Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

IDEA Webinar Video: Dare to Date: Dating in a Time of Pandemic

OPW - Aug 7 - How should online dating companies continue to meet the needs of their users while promoting safe behaviors? This is the 5th IDEA Webinar. The United States and Europe are experiencing a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, which may last well into the new year. In this special IDEA webinar, Mark Brooks discusses the influence of the ongoing pandemic with Geoff Cook, CEO of the Meet Group, along with the members of the group's Safe Dating Advisory Board. Epidemiologists, Dr. Melissa Sharp and Dr. Tali Elfassy, along with infectious disease expert, Dr. Anu Hazra, provide science-based suggestions for addressing the risks of coronavirus in online dating.

Key recommendations include:

• Encourage the use of video and chat to thoroughly evaluate matches prior to meeting in-person, and replacing in-person first dates with video dates · Users should discuss risk factors, such as potential exposures, living situation, and work-related risks, prior to meeting in-person
• Promote the use of masks, social distancing, and other preventative measures to reduce exposure risks · If an in-person date is to occur, be creative and choose activities that are outdoors and allow for social distancing, limit indoor activities and high-exposure risk locations
• Discourage users from relying on test results posted by other members as proof of safety, these tests may be unreliable, outdated, or may never have been done
• Social interactions and dating are an integral part of society, but it is important to adhere to local governmental guidance and supplied information
• When in doubt, err on the side of caution.

PANELISTS
~ Dr. Anirrudha Hazra, an internal medicine and infectious diseases physician certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
~ Dr. Tali Elfassy, an epidemiologist and Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
~ Dr. Melissa Sharp, an epidemiologist and postdoctoral fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland with expertise in meta-research and observational mixed-methods research.
~ Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group.

HOST
~ Mark Brooks, President IDEA.gp & CEO Courtland Brooks.

See full transcript here.

The Meet Group Q2 Financial Results - Revenue up 74% YOY

BUSINESSWIRE - Aug 6 - Total revenue was $90.3M, up 74% YOY. Net income was $10.4M, compared with net income of $2.2M in Q2 2019. "We expect to close our acquisition by ProSiebenSat.1 and General Atlantic by the end of this year," said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group. "We have received antitrust clearance in the US, Germany and Austria, and our stockholders have approved the transaction."

See full article at The Meet Group website

See the top news on The Meet Group 

Dating App LOKO Hits Canada

THE CANADIAN PRESS - Aug 7 - LOKO, a video-only dating app co-developed by Canadian comedian Norm MacDonald has launched in Canada. LOKO features video profiles of its users instead of photos, and allows them to set up virtual dates. Macdonald developed the app with entrepreneur and actor Vivek Jain of Regina. The two have already launched it in other countries including the U.S. and Germany. It's available for free, but to connect and set a date, users must pay a weekly subscription of $1.99 or $3.99 monthly.

See full article at Orangeville

See the top news on Loko

Hello Africa Dating App Connects Africans

LEADERSHIP.NG - Aug 7 - Hello Africa is a mobile dating app connecting 30+ M Africans in the diaspora. The app requires each user to first select their African "Heritage Country", "Tribe", and then select their African "Heritage(s) of Interest". If two users "swipe right" on each other they can exchange text and voice messages.

by Solomon Nda-Isaiah
See full article at Leadership.ng

Matrimony Reports Strong Net Profit Growth of 38%

EQUITY BULLS - Aug 5 - Matrimony.com Limited, the leading online matrimony company, announced its Q1 2020 financial results. Q1 revenue totalled Rs 86.8 crores ($11.6M), down 9% YOY. Net profit grew 38% YOY to Rs 9.4 crores ($1.3M). Murugavel Janakiraman, Chairman and Managing Director said, "We were able to minimize the impact caused by COVID-19 in the quarter and we have returned to a growth trajectory in June.

