Back in 2014, when Tinder was a completely free product, IAC announced the dating platform would be monetised with a combination of three different strategies.
These were advertising, subscription revenue and one-off cart payments, and having introduced the first two over the past few years, Tinder is now testing its third way of making money.
The Hollywood app has just announced Tinder Boost, a feature that lets singles pay to “skip the line” and get their profile boosted for a short period of time.
Tinder Boost will make your profile one of the “top profiles in your area” for 30 minutes.
In a blog post announcing the new tool, Tinder said this will help singles get 10x more profile views.
Once you have chosen to use the feature, your profile is promoted for half an hour, with Tinder running a timer in the background, and after the period ends you can swipe through profiles as normal, to see who swiped right on you.
You will know if you got a match thanks to Boost, because a small icon that is only visible to you will appear next to that person in your list of matches.
Tinder said in a blog post: “Tinder was designed to provide you a simple, fun introduction to new people nearby so you can get out and meet them in the real world.
“Still, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day and what you need is a boost in the right direction. Tinder Boost gives you exactly that: a way to be one of the top profiles in your area for 30 minutes.”
And Boost will be Tinder’s first experimentation with one-off payments, as all users of the dating app can buy a Boost at any time.
Singles who already subscribe to Tinder Plus will get one Boost every week, however if they want more, they also have to make a one-off payment.
In terms of how much a Boost will cost, this has not yet been revealed, however Tinder is currently testing the feature, and its pricing, in its test market of Australia.
This type of one-off payment has often seemed like a better fit for the premium features Tinder has introduced with Tinder Plus over the past few years, so it’s exciting to see them play around with this kind of payment.
And on Twitter, Tinder’s Head of Product, Brian Norgard, said the feature was “the best product my team & I have ever built”.
Tinder said after testing the feature in Australia, it plans to roll out Tinder Boost around the world.
The news is the latest in a flurry of announcements from Tinder, having launched its Spotify integration last week, and announcing its partnership with female social app Hey! VINA.
Read more about Tinder Boost here.