Contributed by: kellyseal on Saturday, December 19 2020 @ 12:38 pm
Last modified on Monday, December 21 2020 @ 10:18 am
Match Group has had a stellar year, with its most recent earnings surpassing last quarter’s by 3.8 percent. Analysts however pointed out that the stock has underperformed based on year over year analysis, despite the company’s increased revenues.
Match Group reported third quarter earnings of 45 cents per share, which was a decline of 13 percent from third quarter 2019. However, Match Group’s revenue paints a different picture of the company’s success, with third quarter reports of $639.8 million, an increase of 18% year over year according to Yahoo! Finance[*1] . This was driven by an increase in the average subscriber base this year, likely with more people flocking to dating apps overall as the pandemic raged on.
The average subscriber base increased 12 percent to 10.8 million according to Yahoo!, and average revenues per user (ARPU) were up 4% year over year. Still, analysts are considering how much the pandemic is affecting revenue growth in 2020, and if it will continue as we go into the new year.
Tinder, OkCupid and Hinge have been solid drivers of revenue growth among Match Group’s dating apps, with Hinge driving particular growth among young people looking for more serious relationships, or at least someone to partner with for the next lockdown. Many users are opting for premium a la carte services, which has affected the ARPU. Activity and engagement across all apps have increased during the pandemic, but especially among users in Western countries.
In North America, the subscriber base grew 9% to 5.1 million, with apps like Tinder, Hinge, and BLK, a dating app specifically for the black community, driving growth.
Internationally, the subscriber base grew 16% to 5.7 million. Match Group has invested more in Asia the last few years, appointing new regional heads for Southeast Asia, India, and Japan, as adoption of dating apps in these places continues to grow.
Match Group did a soft launch of Tinder Platinum in ten countries earlier this year to test it out, and plans to release this new premium service to more countries before the end of 2020.
While Tinder remains a cash cow for Match Group, the company is seeing tremendous growth in some of its other apps, notably Hinge, whose ARPU was up more than 100 percent in the third quarter report. Plenty of Fish also saw 5.5 million users flock to its newly launched live streaming service.
In addition, Match Group is focused on diversifying its suite of apps to cater to specific audiences. This year, it unveiled Upward, a Christian community-focused app, and also saw tremendous growth in its app BLK this year, which was first launched in 2017.