Entertainment

Tinder and Airbnb Are Making TV Now, for Some Reason

The apps are pivoting to video.
JT
Chicago, US
tinder-airbnb-tv
Image via Wiki Commons

Most apps are trying to do too many things. Uber is a rideshare service that also has a bunch of other offerings like food delivery, transportation via helicopter, scooters, and so forth. Now, both Tinder and Airbnb are broadening their horizons by making original programming, which is an exciting new prospect that no one asked for.

According to a new report by Reuters, "Popular dating app Tinder has wrapped filming on its first television series, as owner Match Group Inc seeks to dive deeper into creating original content." This is a ridiculous sentence but one that hints at a future where every convenient tool on our smartphones is pivoting to video. Is there anyone who would rather use Tinder to watch a show than find a date?

This isn't Tinder's first foray into content creation. Last year, the service launched its editorial arm "Swipe Life," which boasts app-centric listicles like "8 Reasons Your Matches Are Ghosting You" and dating tips like "Why I Meet My Matches ASAP." But Tinder's upcoming scripted series doesn't really have anything to do with swiping. Per Reuters, it's a "multi-episode series" that "centers on an “apocalyptic” storyline and includes a relationship sub plot." The whole thing is apparently "part of a larger strategy that will be revealed in the near future" of scripted video content.

Back in April, Reuters also revealed that Airbnb was aiming "to develop a slate of original shows to whet customers’ appetite for travel." While there haven't been any updates to the rental service's streaming ambitions, apps pivoting into original programming is not exactly a welcome trend. The report described Airbnb's mentality as, “Let’s do shows. Let’s do films, because we want to be travel-everything.” Thanks to the proliferation of streaming services, there is already too much mediocre TV out there. Airbnb and Tinder aren't exactly solving that.