Hinge pivots to lower-cost tier to combat dating app subscription fatigue

Steve Bailey, the chief financial officer of Match Group, highlighted that Hinge currently commands a revenue per payer near $30—nearly double that of Tinder. Despite this premium positioning, the app's payer penetration remains low, sitting at roughly half that of its sister platform. By introducing a lower-cost option, the company hopes to convert a broader segment of its user base while maintaining the momentum that saw Hinge’s direct revenue climb 19% to $221 million this past quarter.

This shift in strategy follows a 2023 experiment where the company tested a more expensive tier to capture power users. Now, the focus is on affordability to mitigate the effects of subscription fatigue. While Hinge remains a top performer with 2.3 million paid subscribers, Match Group acknowledges that a cheaper price tag is only one piece of the puzzle. To combat broader user exhaustion, the company is doubling down on alternative engagement models, such as Group Hangouts and Events, alongside plans to launch real-time adaptive recommendations in the final quarter of the year.