Hinge

Dating app Tinder continues to lose paying subscribers according to Match Group’s latest earnings report. Match Group’s overall revenue for Q1 has been impacted by Tinder’s ongoing struggles, but it continues to hold strong in the dating app market overall.

According to Fast Company, Match Group said that Tinder’s paying user base for the first quarter fell 9 percent from the same quarter last year. The company’s CEO Bernard Kim remained optimistic, saying that they expect to slow user declines in the second half of the year.

However, Match Group’s revenue is up, with net income at $123.2 million for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $120.8 million this time last year, according to Marketwatch. Revenue rose 9 percent for the company to $859.6 million, compared to $787.1 million the same time last year. (Match Group revenue also beat overall analyst expectations of $855.8 million.)

Tinder and Hinge announced new features to ramp up safety for their users, including sharing date details with family and friends and filtering unwanted language from comments and messages.

Tinder’s new safety feature Share My Date allows users to share date plans they make with their family and friends for additional safety, including details like location, date and time along with their match's photo. They can do this using the feature up to 30 days in advance, according to USA Today.

While Tinder says about 30 percent of its users already share this information with close friends or family, it makes it much more convenient and top-of-mind to be able to share via the app.

A new study from the research team at Mozilla has found that dating apps are collecting and selling more information than its users might be aware of.

According to The Washington Post, Mozilla found that 80 percent of the dating apps they reviewed – which include popular apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge among others – may share the personal data of users with their advertisers. In fact, the privacy policies that users must agree with to use these platforms make it clear that their personal information could be sold. But how many are reading the fine print?

Spark Networks’ privacy policy was particularly specific and alarming for its apps JDate, Christian Mingle and Elite Singles. It stated that the apps might collect “sensitive information” including political affiliation, union memberships, and your “sexual preferences and experiences,” according to the Post.

Hinge dating app has another campaign around its tagline “designed to be deleted,” where mascot Hingie journeys to the afterlife after matching a happy new couple.

According to Adweek, marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy Portland created the ad campaign for Hinge, including a video which expands on the designed to be deleted theme.

The video is meant to appeal to younger daters with its slightly dark yet funny approach. It begins with a couple kissing in their car who decide to make their relationship official by deleting the app, sending Hingie into the afterlife. The ad continues with Hingie’s journey, where the mascot is dropped in front of a judge called The Oracle, who grants Hingie’s passage to heaven through a golden doorway.

A federal lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco court against Match Group, alleging that the dating app company creates apps that hook users with promises of love, and then push people to pay money to keep swiping.

According to NPR, the lawsuit was brought by six plaintiffs in New York, California, and Florida, alleging that Match Group “gamifies” its apps to “transform users into gamblers locked in a search for psychological rewards that Match makes elusive on purpose.”

Match Group owns popular apps Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid and The League, among others.

The lawsuit goes on to claim that Match Group’s apps are designed to turn users into addicts who keep swiping; and keep purchasing subscriptions and paid features to be able to keep searching for matches. The plaintiffs also claim that the company has violated state and federal consumer protection laws and engaged in false advertising.

Match Group released its first quarter revenue forecast, falling below Wall Street analyst expectations as users continue to cut back on their dating app spending.

According to Reuters, the company also authorized a $1 billion share buyback plan.

The company, which owns Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid and Match among other dating apps, said paying users declined 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year, to 15.2 million. It expects revenue between $850 and $860 million for the first quarter, down from analysts’ forecasts of $867 million on average, according to Reuters.