Tinder announces apocalyptic web series

In the newest face to join a bevy of companies specialising in creating content, Tinder has announced the release of an apocalypse-themed interactive web series that will be available on its app in the USA. The show will be available for viewing on the app. The show will consist of four episodes that span five minutes each. Users can make choices on behalf of the protagonists and they can share these choices on their user profiles.

The series will be similar to the Netflix Original Bandersnatch, which was released in 2018. “Seven years ago, Tinder revolutionized the way we meet with the invention of its Swipe feature. Now, with ‘Swipe Night,’ we’re proud to be pushing the envelope again, by letting people connect in ways they can’t anywhere else,” Tinder CEO Elie Seidman said in the official announcement. Tinder’s competitors include Bumble, OkCupid and others.

Swipe Night will feature new episodes on every Sunday of October. It will be available to stream for six hours - between 6 p.m. and midnight. The show can be viewed from inside the app and as of now, the company has not discussed broadcasting the content on more traditional video streaming platforms such as Netflix.

Swipe Night follows a group of friends played by Angela Wong Carbone (Chinatown Horror Story), Jordan Christian Hearn (Inherent Vice), and Shea Gabor. As the story unfolds, a user is faced with moral dilemmas and practical choices, with only seven seconds to decide and no going back. After each Swipe Night story release, critical choices will be added to members’ profiles, showing which decisions potential matches did or did not make. And all of this new information will make for plenty of material for post-apocalyptic banter.

Tinder tapped Canadian rapper Drake’s go-to music video director, 23-year-old Karena Evans to blend immersive storytelling with Tinder’s Swipe features. Evans worked with writers Nicole Delaney (Big Mouth, Netflix) and Brandon Zuck (Insecure, HBO) to create this show.

Swipe Night brings responsive, streaming video to Tinder for the first time. But more important than its technical innovation, it offers a new way to use content to start conversations. “More than half of Tinder members are Gen Z, and we want to meet the needs of our ever-evolving community. We know Gen Z speaks in content, so we intentionally built an experience that is native to how they interact. Our hope is that it will encourage new, organic conversations based on a shared content experience.” said Ravi Mehta, Tinder’s Chief Product Officer.