Phil Henricks, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Jack’d’s parent company, states that the demographic in question doesn’t pay for things like games, movies, music or dating. He said that the current generation has been raised expecting that products from the Internet are free. As a result, they see no reason to begin paying for it now.

Jack’d’s path to monetization is through selling advertising to corporations eager to reach the hard-to-find gay, urban millennial. “They’re a multi million dollar demographic”, Henricks said. “While they’re not willing to purchase digital products, they have tremendous buying power and have no problem shelling out $5 on a cup of coffee or $200 on a pair of sneakers.”

Gay Urban Millennials

The main path of monetisation that Jack’d uses is the sale of advertising. This is because the dating app can provide an easy path to what corporations consider the “gay, urban millennial”. According to Henricks, “They’re a multi million dollar demographic. While they’re not willing to purchase digital products, they have tremendous buying power and have no problem shelling out $5.00 on a cup of coffee or $ 200.00 on a pair of sneakers.”

Well over 60% of the app’s revenue comes right from companies in the Fortune 500 group. Such industries include tourism and retail (particularly clothing) and such companies have run banner ads on the Jack’d service. Henricks states that it is really a “win” for everyone involved as they have a quick and easy way to reach these gay urban millennials.

Jack’d Demographics

All around the world, nearly 5 million men have already joined the Jack’d service since it began in 2010. It is among one of the highest-ranked gay dating apps in both apps stores from Google and Apple. Nearly 70% of members who live in the USA are between 18 and 26, over 60% are either Black or Latino.

Henricks continue by saying that members of Jack’d are not at all bothered by the banners that are on the app. There is an option for users to pay in ordert o have them removed, however only 3% of users have actually done that. “They understand that someone has to pay for the app. As long as it’s not them, they don’t give it a second thought.”