Match wants to bring dating into the generative AI age and plans to invest to bring AI-driven experiences to its two largest brands, Tinder and Hinge.
Speaking on Match's fourth quarter earnings call, CEO Bernard Kim outlined the company's generative AI efforts. Match delivered fourth quarter revenue of $866 million, up 10% from a year ago, with annual sales of $3.4 billion. Tinder revenue is more than half of Match's sales.
Kim said:
"We believe that AI is existential to the future of Match Group and our business. AI will help us create improved user experiences and will truly make our products better. And that puts us in a different category from other companies that are just looking at optimizing through AI and slight improvements.
This technology is revolutionary for dating, and we're bringing it to life across our entire portfolio. I envision AI to be felt through the entire experience, influencing everything from profile creation to matching and connecting for dates, literally everything."
Here's a look at Match's generative AI plans and how it will drive engagement.
- Tinder will adopt a "fast-fail mentality" that will inform moves across the Match properties. "In 2024, Tinder is adopting a fast-fail mentality, a strategy that prioritizes rapid experimentation and testing. This approach is all about agility. If a new idea or feature doesn't yield the anticipated results, the team is prepared to quickly pivot, absorbing valuable insights and move forward. We recognize that not every innovation will be a groundbreaking success," said Kim.
- AI will enable Tinder to appeal to a broader audience. "This new generation of singles is digital-first and expect platforms like ours to allow daters to showcase their unique personalities in an engaging setting and be shown highly curated matches," said Kim. "Leveraging AI, Tinder will focus on creating a more inclusive experience beginning with improving the Gen Z and women's experiences, while solving for key user pain points across the dating journey."
- Hinge will use AI and aim to "truly understand you and what you're looking for in order to introduce you to the right person sooner." This use case will leverage data from profiles, interactions and "great dates that Hinge has collected over several years," said Kim.
- A central innovation team will begin to launch new brands to grow the dating category and bring in new users.
- Internal systems will aim to coordinate with the central innovation team to improve the company’s effectiveness. "While AI brings with it cost efficiencies and a potent optimization tool, we view it as far more than just that," said Kim. "AI has played an important strategic role at Match Group for years from trust and safety efforts to our matching algorithms, and I believe it will play an even larger role moving forward."
Kim's bet is that Match's AI investment in Tinder will generate momentum among Gen Z and women with growth in the second half of the year.
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Match CFO Gary Swidler said:
"We believe AI can help improve our users' experience and bring resistors into the category, as well as potentially expand our TAM. We have a long list of product features being rolled out at Tinder and Hinge, as well as plans to test new and different products that leverage AI throughout 2024. Our current expectations for incremental 2024 AI-related spend of $20 million to $30 million across Match Group."
