or the clarity of a photo, but we don't let you change the background of the photo. we do provide an ai ability to improve the lighting or the clarity of a photo but we don't let you change the background of the photo

Speaker 1: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 3: If it's a picture of you on a couch, it's still going to be a picture of you on a couch. We're not going to put you at the beach or in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, implying that you've been to those places. That would be an inauthentic use of AI. If it's a picture of you on a couch, it's still going to be a picture of you on a couch. if it's a picture of you on a couch it's still going to be a picture of you on a couch We're not going to put you at the beach or in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, implying that you've been to those places. we're not going to put you at the beach or in front of the eiffel tower or the statue of liberty implying that you've been to those places That would be an inauthentic use of AI. that would be an inauthentic use of ai

Speaker 1: Exactly. Exactly. exactly

Speaker 3: Nathan Feather from Morgan Stanley asks, "With the goal of quality over quantity, how do you get users to slow down when using the product to try and encourage a more thorough analysis of any individual profile? How do you make sure to highlight the potential most relevant profiles such that they aren't skipped?" Emily, why don't you talk about some of the ways that we're trying to improve. Nathan Feather from Morgan Stanley asks, "With the goal of quality over quantity, how do you get users to slow down when using the product to try and encourage a more thorough analysis of any individual profile? nathan feather from morgan stanley asks "with the goal of quality over quantity how do you get users to slow down when using the product to try and encourage a more thorough analysis of any individual profile How do you make sure to highlight the potential most relevant profiles such that they aren't skipped?" Emily, why don't you talk about some of the ways that we're trying to improve. how do you make sure to highlight the potential most relevant profiles such that they aren't skipped?" emily why don't you talk about some of the ways that we're trying to improve

Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely. absolutely

Speaker 3: Profile quality and people's. Profile quality and people's. profile quality and people's

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: Review of profiles. Review of profiles. review of profiles

Speaker 1: There's a lot of ways to do this. Again, this brings up the pillar of momentum, right? We want people to feel like they're moving forward with efficacy. There's also the right level of speed. We don't want things to be too quickly because you might miss something. You might be making rash decisions versus being intentional and thoughtful about it. Again, one way that I know we're doing this at Tinder is by increasing those Signals on profiles and apps in that way. Music Mode when you're looking at, oh, Max and I both like this one artist, this one song. That slows things down for you. That lets you have a bit of a signal of what Max is like in real life. There's a lot of ways to do this. there's a lot of ways to do this Again, this brings up the pillar of momentum, right? again this brings up the pillar of momentum right We want people to feel like they're moving forward with efficacy. we want people to feel like they're moving forward with efficacy There's also the right level of speed. there's also the right level of speed We don't want things to be too quickly because you might miss something. we don't want things to be too quickly because you might miss something You might be making rash decisions versus being intentional and thoughtful about it. you might be making rash decisions versus being intentional and thoughtful about it Again, one way that I know we're doing this at Tinder is by increasing those Signals on profiles and apps in that way. again one way that i know we're doing this at tinder is by increasing those signals on profiles and apps in that way Music Mode when you're looking at, oh, Max and I both like this one artist, this one song. music mode when you're looking at oh max and i both like this one artist this one song That slows things down for you. that slows things down for you That lets you have a bit of a signal of what Max is like in real life. that lets you have a bit of a signal of what max is like in real life

Speaker 3: Sure. Sure. sure

Speaker 1: You can imagine driving in Max's car and us playing this song and connecting over that, right? That slows people down to pay a little bit more attention to the profile, the bio, the details therein, in order to increase that efficacy and give momentum forward at the right pace. You can imagine driving in Max's car and us playing this song and connecting over that, right? you can imagine driving in max's car and us playing this song and connecting over that right That slows people down to pay a little bit more attention to the profile, the bio, the details therein, in order to increase that efficacy and give momentum forward at the right pace. that slows people down to pay a little bit more attention to the profile the bio the details therein in order to increase that efficacy and give momentum forward at the right pace

Speaker 3: Yeah. Another example is, we now on Tinder, we put prompt content, so that's written words, prose, into the photo carousel. Yeah. yeah Another example is, we now on Tinder, we put prompt content, so that's written words, prose, into the photo carousel. another example is we now on tinder we put prompt content so that's written words prose into the photo carousel

