The online dating company Bumble Inc. reported its financial and operating results covering the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year yesterday. During this period, the two flagship apps owned by the company experienced contrasting performances as Badoo’s user base retreated while Bumble’s expanded.
According to the data released by the company, Bumble’s paying user count increased by 31% from last year, reaching 2.32 million. In the last three months, 98,000 new paying users joined the app, while over half a million signed up in the past year.
Meanwhile, the dating app saw its revenues surge by 26% to $194.3 million. The jump in the platform’s user base managed to offset a slight decline in its average revenues per user (ARPU), which landed at $27.93 during the quarter.
In regards to these positive results, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe commented the following during the earnings call that came after the release of the firm’s quarterly earnings.
“These results are a reflection of strong execution against the strategic priorities that I outlined in our last earnings call, namely international expansion, product innovation, and safety by design, as well as robust top-of-funnel demand”, Wolfe asserted.
She highlighted that, during the first quarter of the year, Bumble was the most downloaded app in the United Kingdom and Canada, was tied in first place in Germany, and came in second place in other key locations such as the United States and France.
Badoo App Underperforms but Management Sees It Returning to Growth Soon
In contrast, the Badoo app and the rest of the platforms owned by Bumble Inc. saw their paying members retreat by 7% compared to Q1 2022 to 1.14 million, resulting in 91,000 users lost in the past 12 months and 47,000 in the past quarter.
Revenues per user for Badoo and the rest of the apps have been declining in the past year, moving from $13.48 in Q1 2022 to $12.47 in Q1 2023 – a 7.5% year-on-year decline. As a result, revenues from these business units experienced a 13% annual drop to $48.7 million.
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“While we still have work to do to further stabilize Badoo and return it to growth, we are encouraged to see registration and reengage users growing in several key markets. Our focus remains on shoring up retention and increasing engagement by focusing on quick, authentic, and feel-good connections, which are the hallmark features of Badoo and what its loyal users love most about the platform”, Wolfe emphasized.
As of this quarter, revenues from Bumble accounted for nearly 80% of the company’s top-line figure. Bumble Inc. announced in its official press release that its Board of Directors has approved a $150 million share buyback program.
Paying Users on Bumble App Could Grow to Nearly 3 Million in 2023
During the second quarter of this year, the management expects to add between 120,000 and 130,000 users to the Bumble app. Meanwhile, the expectations for Badoo are quite more conservative as the firm expects to see flat to slightly positive user growth during this period.
For the entire 2023 fiscal year, Bumble’s paying users are expected to grow significantly with net adds being forecasted to land somewhere between 450,000 and 500,000 users. This would take the app’s total paying users to around 2.6 or 2.7 million.
According to data from Business of Apps, Bumble is the second-largest dating app in the United States in terms of market share with 26% as of 2022. Tinder kept its dominance last year with a 29.2% market share in the North American country but the gap between the two seems to be progressively narrowing.
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