Rising number of Tinder users drives first-quarter revenue at Match

An increase in the number of people looking for love — or something a little less long term — online via the dating app Tinder underpinned forecast-topping revenue growth for Match Group in its first quarter.

While the company’s push for international growth appears to be bearing fruit, the flipside is that foreign exchange effects stripped a few percentage points from the group’s sales growth.

Match said the number of average subscribers across its suite of services, which include Tinder, Hinge and OKCupid, rose 16 per cent in the three months ended March 31 from a year ago, to 8.6m.

The average number of subscribers to Tinder — the well-known app that allows users to swipe to the left or right of a smartphone screen to reject or accept, respectively, a potential partner — was up 1.3m from a year ago to 4.7m and average revenue per user (Arpu) also rose.

Across the group, though, average revenue per user was flat from a year ago at 58 cents, or 60 cents factoring out foreign exchange effects.

Total revenue increased 14 per cent from a year ago to $464.6m in the first quarter, edging forecasts by almost $1m. The company pointed out growth would have been 18 per cent, excluding foreign exchange effects.

Net income rose 23 per cent to $123m, although this was helped by a $27.8m income tax benefit. That worked out to 42 cents a diluted share, and better than the median forecast of 28 cents a share among analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

The company reiterated it was seeking international growth, driven by a plan announced last month to expand headcount in Asia by 40 per cent this year.

Investors pushed Match Group shares 6.3 per cent higher in after-hours trade on Tuesday.