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 3: Instead of just looking at photos in the photo carousel, we're kind of intermingling responses to prompts like, "What do you like to do on a Sunday?" Or, "What's your relationship with your friends like?" into the photo carousel, which definitely slows you down because now all of a sudden you have to read words. Instead of just looking at photos in the photo carousel, we're kind of intermingling responses to prompts like, "What do you like to do on a Sunday?" Or, "What's your relationship with your friends like?" into the photo carousel, which definitely slows you down because now all of a sudden you have to read words. instead of just looking at photos in the photo carousel we're kind of intermingling responses to prompts like "what do you like to do on a sunday?" or "what's your relationship with your friends like?" into the photo carousel which definitely slows you down because now all of a sudden you have to read words

Speaker 1: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. yeah Mm-hmm. yeah mm-hmm

Speaker 3: Instead of looking at a photo. It gives people kind of a more considered experience when assessing actual compatibility. Instead of looking at a photo. instead of looking at a photo It gives people kind of a more considered experience when assessing actual compatibility. it gives people kind of a more considered experience when assessing actual compatibility

Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely. absolutely

Speaker 3: Actually, it's important also to remember that this overall topic of getting people to slow down, consider an authentic profile, this is really more of a Match Group initiative. Actually, it's important also to remember that this overall topic of getting people to slow down, consider an authentic profile, this is really more of a Match Group initiative. actually it's important also to remember that this overall topic of getting people to slow down consider an authentic profile this is really more of a match group initiative Cross-brand. Obviously, Hinge does this very well already with a contextual like feature, where when you are looking at a profile on Hinge, you're indicating interest in a particular element of the profile rather than just saying, "I'm interested in this person," you're saying, "I'm interested in this thing about this person." Upward, our brand that focuses on people with traditional values, has a feature called Chivalry Mode where if you are photo verified and you have a more complete profile and you respond as a good actor in messaging, then you are allowed to participate in Chivalry Mode. It's kind of a different experience that's more highly considered and a slower profile. We're taking these types of learnings across lots of our brands. Cross-brand. cross-brand Obviously, Hinge does this very well already with a contextual like feature, where when you are looking at a profile on Hinge, you're indicating interest in a particular element of the profile rather than just saying, "I'm interested in this person," you're saying, "I'm interested in this thing about this person." Upward, our brand that focuses on people with traditional values, has a feature called Chivalry Mode where if you are photo verified and you have a more complete profile and you respond as a good actor in messaging, then you are allowed to participate in Chivalry Mode. obviously hinge does this very well already with a contextual like feature where when you are looking at a profile on hinge you're indicating interest in a particular element of the profile rather than just saying "i'm interested in this person," you're saying "i'm interested in this thing about this person." upward our brand that focuses on people with traditional values has a feature called chivalry mode where if you are photo verified and you have a more complete profile and you respond as a good actor in messaging then you are allowed to participate in chivalry mode It's kind of a different experience that's more highly considered and a slower profile. it's kind of a different experience that's more highly considered and a slower profile We're taking these types of learnings across lots of our brands. we're taking these types of learnings across lots of our brands Actually, Chispa, also our brand for Hispanic daters, is testing something similar now where it's kind of a more considered profile rather than a quick-twitch photo evaluation. These insights that we develop at the Match Group level or even at the Tinder level, we scale them across all of our brands. Okay, last question here from Andrew Marok from Raymond James. Andrew asks, "With the shift in behaviors from Millennials to Gen Z, how does that impact how to think about future generational differences? Are they assured, and what are some of the signs that you monitor for cohort shifts? How has this shift affected how the voices of different ages are heard internally? Actually, Chispa, also our brand for Hispanic daters, is testing something similar now where it's kind of a more considered profile rather than a quick-twitch photo evaluation. actually chispa also our brand for hispanic daters is testing something similar now where it's kind of a more considered profile rather than a quick-twitch photo evaluation These insights that we develop at the Match Group level or even at the Tinder level, we scale them across all of our brands. these insights that we develop at the match group level or even at the tinder level we scale them across all of our brands Okay, last question here from Andrew Marok from Raymond James. okay last question here from andrew marok from raymond james Andrew asks, "With the shift in behaviors from Millennials to Gen Z, how does that impact how to think about future generational differences? andrew asks "with the shift in behaviors from millennials to gen z how does that impact how to think about future generational differences Are they assured, and what are some of the signs that you monitor for cohort shifts? are they assured and what are some of the signs that you monitor for cohort shifts How has this shift affected how the voices of different ages are heard internally? how has this shift affected how the voices of different ages are heard internally Would it make sense to staff product orgs with employees primarily in the core age range, as well as young users and new grads in order to catch emerging shifts before they fully take hold?" Max, I'll let you take the beginning of this. I think we've already talked a little bit about how do we make sure that we're bringing insights from all ages, and then maybe Emily or I will close with how we bring that into the actual room for decision-making. Would it make sense to staff product orgs with employees primarily in the core age range, as well as young users and new grads in order to catch emerging shifts before they fully take hold?" Max, I'll let you take the beginning of this. would it make sense to staff product orgs with employees primarily in the core age range as well as young users and new grads in order to catch emerging shifts before they fully take hold?" max i'll let you take the beginning of this I think we've already talked a little bit about how do we make sure that we're bringing insights from all ages, and then maybe Emily or I will close with how we bring that into the actual room for decision-making. i think we've already talked a little bit about how do we make sure that we're bringing insights from all ages and then maybe emily or i will close with how we bring that into the actual room for decision-making

