(Reuters) -Match Group on Tuesday forecast second-quarter revenue below analysts’ expectations, as consumers cut spending on dating apps as high inflation and rising interest rates cloud economic outlook.
Many users who turned to online dating in droves during the pandemic have reverted to traditional forms of meeting people as restrictions eased, causing a slowdown of user additions in the sector.
Paying users and direct revenue for its flagship app Tinder were little changed in the first quarter from a year ago, the company said.
Tinder has undergone changes to product and marketing execution and those optimizations though not visible yet in its financial results, it is seeing early signs of greater momentum, Match Group said in a letter to shareholders.
The company forecast second-quarter revenue between $805 million and $815 million, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $822.3 million, according to Refinitiv.
Dating app Hinge introduced a two-tier subscription model, giving users more options, which is expected to increase the average revenue per user and bring in more paying users.
The company said negative foreign exchange impact in the reported quarter was $35 million, $7 million more than it had anticipated in its fourth-quarter earnings call.
Match Group said it saw paying users across its family of dating apps fall 3% from a year earlier to 15.9 million.
The company reported revenue of $787 million in the three-month period ended March 31, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $793.8 million, according to Refinitiv.
Net profit fell to $120.8 million, from $180.5 million, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
