I’m not exaggerating when I say that at least once a day, every single day, I thank God that I no longer have to concern myself with dating apps. (To give you a sense of how long it’s been, the only one I ever used was OkCupid. I bounced right before they started letting you identity as “sapiosexual.”)
Anyway, the dating scene – to an outside observer, at least – sure looks rough.
Both users and the dating apps themselves struggle with the same fundamental problems: How do you stand out in such an incredibly crowded marketplace? And is it better to cultivate an aesthetic that attracts as many interested parties as possible or go niche in a bid for quality over quantity?
The marketing team at Pure app has been asking itself these questions for years. Back when the dating app first launched in 2012, it was a completely anonymous hookup app – a “quick and safe way to find sex right now,” according to one tagline from back in the day.
But Pure has since pivoted to what Chantal Pesulima, the app’s director of integrated marketing, calls a “full-blown dating app” focused on sexual openness, mutual consent and safety.
And now, for the first time in the US, it’s using CTV as a way to explain that new vibe to prospective new users.
Seeking CTV
Initially, Pure’s marketing was very focused on customer acquisition, and it’s seen a lot of recent success. The app Pure now has a 50/50 gender split, which is remarkably hard to do and requires a LOT of targeting efforts geared toward female consumers. (“Men convert way quicker,” Pesulima told me.)
Around five years ago, Pure created an in-house brand team, which Pesulima was brought on to lead in mid-2024. Since then, she’s focused her attention on integrating branding and acquisition efforts into an omnichannel, “well-oiled machine” that can execute campaigns across the marketing funnel.
Still, streaming isn’t a performance play for Pure – not yet, at least.
Pure’s investment in CTV, part of its new “Pleasure is Power” campaign, is mostly focused on brand lift. CTV and streaming video are great channels for reaching Pure’s target audience of Gen Z city dwellers in New York and Los Angeles, Pesulima said.
Forget pleasure, programmatic is power
The creative assets for the campaign were also designed with CTV in mind, but have been adapted to fit other channels, such as organic and paid social.
Like other brands serving adult audiences and LGBTQ consumers or that focus on women’s sexual wellness, the Pure app has to be very careful about how it presents itself so as not to end up censored.
Social media platforms are notorious for blocking anything that pushes their boundaries.
But on CTV platforms, it wasn’t the content of Pure’s ads that posed a challenge. Some publishers, like Hulu and Netflix, pushed back on the app’s previous reputation as a hookup destination.
“Hulu is owned by Disney, so I kind of understand where they’re coming from,” said Pesulima. But Netflix, where Pure only planned to advertise against mature-rated content, came as a surprise.
“There’s quite a lot of titles on Netflix that are probably way worse than we are!” Pesulima said.
So Pure turned to programmatic ad buying, which ended up working out better by comparison. All Pure had to do was make sure its creative was properly categorized and didn’t run afoul of automated systems. Pure’s campaign ran across a whole bunch of free ad-supported streaming services, including The Roku Channel, Fubo, Sling and YouTube.
Going forward, Pesulima hopes Pure’s rebrand will smooth the app’s future negotiations with publishers. “What we’re trying to do with everything that we do,” she said, “is change the perception and move away from the stamp that we got from years ago.”
Which isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with being a hookup app, Pesulima added. It’s just a lot harder to attract mainstream audiences that way.
Questions about the newsletter? Want to swap dating horror stories? (It’s been a while but I still have some good ones!) Drop me a line at victoria@adexchanger.com.
