Bernard Kim : I’ll take that one. Great question, Chris. The refresh in December was our first step in the product modernization that we’re undergoing as a team. It’s been less than two months since the refresh went live, and we’re already seeing encouraging signs. For example, over 80% of our daily users are currently using dark mode. And as for prompts and quizzes, we’re excited about the early adoption rates. Quizzes are already seeing a 15% adoption rate, and prompts are not that far behind. This is a strong indicator of user engagement, especially considering how recently these features were introduced. I’d like to add that it’s important for us to remember that these features are optional. So not all users will adopt them, but their presence offers more ways for users to engage.
Our approach last fall testing numerous features independently before combining them into a broader refresh has created tremendous learning across Tinder. These tests have taught us quickly to identify what works and what doesn’t work, informing our fail-fast strategy for 2024. And as Gary mentioned, we are leaning in on our marketing strategy. However, it’s crucial to leverage marketing to spotlight new product features. Therefore, we might adjust our spend levels to align with the rollout of these new features throughout the year.
Operator: The next question comes from Justin Patterson with KeyBanc. Please go ahead.
Justin Patterson: Great. Thank you very much, and good morning. Could you elaborate a little bit more about the Hinge slowdown that occurred during December and what drove the reacceleration? I know you talked about that we haven’t really seen seasonality in Hinge before. So I’m curious how that seasonality compares to what you’ve seen towards some of your more mature apps in there? Thank you.
Gary Swidler: Sure. Let me take that, Justin. So we do see seasonality in most of our apps, especially the larger ones, in the period in kind of November and December. That’s typical. We see it at Tinder. We see it at other brands, because users in many parts of the world tend to focus on the holiday season, and they pull back from their dating activities in that period. And then what we tend to see is right after Christmas through Valentine’s Day, we actually see a very strong period. That’s our peak season from right after Christmas to Valentine’s Day when people start looking for love. And so that’s kind of the cadence that we typically see in the business. We haven’t seen that historically at Hinge, but I think now that the business has achieved some reasonable level of scale in some of the core markets like the US, we are starting to see that seasonality like we do at Tinder and other brands.
And so I’m expecting that we’ll see that going forward. But 2023 was the first time that we’ve seen that. The good news is that, that is in the rearview mirror for us at this point. Hinge got off to a very strong start in January, kind of picked off — picked up where it had left off before the holiday period. We’ve seen really good strength in all the geographies where it operates across all gender and age cohorts. And so we’re very pleased with what’s happened thus far in January. And that’s very encouraging because when a brand gets off to a strong start in the peak season, it tends to bode well for its performance for the rest of the year. And so we’re happy to see that, and we’re looking forward to Hinge performing well in 2024.
Operator: The next question comes from Zach Morrissey with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.
Zach Morrissey: Great. Thank you. I appreciate the color on the Tinder’s kind of product road map for this year that provided in the letter. And I wanted to, kind of, focus more on this a la carte opportunity that you stated. So can you share any kind of preliminary details on the kind of new a la carte offering products that you have planned for the second half of this year? I mean how that may differ versus kind of what is currently offered in the app. And then do you see this more as a payer penetration or monetization driver for this year? Thanks.
Bernard Kim: Hey, Zach, thanks for the question. We’re going to hold back on diving into the specifics of our upcoming ALC offerings for competitive reasons. But what I can share, historically, our two main ALC features, Super Like and Boost, have been helping users gain more visibility and stand out. But we actually have not launched any new ALC features for a long time. We’re now exploring additional ALC features that can bring even more value to our users. Our team will vigorously test new offerings to see what resonates most with our daters. And in this effort, we mobilize our portfolio of brands to partner and collaborate with Tinder on these tests. This approach is similar to how swipe up actually tested weekly subs to tune the right offering before we introduced them on Tinder and Hinge.
This team effort will be instrumental in trialing some of these potential new features before we roll them out on Tinder. Expect to see a new ALC offering from us in the second half of this year.
Operator: The next question comes from Benjamin Black with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Benjamin Black: Good morning and thank you for taking my question. I guess with the new leadership in place, what, I guess, any difference should we expect in Tinder strategy? How should we think about things like product output velocity, marketing strategy? For instance, I think you guys also mentioned sort of the renewed focus on ecosystem improvements. And BK, now that you have a permanent successor in place at Tinder, how do you envision your role sort of evolving? Thank you.
Bernard Kim: Thanks, Ben, for the question. Now over the last 18 months, Faye has been a real partner to me. She’s so passionate about Tinder and knows the business and product inside out. We’ve stabilized and returned Tinder to revenue growth. And I believe that Faye is only going to accelerate that momentum. The team is fully aligned and clear on their goals. Faye has been instrumental in shaping our road map. And now as CEO, she is pushing forward with modernizing the product, boosting development speed and bringing vital leadership. And her focus will be particularly in enhancing women’s experience and the overall ecosystem health at Tinder. She will share more of our plan later this year, but the core focus is clear: making Tinder more engaging for younger users and ensure superior experiences for women.
Now as for my role, I have a ton of rewarding work to do across the portfolio. There’s a wealth of exciting innovation sprint across Match Group that I’m deeply involved in. Now at the same time, I’m committed to maintaining a close and effective partnership with Faye and the Tinder leadership team. We will ensure that we continue to drive Tinder growth together as a team.
Operator: The next question comes from Mark Kelley with Stifel. Please go ahead.
