• by Danielle Oster , November 9, 2024

Match Group – parent company to popular dating apps including Hinge and Tinder – held an investors call this week to discuss its Q3 earnings report, as the dating app category struggles to overcome fatigue among younger consumers and projects flat results for the year.

On the earnings call, Match Group outlined disparate performance across its dating apps, and the company’s cautious approach to marketing expenditures.

While category leader Tinder continued to struggle, with paying subscribers down 3% for the quarter year-over-year, Hinge saw a 21% YOY increase in paying customers for the period and 36% increase in direct revenue from the brand.

During the earnings call, Match Group CFO Gary Swidler noted that the company’s selling and marketing costs increased $3 million, a 2% increase for the quarter compared to 2023, which he attributed primarily due to spending for Tinder, Hinge, and “certain emerging brands,” while noting such spending's percentage of total revenue remained flat at 17%

“It's definitely key to reinforce Tinder's brand and promote new products,” Hinge Group CEO Bernard Kim said in response to a question from an analyst on plans to invest in reinvigorating that brand. “But marketing alone will not drive top-of-funnel growth. That's why our focus is on product-led strategies to build sustainable engagement.”

In fact, Swidler seemed to suggest not to expect Match Group to crank up ad spending to support the Tinder brand until it sees further product transformation.

The company noted plans to roll out several product initiatives in the coming quarters as the brand seeks to appeal to Gen Z and women consumers.