Match Group says Tinder DAUs grew in September; Q3 revenue down 3%

Match Group (MTCH) said on 2 November that Tinder daily active users (DAUs) returned to year-on-year growth in September, alongside third-quarter results and a $0.20 per share dividend. CEO Spencer Rascoff said in the release: 'Daily Active Users returned to Y/Y growth in September for the first time in three and a half years.'

The caveat is in the prepared remarks. Tinder DAUs were still down 1% year on year across the full quarter, and Match gave no absolute DAU numbers. One good month is an inflection signal, not yet a trend, and the group top line is still shrinking.

The DII Take

This is a real improvement and Match is right to lead with it, but the evidence is one month long. The more convincing proof is that female MAU declines, payer trends and conversation metrics have all been improving together. The test now is whether growth in DAUs survives a fourth quarter in which Match has pushed marketing spend into the period and guided Adjusted EBITDA down 11% at the midpoints.

One month of growth, a quarter still in decline

September was the first month in three and a half years in which Tinder's daily users were up on a year earlier, yet across the whole third quarter they remained 1% lower. Match said Tinder monthly active users (MAU) fell 5.5%, a one-point improvement on Q2 and the sixth consecutive quarter of narrowing declines. Female MAU declines narrowed to 6% from 8% in Q2.

Engagement measures moved the same way. Tinder Sparks, the six-way conversations, rose 1% year on year and Sparks Coverage rose 5%. Match said both were its strongest quarterly year-on-year performance since it began tracking them.

Money is following more slowly. Tinder direct revenue was $480M, down 2%, with payers down 4% to 8.9M and revenue per payer up 2% to $18.02. Match said direct revenue included about a $5M negative impact from user experience tests and product changes. For context, the company's earlier filings put Tinder payers at 8.8M in Q4 2025 (down 8%) and 8.6M in Q1 2026 (down 5%). DII previously covered the Q2 results and Tinder Events expansion.

Tinder's product pipeline is crowded. Match said Events is live in 56 cities, Double Date has generated 30 million matches, and Group Hangouts launched in the Nordics in September and the US in October. It also said it will turn its attention to Tinder monetisation in 2027, suggesting the revenue benefit of these products is not expected yet.

Hinge carries the growth while E&E drags

Hinge direct revenue rose 19% to $221M, with payers up 23% to 2.3M and global MAU up 12%. Revenue per payer fell 3% to $31.81, which Match attributed to discount optimisations and testing of a new lower-priced subscription tier. Hinge Adjusted EBITDA was $88M, a 40% margin, and the company expects to roll out the cheaper tier in Q4.

E&E tells the opposite story. Direct revenue fell 20% to $176M (down 19% FX-neutral), payers fell 23% to 2.6M and Adjusted EBITDA fell 28% to $45M. Match attributed the drop to Azar's required app redesign and weakness at other E&E brands.

At group level, payers fell 5% to 13.8M while revenue per payer rose 3%. Indirect revenue was $15M, down 17%. Revenue of $891M landed inside the $885M to $895M range Match gave in August, a range that assumed a $10M hit from Tinder tests and a $15M hit from lower Azar revenue.

Profit up, but the comparison is flattering

Net income was $174M, up 8%, and diluted EPS was $0.73 against $0.62. Adjusted EBITDA was $344M, up 14% with a 39% margin. There is a catch: the Q3 2025 figure included a $61M legal settlement charge, and excluding it, Q3 2026 Adjusted EBITDA fell 5% on higher Tinder and Hinge marketing. Match said the beat against expectations came mainly from marketing spend shifting from Q3 into Q4.

CFO Steve Bailey said: 'We delivered against our financial expectations this quarter, while the underlying trends at Tinder continued to improve'.

Cash returns remain the other pillar. Year to date through Q3, Match generated $886M of operating cash flow and $832M of free cash flow. It repurchased 9.6M shares for $336M, an average of $35, and paid $137M in dividends. It bought a further 1.1M shares for $44M in October. Diluted shares were down 4% year on year at 31 October and 10% since the start of 2025. Quarter-end cash and short-term investments were $729M, with gross leverage of 2.6x and net leverage of 2.0x.

What to watch in Q4 and beyond

Match guided Q4 revenue to $865M to $875M, down 1% to flat, and Adjusted EBITDA to $327.5M to $332.5M. Full-year revenue is expected to be flat at the Q4 midpoint, with a full-year Adjusted EBITDA margin of about 38.8%, above the 37.5% February target.

The rival comparison is stark, though incomplete. Bumble (BMBL) reported Q2 2026 revenue down 15% to $211M and total paying users down 16.4% to 3.2M. Its Q3 results had not been reported at the time of writing; Quartr listed 4 November as the date.

Watch three things: whether Tinder's DAU growth holds beyond September, whether the lower-priced Hinge tier lifts payers without dragging revenue growth, and whether E&E stabilises once Azar's redesign has worked through.

Sources: Match Group Announces Third Quarter Results, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1 (Match Group via SEC EDGAR); Match Group Q3 2026 Prepared Remarks, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.2 (Match Group via SEC EDGAR); Match Group Announces Second Quarter Results, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1 (Match Group via SEC EDGAR); Match Group Q2 2026 Prepared Remarks incl. Q3 guidance, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.2 (Match Group via SEC EDGAR); Match Group Q1 2026 Prepared Remarks, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.2 (Match Group via SEC EDGAR); Bumble Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1 (Bumble Inc. via SEC EDGAR)