Tinder May Actually Be Worth Something With 100K Paying Users

Tinder might actually be bringing in solid revenue, and it might even be on the rise, analysts said after the company's first-quarter earnings call Wednesday. The popular dating app, known for its "swipe right for yes and left for no" feature, introduced its first moneymaking efforts this year with advertising and a paid version.

InterActiveCorp, which owns match.com and ask.com, acquired a majority stake in Tinder in March. On Wednesday’s earnings call, IAC chairman Greg Blatt told investors that the revenue efforts were “solidly against expectations,” Business Insider reports.

In investor notes, analysts agreed Tinder’s revenue models were strong. Back in July, Blatt said he believed Tinder could reach $75 million a year in earnings, pointing to advertising as a key part of the equation. The app has since introduced ads, including one with Bud Light, where swipe cards are created by brands. On the earnings call, Blatt said the campaign “blew away our expectations in terms of user engagement.”

Time will tell on the paid version Tinder introduced in March, but some analysts are unconvinced the model will do well. “We believe Tinder will not have much success monetizing with a high-cost recurring monthly subscription offering,” Morgan Stanley wrote to investors in February. The app's update limited the number of daily swipes for users on the free version, raising concerns that the app would lose old and new users to other free dating apps.

Tinder does not disclose how many users it has, but Credit Suisse estimated that the paid version has reached 100,000 subscribers while Morgan Stanley estimated 297,000 paying users. The subscriptions start at $10 per month. In orer to meet revenue expectations, Morgan Stanley wrote the company would have to double that base.