Tinder recently opened up a new "exclusive membership" that starts at $499 a month. According to multiple reports, the membership, called "Tinder Select," requires a monthly fee of $499. For 12 months, that would equal to nearly $6,000. On it's website, Tinder stated that the Select membership has "limited availability" and that not everyone swiping on the app could have access to it. Tinder is offering the membership to "less than 1% of users to ensure you receive the most exclusive experience possible."
The membership is invite-only offered to less than 1% of it's users, with the accepted applicants unlocking exclusive perks on the app such as early access to new features and a virtual badge. The new membership was announced back in September where the chief financial officer and president of Tinder parent company Match Group Gary Swidler said the service is going to have a “relatively tiny amount of new payers” but “a significant impact on revenue per payer and ultimately on revenue." "We expect initial pricing to be substantially higher than Tinder’s current offerings given the significant additional benefits that members will receive and its limited availability," Match Group, which also operates Hinge, the League, Plenty of Fish and other apps, said at the time. According to Pew Research, approximately one-third of people using dating apps are paying for them. Along with Tinder, other online dating apps such as Hinge and Bumble are also offering premium packages to users.
At the end of October, Match Group executives discussed it's third-quarter financial results with analysts and investors. CEO Bernard Kim said. "The amount of invites for Select that have gone out are still at a very low level." He continued, "Tinder and the team have been working really hard to optimize the onboarding process and help users and Select members really understand the value proposition. So we’re continuing to iterate, learn from our users, and will continue to ramp up the number of invites. We do continue to feel optimistic about the financial potential of the product, and we believe that it will continue and we can generate tens of millions of dollars of revenue next year."