Speaker 2: Yeah. We have a lot of internal leading and lagging indicators when it comes to cultural signals. These generational desires and changes in mindsets are sometimes very slow-moving and sometimes very fast, and you can't anticipate everything that's going to be completely changing the way a whole set of society thinks. Like it could be one social media post that fundamentally reframes the narrative around the ways that people approach dating, for example, or connection. We collect all of these signals. We try to map it to the underlying cultural shift that we talked about. For example, pandemic, the macroeconomic environmental perceptions and how that impacts long-term thinking and companionship with these smaller cultural signals. We also leverage historical data to look at what we have learned from the transition from Millennials to present. It's a mix. We don't have a crystal ball. Yeah. yeah We have a lot of internal leading and lagging indicators when it comes to cultural signals. we have a lot of internal leading and lagging indicators when it comes to cultural signals These generational desires and changes in mindsets are sometimes very slow-moving and sometimes very fast, and you can't anticipate everything that's going to be completely changing the way a whole set of society thinks. these generational desires and changes in mindsets are sometimes very slow-moving and sometimes very fast and you can't anticipate everything that's going to be completely changing the way a whole set of society thinks Like it could be one social media post that fundamentally reframes the narrative around the ways that people approach dating, for example, or connection. like it could be one social media post that fundamentally reframes the narrative around the ways that people approach dating for example or connection We collect all of these signals. we collect all of these signals We try to map it to the underlying cultural shift that we talked about. we try to map it to the underlying cultural shift that we talked about For example, pandemic, the macroeconomic environmental perceptions and how that impacts long-term thinking and companionship with these smaller cultural signals. for example pandemic the macroeconomic environmental perceptions and how that impacts long-term thinking and companionship with these smaller cultural signals We also leverage historical data to look at what we have learned from the transition from Millennials to present. we also leverage historical data to look at what we have learned from the transition from millennials to present It's a mix. it's a mix We don't have a crystal ball. we don't have a crystal ball There are a lot of brilliant people that we collaborate with the science of trying to understand and interpret these waves for building products. The best tool that we have are listening to Gen Z and understanding their desires and how they're engaging with cultural media, social content, and all these different forms to make sure that the way our product develops is moving in their direction and will continue to do so with future generational cohorts. There are a lot of brilliant people that we collaborate with the science of trying to understand and interpret these waves for building products. there are a lot of brilliant people that we collaborate with the science of trying to understand and interpret these waves for building products The best tool that we have are listening to Gen Z and understanding their desires and how they're engaging with cultural media, social content, and all these different forms to make sure that the way our product develops is moving in their direction and will continue to do so with future generational cohorts. the best tool that we have are listening to gen z and understanding their desires and how they're engaging with cultural media social content and all these different forms to make sure that the way our product develops is moving in their direction and will continue to do so with future generational cohorts

Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely. absolutely

Speaker 3: I mean, this is definitely a benefit of Match Group's scale. There's no doubt in my mind that we have a larger team, and we have more resources focused on consumer insights with respect to human connection globally across all age cohorts than any competitor by far. It's definitely a strength of ours. In terms of bringing these insights into the room, your teams are in the rooms when we're making these decisions on product and marketing. We've also significantly increased our presence of younger employees. Yesterday, I spoke to our intern class of 30, our largest-ever intern class. It's incredibly important that we have summer interns who are college students that are hanging out with employees in the kitchen, doing work, contributing to decisions, and helping bring those insights directly into the company. We have custom GPTs, which have been really useful. I mean, this is definitely a benefit of Match Group's scale. i mean this is definitely a benefit of match group's scale There's no doubt in my mind that we have a larger team, and we have more resources focused on consumer insights with respect to human connection globally across all age cohorts than any competitor by far. there's no doubt in my mind that we have a larger team and we have more resources focused on consumer insights with respect to human connection globally across all age cohorts than any competitor by far It's definitely a strength of ours. it's definitely a strength of ours In terms of bringing these insights into the room, your teams are in the rooms when we're making these decisions on product and marketing. in terms of bringing these insights into the room your teams are in the rooms when we're making these decisions on product and marketing We've also significantly increased our presence of younger employees. we've also significantly increased our presence of younger employees Yesterday, I spoke to our intern class of 30, our largest-ever intern class. yesterday i spoke to our intern class of 30 our largest-ever intern class It's incredibly important that we have summer interns who are college students that are hanging out with employees in the kitchen, doing work, contributing to decisions, and helping bring those insights directly into the company. it's incredibly important that we have summer interns who are college students that are hanging out with employees in the kitchen doing work contributing to decisions and helping bring those insights directly into the company We have custom GPTs, which have been really useful. we have custom gpts which have been really useful For each of our key personas, we have AI incarnations of them that employees, including me, use constantly to talk to all these different users to get instantaneous feedback on all of this through AI. There are lots of ways, including, just hiring more young people who are in our primary age cohort, that we bring these insights into the room. For each of our key personas, we have AI incarnations of them that employees, including me, use constantly to talk to all these different users to get instantaneous feedback on all of this through AI. for each of our key personas we have ai incarnations of them that employees including me use constantly to talk to all these different users to get instantaneous feedback on all of this through ai There are lots of ways, including, just hiring more young people who are in our primary age cohort, that we bring these insights into the room. there are lots of ways including just hiring more young people who are in our primary age cohort that we bring these insights into the room

Speaker 2: Definitely. Definitely. definitely

Speaker 3: Thank you very much for joining us today for this first-ever CEO Connection. I hope that you walked away with a better understanding of Gen Z and how their expectations around connection are evolving and how we're thinking about the future of our category. I want to thank Emily and Max for sharing their information and thank those who submitted such thoughtful questions. We'll continue this conversation at our Q2 earnings call. In the meantime, I share regular updates on these types of topics on my socials, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and my other social channels. I'd love to continue the conversation. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you both very much. Thank you very much for joining us today for this first-ever CEO Connection. thank you very much for joining us today for this first-ever ceo connection I hope that you walked away with a better understanding of Gen Z and how their expectations around connection are evolving and how we're thinking about the future of our category. i hope that you walked away with a better understanding of gen z and how their expectations around connection are evolving and how we're thinking about the future of our category I want to thank Emily and Max for sharing their information and thank those who submitted such thoughtful questions. i want to thank emily and max for sharing their information and thank those who submitted such thoughtful questions We'll continue this conversation at our Q2 earnings call. we'll continue this conversation at our q2 earnings call In the meantime, I share regular updates on these types of topics on my socials, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and my other social channels. in the meantime i share regular updates on these types of topics on my socials on linkedin instagram and my other social channels I'd love to continue the conversation. i'd love to continue the conversation Thanks for joining us today. thanks for joining us today Thank you both very much. thank you both very much

Speaker 2: Thanks, Spencer. Thanks, Spencer. thanks spencer

Speaker 1: Thank You. Thank You. thank you