MARKETWATCH - Match Group shares edged up 5.5% to $50.48 following news that a higher priced ($50-$60) membership tier for its Hinge dating app is being tested. However, Match's stock price is down 57% over the last 12 months.
235 posts categorized "Hinge"
Match Shares Rise 5.5% on Hinge's Pricier Membership Testing
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Hinge Tests $60 Plan for 'Motivated Daters'
BLOOMBERG - Hinge sees new opportunity for fast-growing Gen-Z users. Meanwhile, Tinder is testing user interest in new $500 monthly plan. Hinge has a $35 a month offering. The new $50-$60 price offering will be introduced globally in Q1 to offer "highly motivated daters" enhanced features to boost their exposure. The people that subscribers "like" will be seen faster by other users and the offering will provide better recommendations of profiles Hinge thinks the user will be most interested in.
by Michael Tobin
See full article at Bloomberg
Mark Brooks: Many years ago POF tested its first paid offering. For $6 a month, users could get a big round badge on their profiles saying 'serious dater.' That was it. No other benefits. It did well. On the whole, we're leaving money on the table, and users with more money and motivation, and less time, will spend considerably more.
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Hinge Allows Users to Add Their "Relationship Type" to Their Profile
TECH CRUNCH - Hinge rolls out a feature that allows users to add their "Relationship Type" to their profile, whether that be "monogamous," "non-monogamous," or "figuring out my relationship type." The update lets users express precisely what they’re looking for to more efficiently minimize unsuited matches. Like Hinge's "Dating Intentions" profile feature, there's a "Backstory" open-text option, so users can add more context about their relationship type.
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Match Could Gain From Hinge's Sustained Growth and Tinder Recovery
BENZINGA - Match Group said Q3 revenue increased 1% YOY to $810M, which beat average analyst estimates of $795M. Paying users increased 2% YOY to 16.5M. Match Group plans to focus on Tinder growth as it heads into 2023. Match Group expects Q4 revenue to be between $780M and $790M. Keybanc analyst Justin Patterson views Match as an improving execution story that should benefit from sustained growth at Hinge and a recovery in Tinder. He views 2023 guidance for 5-10% revenue growth and at least flat margins as reasonable.
by Anusuya Lahiri
See full article at Benzinga
See the top news on Match Group
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Hinge Will Try to Thwart Scammers With Video Verification
WIRED - Hinge will begin rolling out video selfie verification, next month. Hinge will ask users to take a video selfie within the app to confirm they are real. Match Group then plans to use machine learning technology and human moderators to compare facial geometries from the video selfie to photos on the user's profile. Once the video is confirmed as authentic, a user gets a "Verified" badge on their Hinge profile.
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Dating Apps Test the Price of Love
WALL STREET JOURNAL - A decade into the dating-app era, many apps have switched from free to "freemium" models, offering paid subscriptions and a la carte features that are meant to improve the odds of finding a match. The most popular dating apps all offer paid memberships that can run from $12 a month to $600 a year. Dating app executives say that while paying isn't necessary to find a match, paid features can help users save time and find connections more easily. The free version of Hinge has a limit on the number of likes each user can send and displays blurred photos. The paid version offers users unlimited likes and clearly displays the profiles of users who like them. Another common add-on is a "boost," where a user's profile is shown to more people in a set period. Tinder has 10.9M paid users to date and is currently at work on a new paid feature, says Faye Iosotaluno, the company's COO.
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Inner Circle Adds a Suite of Anti-ghosting Features
TECH CRUNCH - Inner Circle, a global dating app, is trying to put a stop to the hurtful online dating experience where people cut off contact with another person without any warning or explanation. Inner Circle dubbed this new group of features "The Date Conscious Suite." The new toolset includes things like anti-ghosting reminders, end conversation options, closure messages, pinned conversations, and decision prompts. Match Group announced a feature in 2021 that nudges users suspected of ghosting so the user can unmatch or send a message that they're not interested. Also, Hinge has a "Your Turn" feature that reminds users when it's their turn to respond. The video-first dating app, Snack, has an anti-ghosting feature that reports users that ghost too frequently. The more someone ghosts, the less a user's profile gets seen. There's even an anti-ghosting dating app called Elate, specifically designed with features that help prevent ghosting.
