Cheating at the Dating Game

As millions of people around the world are trying to find a last-minute (virtual) date for Valentine’s Day, Tinder’s servers are probably running hot these days. The market-leading dating app has not only revolutionized the dating game since its launch in 2012, but also helped tremendously in freeing online dating from its long-standing stigma.

Tinder is not only a godsend for digital natives looking to meet new people, but also for its parent company Match Group, which is currently valued at more than $45 billion, mainly thanks to the success of its cash cow. In 2020, Tinder generated $1.4 billion in revenue, more than half of Match Group’s total revenue of $2.4 billion. The popular dating app has been downloaded hundreds of millions of times to date and is available in 190+ countries.

While the basic functionality remains free, more and more users opt for a paid subscription to get additional features and improve their chances in the dating game. As the following chart shows, Tinder added roughly 800,000 million subscribers last year, bringing the total paid subscriber base to an average of 6.7 million people in Q4 2020. There used to be a time when young suitors had to muster all their courage to ask somebody out. Now all it takes is a smartphone and a $10-subscription to live happily ever after.