How does one monetize a free dating app? I suppose a premium option is your best bet, at least that’s what Tinder is doing. Starting tomorrow, the ridiculously popular dating/hooking up app is launching a $9.99 premium option that will grant users access to a few highly requested features, such as the ability go back to look at someone you swiped left on.
Tinder Plus, the dating app’s first step into the wonderful world of freemium monetization, will launch on Monday for $9.99, according to sources familiar with the matter. Tinder Plus includes at least one highly requested feature and a few others that are meant to add broader functionality to the service, which essentially boils down the usual online dating experience into a simple location-based “hot or not.” Tinder has since added features meant to boost engagement, such as Tinder Moments (photo messages sent to all of a user’s matches), but this is the first time Tinder has asked its users to start paying for a product. Tinder has been testing pricing on the app in a number of markets over the past few months, with prices ranging from $.99 all the way up to $19.99/month. Though sources say that pricing will vary from market to market, they also say that they expect the service to hit the U.S. market at a price under $10.
