Match Group Could Benefit from Relaxed App Store Restrictions

Online dating company Match Group Inc. — which operates Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid — is crafting plans to avoid paying Apple and Google for app store transactions after recent changes in the U.S. and South Korea gave the technology behemoths less control.

Dallas-based Match’s dating apps are free to download, but users pay fees for subscriptions and other premium services, including the ability to see when another Tinder user reads a message. In-app fees to Apple and Google represent Match’s biggest expense, Chief Financial Officer Gary Swidler said in a report in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday (Sept. 16).

Match pays about 30% of revenue to Apple and Google for commissions on payments made through apps offered in their stores, but a federal judge in California said last week that Apple can’t block app developers from sending users outside its App Store to pay for goods and services in a lawsuit brought by Epic Games, the maker of “Fortnite.”

Related news: Apple Rejects Fortnite’s Bid for App Store Return in South Korea

South Korean lawmakers last month approved a change that requires Apple and Google to open their app stores to alternative payment methods. That new law took effect on Tuesday (Sept. 14).

Swidler told WSJ that Match will likely pay about $500 million in transaction fees to Apple and Google this year. The company is crafting an alternative payment option for Hyperconnect users that could also be presented to Apple users in the coming months, he told WSJ, adding that Match will offer users a discount if they pay the company directly.

Match had about 15 million paying customers during the most recent quarter ending June 30, an increase of 15% from the same time in 2020.

Also see: Facebook Tests Dating Again With Video App Called Sparked

In April, Facebook tested a video speed-dating app called Sparked that could cycle people through four-minute video dates if it launches. If both people on the date “have a great time,” a second 10-minute date will be scheduled, according to a report in The Verge.

If the second date also goes well, Sparked will then suggest that both parties exchange contact information to stay in touch through Instagram, text or email, according to the report.

Facebook also launched the Facebook Dating app in 2019 and has since brought it to the U.K. and other countries.