Young people today are having less sex and going on less dates than ever before. The average adult has gone from gettin’ jiggy with it 62 times a year to just 54 times. And the percentage of teenagers having sex has dropped from 75% to 65% in the last decade. But what’s happened to the horny youths of yesteryear? It seems the use of smartphones has killed their desire to go out chasing. They can satisfy all their desires at a touch of a button, whether that be mindlessly swiping through Tinder, or looking up some X-rated content. So they’re never making real connections.

So to get young people dating again, we showed them how to do it on their phones.

First Data is the world’s first ever video-call dating show, showing young people how to date using their phones.

Three’s brand message is, “Make it Count”. It tells customers to use their unlimited data and 97% 4G coverage to make connections, and make everything count. We set out to create engaging content to target the demographic of 18-24 year olds, which demonstrated this message and the brand strength.

To appeal to this demographic, we created something that they consume regularly, dating shows. Think TV shows like 'Take Me Out', 'First Dates', 'Naked Attraction' and 'Love Island'. And, we placed it where they consume most of their content. First Data lived on YouTube, and was pushed out through this age groups favourite platforms - Snapchat and Instagram.

This showed them how to use their unlimited data to make it count when it comes to their dating life.

We showed the singles of today that everything they needed to find a potential romantic interest was already on their phone. We did this by creating the world’s first facetime dating show, First Data, which aired entirely on YouTube.

Real singles applied via WhatsApp, and we matched them up based upon their use of data. The series was all filmed, shared and recorded by our target audience, and watched entirely online. Sparks flew, romance blossomed, eyes fluttered and there was lots of awkward moments in 6 funny and entertaining episodes.

And most importantly, all the couples actually hit it off, with half of them going on physical second dates.

First Data was a hit. We didn’t just show the 6 couples on the show a better way to date, we showed 2.7 million people, as it became Ireland’s most watched reality show. Beating the actual ‘First Dates’ TV show in the process. It was a hit for Three Mobile too. There was a 48% brand recall rate among its target demographic, and those who watched were twice as likely to purchase a Three product.

Plus, Three showcased the perfect way to use it's unlimited data.