In September, dating industry leaders from around the world came together at the Richmond Hill Hotel in London for two days of GDI London 2026. HubPeople was proud to sponsor this year's conference, and we'd like to thank the Global Dating Insights team for bringing the industry together once again.
It was a great chance to catch up with familiar faces, meet new ones and share our thinking on where dating goes next.
Niche Dating: Can Smaller Audiences Build Bigger Businesses?
Michael O'Sullivan, owner of HubPeople, hosted a panel that asked whether the industry's long obsession with scale and choice is still an advantage. The early swipe apps made abundance exciting. But has too much choice ended up creating more disposability, anonymity, ghosting and bad behaviour? And could a smaller, more focused community produce a better network, and a more defensible business?
Michael was joined on stage by:
- Jamie Johnston, Founder, Mattr
- Rakesh Naidu, Founder, Fate Dating
- Paul Rider, Founder and CEO, SALT
- Khie Sydney, User Acquisition Manager, Bumpy
The discussion was built around three big themes.
1. Intentionality
Dating products increasingly talk about fewer, better matches and getting people into genuine conversations or real world meetings sooner. The panel asked whether that works especially well inside focused communities, and whether the rise of IRL dating and stronger intentionality is partly a response to problems large scale apps have never fully solved: fake profiles, catfishing, ghosting and low effort interactions.
2. The economics of a niche
Is a niche a limit on total addressable market, or can it become a moat? Is it better to have 100,000 users who strongly identify with your brand than a million who see it as interchangeable with every other dating product?
3. Who wins next
Finally, the panel looked ahead. Are the future winners likely to be enormous horizontal platforms, or focused communities built around identity, values and intention?
These questions sit at the heart of what we do every day, helping partners launch and grow dating brands for the communities they know best.
Watch the Highlights
Global Dating Insights has published an official highlights video from this year's conference. Watch the GDI London 2026 highlights on Global Dating Insights.
Building a dating brand for a focused community? Talk to our team about how HubPeople can help you grow it.
