Tinder Brings Festival Mode Back to Australia

With the Australian festival season finally back in its groove, dating app Tinder is rebooting its Festival Mode.

The feature allows festival-goers to match with each other prior to attending, to chat about which acts they want to watch – and maybe watch together.

The global service was introduced in 2019, first tested locally with Splendour In The Grass in Byron Bay.

Of course, it had to be mothballed after the pandemic, but Tinder now believes the take-up will be greater in 2022 due to pent-up demand.

According to the app, “With nearly 1 in 3 singles (31%) planning to attend a music festival or concert this year, Festival Mode helps music lovers break the ice and connect over shared interests.

“A welcome addition to Tinder, as 64% of singles say they enjoy meeting new people while attending live music events, and over 3 in 5 (61%) say they’ve become friends, or more, with people they met at a music festival or concert.”

Festival Mode will be available at three major local events.

Secret Sounds’ Splendour In The Grass is held at North Byron Parkland on July 22, 23 and 24, and had a sell-out crowd of 42, 500 in 2019.

Falls Festival, also through Secret Sounds during the New Year break, draws 25,000 to the Byron event and expects another 25,000 in its first year at its new Victorian location.

The EDM gathering Festival X through Hardware, Onelove and Live Nation, is expected to return in 2022 after cancelling last year citing a low COVID vaccination rate.

In 2019, it drew 100,000 in a run through Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Festival Mode’s return to Australia is part of a global roll-out with 20 festivals.

These include Bonnaroo, The Governors Ball, Hard Summer, EDC and Lovers and Friends (US); BST Hyde Park (UK); Lollapalooza in Stockholm, Paris, and Berlin; Sónar (Spain); Sziget (Hungary); and Parookaville (Germany).

According to Earth Web, 75 million use Tinder each month, with males making up 75.8%of users, and 13.6% of connections leading to marriage.

Within two years of its Australian launch in 2015, it was embraced by 15% of the population.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.