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More Singles Turn to Dating Apps, But Inflation Puts Dent in Plans
ZENGER NEWS - A survey by Dating.com found that online dating sites worldwide are attracting 12M new users annually, with ~70% of global singles using online dating services. Yet as online dating app usage has increased, dating behavior in a post-COVID world means people face higher costs when arranging face-to-face meetings. "Two out of three say that cost is an important factor when deciding what to do on a date," said Logan Ury, director of relationship science at Hinge. 41% surveyed Hinge singles reported they were more concerned with dating costs now versus a year ago. Gen Z is more likely to feel cost pressures. In Japan, in a survey of 50K people, Eureka, which owns the dating site Pairs, found that 59% of respondents stopped looking for partners or ceased dating, due to COVID. Online dating site subscribers worldwide spent $4.2B in subscriptions in 2021, up 30% over 2020, according to App Annie. Of the online sites, Tinder is the global market leader, with $1.35B in revenues in 2021.
by Charles Epstein
See full article at Newsweek
See the top news on Dating.com See the top news on Pairs
See the top news on Hinge See the top news on Tinder
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Hinge Adds More Ways to Connect With New Polls and Video-specific Prompts
TECH CRUNCH - Hinge launches two new features, "Video Prompts" and "Prompt Polls," allowing users to answer video-specific prompts as well as publish polls with three unique answers for potential matches to choose from. Users can select from 21 poll prompts such as, "If we on the lottery, let's spend it on," "A dream home must include". Video, meanwhile, isn't new to Hinge. But to add a new video-specific prompt, users can only record within the app. The app has added 16 new prompts designed for video. This includes "Something that's special to me," "Hi from me and my pet," "Rate my fit," and "Quick story time." Users can record a 30-second video to pair with the video prompt. Bumble has begun experimenting with polls, as well.
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Hinge Is Launching in Germany
CASCHYS BLOG - Hinge, a dating app that is designed to be deleted, is now available in Germany. In 2021, Hinge was among the fastest-growing apps in the US, UK, and Australia.
by André Westphal
See full article at Caschys Blog
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Which Dating Apps Collect and Share the Most Data From Their Users
TECH BUZZ IRELAND - MoneyTransfers.com has analyzed 15 different dating apps to identify which apps share sensitive information with third parties. 67% of dating apps collect users' personal data to share with third parties. Badoo and Her were discovered to be the dating apps that share most of their users' personal data with third parties (35%), including everything from location, contact information, identifiers (IP address and cookies), and usage data. In joint second place were eharmony and Grindr, and in third place came Tinder and PlentyOfFish. There were 5 apps that did not collect any of their users' personal data to share with third parties. These apps were Hinge, Thursday, Flava, Once and Raya.
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TikTok Creators Narrate Hinge Ad Aimed at Gen Z Daters
THE DRUM - Hinge is bringing back its furry mascot 'Hingie' for the 3rd installment of its 'Designed to be Deleted' campaign. The ad highlights nine different scenarios showing the more creative side of getting to know someone, be that attending a pottery class, going hiking, or spending an evening stargazing. In the background of each activity, Hingie is happily sacrificing himself. The app and agency Red Antler tapped TikTok creators to voice the campaign, providing reactions and commentary to the dates on screen. The campaign will be rolled out globally with TV spots on Hulu, out-of-home (OOH) activations, plus digital and social media posts.
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Hinge Launches LGBTQ Dating Guide to Answer
MASHABLE - Hinge has a new FAQ guide full of advice specifically about LGBTQ dating. The NFAQ (Not-so-Frequently Asked Questions) guide is full of answers to questions relating to LGBTQ dating and identity, including how to navigate dating when you're not quite ready to come out.
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Soaring Prices Are Changing the Dating Game
BLOOMBERG - Surging prices are making it more expensive to wine and dine a love interest, causing daters to reassess their priorities. The consumer price index category for food away from home rose 7.7% YOY, while full-service restaurants climbed 8.9%. Among 3K users on Hinge, 41% said they were more concerned with the cost of dates now versus a year ago, with Gen Z respondents more likely to feel the pressure. "As a result, people are on the hunt for less expensive options," said Logan Ury, director of relationship science at Hinge.
Finding a person who is financially savvy is an increasingly attractive quality. OkCupid daters who said they keep a budget have received 16% more matches and 7% more likes over the past three months than those who said they don't.
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The Pricing Puzzle of Dating Apps
A MEDIUM FOR MEDIA - How companies make money off dating apps that are 'designed to be deleted'. Some elite apps like Raya and Lox Club work on memberships. Market leaders Tinder, Hinge and Bumble operate on a "freemium" model. A paying customer is statistically more likely to find a successful match and, as such, has no need for the product anymore. Freemium pricing hooks customers, then lures them to top-ups and premium features. ARPU for dating apps has been steadily increasing, but paying customers represent less than 10% of the total for Tinder (and are below 5% for Hinge and Bumble). Advertising revenues account for a very small portion of revenue. i.e. 3% of revenue for Bumble. Hinge has done away with advertising altogether. Innovative monetization modes include
a. Offerwalls - Users complete virtual tasks for tokens that act as a proxy to premium services.
b. Data Swaps - Virtual tokens used to unlock features in exchange for permissions to sell data to third-parties.
c. Unlocking individual matches - e.g. shaadi.com users create profiles for free, but Shaadi charge them on successful matches.
by Zarir Marfatia
See full article at A Medium for Media
Mark Brooks: How do you think dating apps should monetize in the future? Please join the conversation on this topic, on this Swell. Your opinion matters. Please voice it here. ;-)
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