Get Red Hot Results with Dating Advertising

Online dating has become a ubiquitous part of modern romance. With the increasing popularity of dating apps and websites, it’s no surprise that advertisers are looking to capitalize on this ever-growing market. Dating advertising, however, can be a sensitive and complex field, especially when it extends into the realm of adult content.

In this blog, we will explore the nuances of dating advertising on dating and adult sites, examining the opportunities and challenges that advertisers face in this arena.

Understanding the Sector

Online dating is a thriving industry with a global reach. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online dating, with people seeking connection and companionship in a time of physical distancing. But a huge potential audience won’t cut it. Understanding the nuances of this industry is the first step toward successful advertising in this vertical.

Let’s peek at some key info:

• According to Statista, the global online dating market was already valued at around $3 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow steadily in the coming years.
• Tinder, one of the most popular dating apps, had over 6 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2021
  
• The United States, China, and the United Kingdom are some of the largest markets for online dating services.
• Working with 30+ of the world’s biggest dating brands, Adcash has seen the following results across the top 3 ad formats in 2023 YTD:

 – Total impressions: 946M

 – Pop-under impressions: 405.6M (42.9%)

– In-Page Push impressions: 200.5M (21.2%)

 – Interstitial impressions: 101.6M (10.7%)

For more stats on this front, be sure to download the one-pager up top!

The Challenges

Sensitivity and Reputation Management:
Dating advertising often encounters issues related to sensitivity and reputation. Advertisers need to navigate their way through potentially controversial content, such as adult dating websites. This can present challenges, as associating a brand with explicit content may alienate certain audiences and harm a company’s image.

Standing out from the Crowd:
Unfortunately, in this sector, creative ideas are frequently ‘borrowed’, meaning that  producing great content will result in analogues becoming rife amongst competitors within mere weeks. As you can imagine, this can negatively impact your own results, but it shouldn’t be viewed as a race to the bottom! Instead, ensure your wording, creative approach, and banner designs are updated every 2 weeks or so. This dynamic approach ensures that your content can’t be stolen easily, and keeps creatives fresh for your audience at the same time.

Regulatory Compliance:
The adult industry is subject to strict regulations and legal restrictions. Advertisers must ensure that they comply with local, national, and international laws governing the promotion of adult content. Failing to do so can result in legal consequences and damage to a brand’s reputation.

Target Audience Profiling:
Successful dating advertising depends on precisely targeting the desired demographic. Advertisers must use demographic data and user preferences to ensure their ads reach the right audience, as this maximizes the chances of conversions and a positive ROI.

Competition:
The online dating market is highly competitive, with numerous dating apps and websites vying for the attention of potential users. Advertisers must be creative and strategic in their approach to stand out from the competition.

Your Dating Vertical Cheat-Sheet

Finally, let’s run through how to make some killer dating-specific creatives and landers to get some serious eyes on your campaign.

Nailing your Visual Creative:

• Avoid featuring images of celebrities or well-known individuals — the legal trouble isn’t worth it!
• When designing small icons, consider those that resemble direct messages.
• Regularly rotate your creative elements to maintain freshness.
• Maintain consistency across your creatives, ensuring that the images and appearance of the people depicted match as closely as possible.
• Authentic images of real individuals typically yield better results compared to photos of models.

Top Text Tips:

• Use the language most commonly spoken by your target audience. In some regions, multiple languages may be widely used, so be sure to address your audience in their native language for better engagement.
• Consider incorporating emojis to add a bit of a human element and enhance engagement with your audience
• Be sure to add any relevant promos into the copy in order to better motivate users to remain. For example, free coins/tokens after a signup, or the chance to win something when utilizing different platform features. This helps your offer stand out amongst a sea of competition

Landing Pages and Pre-Landers:

• Many successful landing pages and pre-landers for dating campaigns incorporate interactive elements to engage visitors. Examples include ideal match quizzes and brief chat interactions with bots before locking the conversation. There are numerous angles to explore, but some popular classics involve older partners, locals seeking love, and foreigners.
  
• Remember to customize landing pages for different geographical regions and develop at least 2 or 3 variations for each location to perform effective split testing.

Optimization:

When launching any campaign, including dating offers, it’s essential not to overlook any critical targeting factors initially. Therefore, we recommend starting with broad campaigns to gather ample data for later optimization.

A few reminders:

• Launch separate campaigns for mobile and desktop targeting.
• Create distinct campaigns for each user freshness group, as their performance and CPA can vary.
• After accumulating some data, evaluate your creatives. Keep the high-performing ones active and pause those that are no longer of interest.
• A best practice is to create new creatives that are similar to your successful ones, making slight adjustments for variety and improved results.
• Get running tests with different formats. Some sources may not have the ideal traffic for a particular format, so it’s best not put all your eggs in one basket.

In conclusion…

Dating advertising on dating and adult sites presents unique opportunities and challenges for marketers. The key to success in this niche is to consider the nature of the target audience and content carefully, remain compliant with regulations, and employ creative and data-driven marketing strategies. When executed thoughtfully and ethically, dating advertising can prove to be a lucrative and rewarding endeavor in this ever-evolving landscape. As an advertiser, you must strike a balance between making a profit and respecting user privacy and sensibilities to build a sustainable and reputable brand in this field.