Has Tinder Plus been successful?

The paid option has worked out well for the dating app

Tinder’s paid option, Tinder Plus, was met with skepticism when it was first launched about a year and a half ago. Would people pay for an app they had become accustomed to using for free? Were the added benefits worth it?

Some recent reports have shown that Tinder Plus has, in fact, turned a significant profit for Tinder and its parent company. Here are a few things to know:

1. People enjoy the benefits

According to an article in The Verge:

While being able to swipe right to your heart’s content is Tinder Plus’ most appealing feature, the service also removes ads, lets you reverse a previous swipe, and allows you to change your location. These features may sound trivial, yet their appeal is central to Tinder’s growth. A boost in paid members shows the app is shedding its image as a shallow hookup platform and may be tapping into the types of audiences who have long gravitated to more personality-driven dating services. Still, Tinder does not appear interested in removing its core swipe feature, which lets you decide at a moment’s glance whether you’d like to match with someone based solely on their physical appearance.

2. It’s made a lot of money for its parent company

According to an article in Business Insider:

Match, which also owns Match.com and OkCupid, gets bulk of its revenue from membership fees and paid features.

The company said its average paid-member count jumped 36 percent to 5.1 million in the first quarter ended March 31, also helped by the acquisition of PlentyOfFish.

Match Group, majority owned by media mogul Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, agreed to buy Vancouver-based PlentyOfFish for $575 million in July last year.

The Dallas-based company’s dating business, its biggest, which includes apps such as Tinder, recorded a 24 percent rise in revenue to $260.4 million.

3. It’s good news for a company that has suffered through some bad press recently

According to an article in Engadget:

Like the ups and downs of dating life, Tinder has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the past six months. Earlier this year, police in the UK said reports of crime related to dating apps like Tinder and Grindr rose 700 percent since 2014. In November, Tinder CEO Sean Rad also gave an ill-advised interview in which he drastically misunderstood the word “sodomy” and simultaneously ran afoul of SEC rules right before parent company Match Group filed for IPO.

Check out our ultimate guide for getting more Matches on Tinder.