After All the Hookups, Tinder Wants to Redefine the Relationship

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Tinder is in a rut. Match Group Inc., parent company of the decade-old casual-dating juggernaut, was one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 last year, plunging almost 70% as investors fretted that the app is losing its mojo. Tinder contributes more than half of Match's revenue, but downloads have declined since 2020 and paid user growth has slowed.

Attracting and retaining Gen Z and women is a top priority for Match's new Chief Executive Officer Bernard Kim, who ousted Tinder's management team after taking over in June. He brings bags of experience from his previous role at mobile-gaming company Zynga, but his efforts to reinvigorate the brand may not succeed amid greater competition.

Young people are increasingly turning to apps that offer a more progressive dating experience and emphasize more serious relationships. These include Bumble Inc., which listed shares on Nasdaq in 2021, and Match-owned Hinge, whose “designed to be deleted” tagline has struck a chord with people fed up with swiping and ghosting. Tinder has around 11.1 million paying users, compared to 2.1 million at Bumble and around 1 million at Hinge, according to UBS Group AG.

Although it's common for daters to use multiple apps, Tinder's global monthly active users have been flat since the end of 2019, whereas Bumble and Hinge's users have respectively increased 87% and 140% in the same period, according to Sensor Tower data. (Tinder has previously said monthly users are not “particularly relevant” for its paid subscription business.)

The strong dollar isn't helping at the moment, but revenue is expected to have stagnated in the October to December quarter and to increase 5%-10% next year — less than half the pace investors were accustomed to.

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