The Prospects for Tinder Plus

It feels like Tinder has changed the rules of the dating game of the last few years but now it wants to charge you to play.

Tinder Plus will give users more control over their Tinder experience but at a price – and a price that’s set by age. So, for example, Tinder Plus is charging $19.99 per month for over 30s in the USA and half that for younger users who want to upgrade. In the UK, the price difference is even more pronounced – over-28s are being asked to pay 4 times what younger users are charged.

In the USA, there is a clean 50:50 divide among the dating app audience, with half aged 16-29 and the other half aged 30-64. This aptly displays the opportunity that Tinder Plus has for monetizing older users but also explains desire to introduce a 2-tier system.

And the opportunity for convincing Tinder users to upgrade clearly exists.  Globally, one fifth of dating app users are paying for a online dating service each month – a figure that also holds true in the UK and USA.

What’s more, GWI’s research shows that paid-up app users could come from all age groups. Among the dating app user base in the USA, one fifth of 30-64s are paying for an online dating service each month. These are the committed online daters that Tinder Plus is aiming to capture at an elevated rate. But the same fraction of dating app users from the 16-29 age bracket are also paying regularly for online dating.

This potential Tinder Plus audience may still be a minority of users but opening up any sort of income stream is a positive step for the platform.

Tinder is hoping to capture these paying users by offering ‘Rewind’ – the opportunity to reverse previous swipes – and ‘Passport – the ability to find matches in other cities.

These new functions are likely to appeal. In the USA/UK, 1 in 5 dating app users travel abroad for business at least once every 6 months and a fifth are travelling within their country every month.

The flipside of this premium launch is the prospect of ads being introduced to the platform’s free version. This move may drive a minority to upgrade (or give up on the app) but the remaining dating app audience is clearly of value to advertisers.

Globally, one fifth of dating app users are from the top income quartile, 8 in 10 shop online each month and half say they tend to buy products they see advertised.

What’s more, 60% think they are brand-conscious and two third say having the latest tech products is very important to them.

So while Tinder Plus may only appeal to a minority of the Tinder user base, it’s clear that those that don’t stump up the cash for an upgrade can be monetized in a different way.

To explore this topic in more detail, please download our Location-Based Dating Apps Trend Report from the Insight Store.