WALL STREET JOURNAL – Match Group reported mixed Q4 results on Tuesday with adjusted operating income coming in just above Wall Street's estimate, while both Tinder revenue and total revenue growth fell slightly short of analysts' expectations. Match attributed the revenue shortfall to foreign exchange and lingering effects of Omicron. Match talked more about relationship app Hinge. Match now says Hinge did just under $200M in revenue last year and forecasts that revenue would grow to ~$300M this year. Hinge's payers increased ~60% in the Q4 quarter versus the same period of 2019 with revenue per payer growing ~300% over that period.
Category: Outlets – Wall Street Journal
Match.com Brings Back the Human Touch
WALL STREET JOURNAL – From online dating to social media, algorithms are getting more assistance from humans. Since February, Match Group has been testing a human matchmaking layer to its namesake Match app and will provide two handpicked matches for users willing to pay $4.99 a week. The pilot involves a 50-member team who have been trained as dating coaches by the company. Match said ~30% of its members have already opted in for the feature. Users of the feature were eight times more likely to match – or mutually like one another – with an expert pick versus without the service, Match said.
Match Group’s Shares Down 17%
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Investors are dumping Match amid ongoing litigation risk. Match's shares are down ~17% since the trial began in November. Investors are overestimating the risks. A litigation analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence recently predicted Match has a 75% chance of winning the case. A 2017 report from Barclays showed Tinder did $176M in revenue in 2016 and, as of the Q1 of 2017, had less than a fifth of the payers it has today. No one predicted how much money Tinder Gold would make. According to Barclays Tinder's management predicted $454M in revenue in 2018 and Rad $503M. Barclays landed in the middle at $485M, significantly below the $800M the app actually ended up generating that year. Rad predicted 2020 revenue to be $892M. Last year, the app made $1.4B for Match. The banks ultimately valued Tinder at $3B in 2017, while the plaintiffs argue it should have been worth $13B.The case is set to go to a jury in early December. For Match, the worst case scenario seems unlikely. The judge has already said valuations of dating companies today can't be taken into account.
by Laura Forman
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Mark Brooks: Match Group didn't just buy Tinder. They bought Singlesnet, and OKCupid, and People Media, not to mention POF, to hit the home run with Tinder. Sam Yagan, Mandy Ginsberg, Amarnath Thombre and Shar Dubey, executed beautifully to allow Tinder to disrupt the market. (Full Disclosure: POF is a former client of Courtland Brooks, and I own Match Group stock)
Bumble Investors Should Be More Thankful
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Bumble may never have the broad appeal of Match Group but it is looking more lovable. Since going public in February, its share price has dropped 54% from where it opened on its first day of trading. Over just the last three months, it is down 36%, while Match’s share price has fallen less than 2%. But according to Q3, Bumble ARPU was ~$23, growing 18.5% YOY. Bumble's worldwide download grew 20% YOY. Bumble reported Q3 revenue for its namesake app grew 39% YOY, suggesting more people who are downloading the app are opting to pay for it.
Match Introduces Human Matchmaking
WALL STREET JOURNAL – For $4.99 a week Match dating experts will go through a user's answers to four questions and pair them. A 50-member team, trained as dating coaches, will select two profiles for participating members each week, drawing from the same algorithm-generated pool Match provides. Questions include, what a person would change about their dating life, and what sort of person a user gravitates toward. "The company created the feature because, for some singles, the pandemic has added a degree of urgency to finding a long-term relationship," said Amarnath Thombre, CEO of Match Group Americas. "People have had enough time to reflect," "Traditional matchmaking services are costly, starting in the thousands of dollars for just a few months. But these services are worth it to customers who don't have the time to sort through candidates on apps," said Tammy Shaklee, founder/matchmaker of H4M, an LGBTQ matchmaking service.
by Ann-Marie Alcántara
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Mark Brooks (owner of matchmaker.com): Fascinating stuff, but I think calling this matchmaking is an offense to the matchmaking industry. $5 a week may well be a scalable price-point, but I don't think this service does justice to the humanity of the service matchmakers provide. The whole point of (quality) matchmaking is to get deep into the person, council and coach them, and provide custom advice to the individuals, with occasional appropriately sugar-coated but tough feedback. Match's service appears to be a commitment vehicle. I don't quite see how this service quite passes muster as matchmaking, even as a minimum effective dose. Let's see. Looks like the opposite end of the spectrum to the matchmaking service eHarmony introduced and experimented with years ago.
Match Group Hopes for Savings From Looser App-Store Payment Rules
WALL STREET JOURNAL – In-app fees are Match's biggest expense, said CFO Gary Swidler. A federal judge in California last week ruled that Apple can't block app developers from sending their users outside its app store to pay. The case was brought by videogame company Epic Games. Separately, lawmakers in South Korea last month passed legislation that requires Apple and Google to open their app stores to alternative payment methods. An Apple spokesperson said the company is reviewing the California court ruling. Regarding the new law in South Korea, Apple said it believes the measure could undermine users' privacy protections, among other effects. "We believe user trust in App Store purchases will decrease as a result of this legislation," the company said. By offering a 10% discount on subscriptions, Match might be able to persuade about a third of its Apple users to pay directly, providing the company with an additional $80M in gross profit, predicts Jake Fuller, an analyst at investment firm BTIG.
Investors See Big Potential in Smaller Online Dating Companies
Tinder Adds Explore Section to Dating App
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Tinder is introducing a section called Explore that will make it easier for users to find matches based partly on their interests. The Explore section includes 15 types of interests, such as "foodies," "gamers," and "animal parents." Different interests will surface to users depending on their locations, the time of day and their own passions. It is available to Tinder users in the U.S., U.K, Australia and New Zealand to start.
by Ann-Marie Alcántara
See full article at Wall Street Journal
‘Vaccinated’ Badges Pop up on All Sorts of Apps
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Aug 26 – More apps are adding features that let people display their Covid-19 vaccination status and search for other users and businesses that favor vaccines. Grindr said that starting in September, it will let users add their vaccination status to their profiles and filter their searches to find other vaccinated people. Hinge and Tinder both allow users to share their vaccination status on their profiles. The spread of "vaccinated" badges on user profiles might influence others to get vaccinated, according to digital experience designers, who call the phenomenon "social proof."
by Ann-Marie Alcántara
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Bumble and Match Have Love Left to Give
