Tinder

Image: Forbes

Having trouble finding a worthwhile match on Tinder? The dating app made “swipe left” and “swipe right” two of the most recognizable phrases in popular culture — but what it hasn’t necessarily done is made it easier to find a date using those infamous gestures.

In an effort to help singles get more out of their Tinder experience, the company has started testing a premium service it’s calling Tinder Concierge. An advertisement recently released on the platform announced the new feature with an image of a limousine parked outside of an ornate building. The short description of Concierge explains that users can pay $20 to schedule a session with a “team of experts” who will help them “craft the perfect profile.” Users who are interested are invited to sign up for the waitlist to get more information.

The ad has been greeted with mixed responses on Reddit. A few users expressed curiosity about the idea. Others called Concierge “transparently a scam” and “something that’s going to flop miserably.” A skeptical user shared the theory that Tinder would simply note when a user has a Concierge session and updates their profile, then show them more matches — which increases the likelihood that they’ll get more right swipes — so the user will think the service is working. Several users noted that their version of the ad set a Concierge session at $50, not $20.

It’s the 2020 election season, and political campaigns are competing for young voters – and turning to dating apps Tinder and Bumble for help.

Young campaign volunteers are using dating apps to chat with their matches and advertise for their candidates over dating apps, according to International Business Times. Some are even springing for premium versions of Tinder so they can change location and engage voters in other states. Still other app users are advocating for more political engagement, including announcing in their profiles that they only date registered voters.

Tinder announced that its hit interactive series Swipe Night has been greenlit for season two. The new season is expected to debut this summer, according to The Verge.

Swipe Night season one premiered last year in October in the U.S., and will be released internationally in March. The series consisted of five-minute episodes available once per week (Sunday evenings throughout the month) via the Tinder app. As users watched, they were presented with choices of what to do in real time, which informed how the story unfolded for them, described as a “choose-your-own-adventure” format.

The choices viewers made also populated their user profiles, so other Tinder users could see how they chose and make decisions as to whether or not to swipe right or message them.

Image: @wongmjane

Dating app Tinder is testing more new features, one of which was briefly disclosed in an earnings call earlier this year by Match Group.

The new features are described as “conversation starters” to help initiate messaging between users and to keep them more engaged. One of the features is a conversational prompt, which encourages users to respond to a question or finish a sentence so that their matches get a better idea of who they are. The second feature allows users to post photos, looping videos and other content that can only be seen by their existing matches, according to Tech Crunch. This is also intended to strike up conversations in a more personal, unique way.

After a tumultuous year that involved an FTC lawsuit, a split from parent company IAC and the departure of CEO Mandy Ginsberg, Match Group has published its fourth quarter and full year financial results for 2019. Total revenue for the company exceeded $2 billion for the first time.

For the third quarter 2019, Match Group shared the following highlights:

• Total Revenue grew 20 percent over the prior year quarter to $547 million
• Average Subscribers increased 19 percent to 9.8 million, up from 8.2 million in the prior year quarter, and ARPU increased 1 cent to $0.59
• Operating income was $180 million, an increase of 19 percent over the prior year quarter
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 22 percent over the prior year quarter to $215 million

Match Group reported annual earnings for 2019, and its star dating app Tinder came out on top with almost $1.2 billion in revenue for the year.

Tinder had on average 5.9 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2019, 36 percent more than the previous year according to The Verge. At the same time, Reuters reported in early February that Match Group missed its fourth quarter revenue estimates as subscriber growth on Tinder fell to its lowest since the fourth quarter of 2018, perhaps an early sign of market saturation.