Tinder Brings Second-Season of Swipe Night in 25 Countries Including India

Tinder has announced the return of its first-person series Swipe Night. The second season of Swipe Night, which is called Swipe Night: Killer Weekend, will go live on Sunday, November 7 and will run for three weeks in 25 global markets, including India. It will bring a new storyline where Tinder members will be able to join a group of friends on a birthday weekend getaway where they even become a suspect to a murder mystery on the basis of the choices they make. Tinder will offer its iconic Swipe feature to let members get deeper into the story.

Each episode in the second season of Tinder's Swipe Night will require members to make over 10 different choices, and each of these decisions will take them down a different path. Tinder has picked Sasie Sealy for directing the new season. Sealy is known for dark comedy heist movie Lucky Grandma.

Alongside Sealy, the second season of Swipe Night features a young cast that includes Ashley Ganger (Grand Army), Calvin Seabrooks (Dollface, Westworld), Luke Slattery (New Amsterdam, Late Night), Francesca Olivia Xuereb (Room 203, The Sex Lives of College Girls), Nozipho Mclean (The Inheritance, Are You Happy Now), Ivan Carlo (Gossip Girl), and Emile Ravenet.

Just like the last season, Tinder is targeting the second season of its Swipe Night series at Gen Z. It is designed to give young users a new way to find their matches on the platform, without going through the profiles of different members.

“The evolution of Swipe Night, and experiences more broadly on Tinder, allow members to have a fun, low pressure way to break the ice,” said Kyle Miller, VP of Product at Tinder, in a statement. “We decided on the mystery genre, because it's a conversation catalyst and a unique opportunity for members to get to know their match by working together to solve the crime.”

The Los Angeles, California-based company claims that the first Swipe Night was experienced by 20 million members on its platform who saw a 26 percent increase in their matches. Clear details on the reaction from India were not shared, though General Manager for India at Tinder and Match Group Taru Kapoor told Gadgets 360 that the response was “incredible”.

“Our members made millions of choices and engagement levels remained high every week,” she said, adding that swipe volume among Tinder's members in India is rising by 32 percent.

Tinder members will be able to access Swipe Night: Killer Weekend through the newly launched Explore tab on a weekly basis starting this Sunday — from 6pm through midnight. At the end of this week, participants will also get Fast Chat access to talk with people who chose a different suspect in the episode.

Tinder is bringing Fast Chat access for members participating in Swipe Night
Photo Credit: Tinder

By default, Swipe Night will be available in English. Tinder has, however, added subtitle translations and local language captions to provide a localised feel.

On why Tinder chose to go for a murder mystery in the midst of the pandemic, Kapoor told Gadgets 360 that it was on the basis of the interest of its users.

“Between the successes of true crime podcasts, escapism entertainment and binge-worthy thrillers, mystery might just be Gen Z's new love language, and Tinder is no exception: mentions of ‘true crime' are at peak levels in bios this year,” she said.

“On Tinder, members jump into a dating world where anything is possible, even dating like detectives; Swipe Night: Killer Weekend brings Gen Z's obsession with the mystery genre to dating, helping them find their partner in crime.”

Tinder initially brought Swipe Night as its ‘apocalyptic' reality show in the US in 2019. It came to India and other markets in September last year — after getting delayed from the original March launch due to the coronavirus outbreak.