The news: Bumble laid off 30% of its staff and announced it’s returning to a “startup mentality” as dating app engagement declines. The announcement led its stock to rise 25% Wednesday. Bumble and the online dating industry as a whole are at an “inflection point,” CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said in an employee memo. Our take: Unless Bumble successfully reinvests those cost savings into tangible user benefits—like better safety measures and more personalized matchmaking—it could lose relevance in a saturated, burning-out dating market.

Tinder is the go-to dating app among millennials and Gen Zers in the US, but when it comes to adults 50 and older, Match.com is the online platform of choice, per the Pew Research Center.

Dating apps Bumble and Hinge attracted more downloads worldwide in 2021 than the previous two years. Meanwhile, Tinder outpaced them both by at least 54 million downloads—albeit 8 million fewer downloads than its lead in 2020.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver and vice president of research Jennifer Pearson discuss the wonderful world of online dating. Who's on which platforms? What do people like and dislike about it? They then talk about Valentine's Day spending, "OK Boomer" age discrimination and the link between smartphones and mental health.