Tinder Says No Thanks to Googles 30 Percent Revenue Share

Tinder says no thanks to Google and the 30% revenue share the tech company charges to apps to be in the Play Store, reports

Tinder Says No Thanks to Google's 30 Percent Revenue Share

Source: Tinder

Tinder says no thanks to Google and the 15-30% revenue share the tech company charges to apps to be in the Google Play Store, reports Bloomberg. Tinders parent company Match joins companies like Netflix, Spotify and Epic Games, Inc. in fighting back against Google and Apple and their revenue taxes. According to Bloomberg, Match has not yet said whether it would do the same to Apple who charges a 30% revenue share in the first year of a subscription and 15% revenue share in the second year.

Because of the change, the default payment option for in-app subscription purchases like Tinder Gold and Tinder Plus is now to enter a credit card directly into the Tinder app, says Macquarie senior analyst Ben Schachter. After the subscription dating app has been paid for, it doesnt allow the user to return to Google Play for later purchases. Schachter said this is the only company to have changed the payment method within the app itself.

At Match Group, we constantly test new updates and features to offer convenience, control and choice to our users, said Match Group spokesperson Justine Sacco in an email. We will always try to provide options that benefit their experience and offering payment options is one example of this.

Tinders FAQs do not address available payment methods specifically. Instead they refer users the App Store and Google Play Store for details. They do, however, say, accepted payment methods may vary depending on the device you are using. Visiting the Google Play Store doesnt yield any clear answers either.

Tinder offers two in-app subscription programs for premium members: Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold.

Tinder Says No Thanks to Google's 30 Percent Revenue Share

Source: Tinder

Pricing for premium subscriptions, Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold depends on the length of your subscription and the specific option you choose. This is also not clear on the Tinder website. The global dating app says it gets 2.05 billion views per date, helps arrange 1 million dates per week and has made more than 30 billion matches in more than 190 countries.

Netflix is not a fan of giving up big percentages of its revenue to Google or Apple either. In December, after an experiment that bypassed iTunes payments, Netflix said no to the Apple tax. The company will no longer accept payments through iTunes from new members. Existing members can still pay via iTunes,says Venture Beat. iPhone and iPad users who want to sign up for Netflix have to do so on the Netflix website.Venture Beat reportsthat Netflix nixed Google Play as a payment method in May 2018. And we all know how Spotify feels, thanks to their spring filing with the European Commission that alleges antitrust violations because of the Apple tax.

Insider Take:

From Apples and Googles perspective, taking a share of the revenue seems like a great deal. They give apps real estate in their respective app stores in exchange for a piece of the revenue. However, they are asking for big chunks of revenue, whether you are looking at 15% or 30%. That model may have previously been reasonable, but big players like Netflix, Spotify and Tinder are not going to give their money away anymore. It will take A LOT of apps pulling away to make a dent in Apples and Googles revenue, but the statement is important nonetheless. Apple and Google may want to rethink their positions if they want to play nicely with others.

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