Tinder changed dating forever — now it’s trying everything, including AI, to hold on to its paying users
Tinder owner Match Group held an investor day this week.
When Tinder burst onto the scene in 2012, it changed — for better or worse — one of the most fundamental human experiences: how people meet their partners, date, and find that special connection. Since then, the company has become the poster child of the dating-app scene, with hundreds of millions of users swiping to their hearts’ content, turning Tinder into a billion-dollar app. But for the past few years, Tinder and its parent company, Match Group, have been working furiously just to stay relevant as the company’s user growth began to slow, go flat, and then turn negative. The last quarter brought some relief, with the company adding paying users to Tinder for the first time since 2022.
With its stock price down 76% since the end of 2021, Match Group — which also owns Hinge, Match.com, and OkCupid — has been under heavy pressure from activist investors to turn things around. Given its size and maturity, Tinder has long been the company’s cash cow, accounting for $2 billion of direct revenue over the last 12 months, nearly 4x what Hinge brought in and ~57% of the company’s total revenue.
But with a declining user base and a reputation for hook-ups rather than long-term connection, how do you turn Tinder around? Match Group execs, like plenty of business leaders before them, are looking to AI as a solution. The company is hoping that “advanced AI” will help people find matches on the platform more easily, with one slide in the company’s presentation showing an AI-powered insight for an “outdoorsy” individual looking to meet someone. It reads: “Kevin’s not into hiking like you, but loves nature and spends time on the open water kayaking” — this powerful insight is gleaned from a picture of Kevin, in which he’s kayaking on the open water.
And it’s not just in the Tinder app that Match Group is hoping to use AI. In the Hinge section of the company’s presentation, Match touts the potential of AI to help “coach struggling users,” helping one user to breezily ask another plant-loving potential match, “What is the latest count of plants in your…”
Match Group shares are down 6% in the last week, despite the announcement of a new $1.5 billion share-buyback authorization and the initiation of a cash dividend to shareholders.
