Hinge Shines in Match Group’s Q1 Financial Results
Match Group has shared its financial results for the first quarter of 2024, with dating app Hinge having a particularly strong showing. Hinge saw its direct revenue grow by 50% year-over-year, with Match Group now confident that it can grow into a $1 billion business.
In a new Letter to Shareholders, Match Group reviews its financial results from Q1 2024, highlighting that its total revenue grew by 9% when compared to the same period last year. The dating app company operates brands such as Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, and more.
Across its platforms, Match Group saw its revenue per payer increase by 16% compared to Q1 2023, rising to $18.87. However, the total number of payers decreased 6% to 14.9 million in total.
Hinge shines bright
Hinge was the standout performer in these recent set of results, with increases to its direct revenue, as well as a 14% year-over-year increase to its revenue per payer to $28.96. Furthermore, it saw a 31% year over year increase in the number of paying users, taking it to 1.4 million.
Across all markets, downloads of the Hinge dating app grew by 20% year over year in the first quarter of 2024, Match Group shared. In 2024, Match Group expects Hinge to take in more than $500 million of direct revenue.
“In Hinge we have the fastest growing major brand in the category, which we expect will increasingly impact overall Company results”, shared Bernard Kim CEO & Gary Swidler CFO at Match Group.
Looking ahead, Match Group highlighted that Hinge can become a $1 billion business, continuing its growth in existing and new markets. To get there, the dating platform will be rolling out additional monetisation features, as well as additional AI product features including assisted profile creation, more efficient matching algorithms, and more.
What’s been the key to its success? “Marketing has been a key driver of user growth” for Hinge, the letter shared, highlighting the latest edition of its well-known ‘Designed to be Deleted’ campaign.
The next chapter for Tinder
Tinder, the largest dating app in the Match Group portfolio, saw its direct revenue increase by 9% in Q1 2024 compared to the same period last year.
However, the dating app “continues to face headwinds” Kim & Swidler point out. The dating saw the number of its paying users decrease by 9% year over year, with its a-la-carte revenue falling by 13% year over year due to declines in monthly active users and purchase volumes.
As a consequence of this, “our expectations for Y/Y Direct Revenue growth for the rest of the year to become more muted. Tinder continues to see pressure on MAU and is also facing increasing pressure on à la carte (“ALC”) revenue, due in part to weaker consumer discretionary spending”, they share.
“Tinder is re-doubling its efforts to address these headwinds with ALC product adjustments and the introduction of new ALC features over the coming quarters”.
In order “to reignite growth” at Tinder, the Letter to Shareholders outlines a 4 part plan:
- Redefine dating for the next generation
- Win with women
- Improve monetization optimization and localization
- Build a widely loved brand
The dating app plans to test and deliver new features to enhance recommendations and outcomes for women. This includes new ways for discovering new matches, harnessing “richer taste-based signals”. AI will play a key role in Tinder’s upcoming improvements, with the technology looking to improve onboarding, recommendations, and the post-match journey.
Furthermore, it “plans to test a feature that leverages technology to further help verify the authenticity of a Tinder profile, which we believe could meaningfully enhance user trust & safety on the platform and the perception of Tinder in the marketplace”. This could include a policy change to require face photos, which together with AI, “we believe will dramatically improve profile quality and user trust, particularly among women”.
When it comes to monetisation strategy and boosting its a-la-carte results, “Tinder is expediting its plans to improve the efficacy of its current ALC features and introduce new offerings at affordable price points that would allow more users to tap into valuable features, some which have previously only been available to subscribers”.
In the coming quarters, Tinder is expected to offer new a-la-carte options for users, as well as launch new marketing campaigns based on the recently released ‘Share My Date’ feature, and more.
Read Match Group’s full Letter to Shareholders for Q1 2024 here.