See full article at Equity Bulls

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Match Confirms Plans for Tinder Platinum

TECH CRUNCH - Aug 5 - Tinder is testing a new top-level subscription plan, Tinder Platinum, which it expects to roll out in Q4. Match described the subscription as providing additional value beyond Tinder's current paid plan, Tinder Gold, but noted the feature was still in the very early stages of testing and was essentially still considered a minimum viable product. According to a U.K.-based Tinder user, the offer for Platinum popped up when they were using Tinder on the web. But they weren't able to make a purchase. The image showed price points as £5.97 per month if on an annual plan, £8.35 per month if on a six-month plan or £14.32 per month if paying monthly.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

See the top news on Tinder

Match Group's BLK Dating App Launches BLKVoices

DALLAS INNOVATES - Aug 4 - Dallas-based dating app BLK, a subsidiary of Match Group, has created a new in-app feature called #BLKVoices to create a space for users to share their opinions on social and cultural topics. Since launching in August 2017, the BLK app has had ~3M downloads, making it the largest dating app for Black singles. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the engagement encourages conversations around racism and discrimination.

by Sophia Gonzales
See full article at Dallas Innovates

See the top news on Match Group

Gleeden Survey: Why People Commit Infidelity

THE TIMES OF INDIA - Aug 5 - Gleeden, an extramarital dating app, has found out that ~75% of its users are willing to meet their love interests if provided an opportunity. ~45.6% of users think that their shared intimacy won't affect their current relationship while 47% of them believe that they cannot share the same level of emotions with two different people. 37% of people commit infidelity because they want to try out something new or spice up their existing relationship. 36% of people commit infidelity because they are in love with someone else.

by Priya Menon
See full article at The Times of India

See the top news on Gleeden

New CheckPlus Tool Brings Safety to Offline Meetups

PR NEWSWIRE - Aug 5 - UrSafe partners with RealMe to create CheckPlus, the first-to-market tool that empowers dating apps and online marketplaces with comprehensive risk evaluation via in-app, off-app and offline protection. The tool also leverages Contextual AI from Spectrum Labs, which helps online dating companies recognize toxic behavior in real-time across multiple languages, including solicitation, sexual harassment, sexual grooming, trafficking, and other disruptive behaviors on apps. With access to CheckPlus, users will benefit from RealMe's security services that confirm a user's true identity prior to a meetup. UrSafe is a voice-activated personal safety app fully integrated with 911. RealMe is a transformative new technology solution providing a turnkey, no-cost way to protect people on dating apps and other online marketplaces.

See full article at PR Newswire

Say Allo Launches Live Video Speed Dating

ACCESSWIRE - Aug 5 - To celebrate the launch, Say Allo will be hosting its first "Live" video speed dating event on Sunday, August 9th at 7pm. Say Allo Live Key Features:

• Before a date is revealed, user profiles begin to unblur while responding to questions that are designed to break the ice between the two users.
• Women get the first move.
• No personal information is shared prior, during or after a video date. Say Allo Live events will be held weekly on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays starting at 7pm.

See full article at DigitalJournal

See the top news on Say Allo

Indian Dating App QuackQuack Hits 10M Users

UNIINDIA - Aug 5 - It took the dating app 70 days to reach 10M users from 9M users. QuackQuack launched in 2011.

See full article at UniIndia

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Match Group Reports Q2 Results - Revenue up 12%

PRNEWSWIRE - Aug 4 - Total Q2 revenue grew 12% YOY to $555M. Operating income was up 14% to $196M, and Adjusted EBITDA was up 13% YOY to $228M (excludes $8M of separation costs incurred by Match Group prior to the closing of the transaction). Average Subscribers increased 11% to 10.1M.  Tinder Direct Revenue grew 15% YOY, driven by 18% Average Subscriber growth to 6.2M. Non-Tinder brands collectively grew Direct Revenue 9% YOY. Match Group's Q2 Financial Results

Mark Brooks: This is very encouraging for the dating industry overall.  Match is getting product right, at scale, across a diversity of brands, although I think they could tease out more of their market gaps with niche approaches.  One important contributor to revenue is video.  In their earnings call they pointed out POF Live and the video dating based game "NextDate" as being particularly successful right now.  "...it's fun and it does communities, and it's an experience people seem to like."  fyi, POF Live and NextDate are powered by The Meet Group.  (FULL DISCLOSURE: POF are a prior long term client, and The Meet Group are a current client of Courtland Brooks)  

See the top news on Match Group
See the top news on Tinder

Grindr Seeks to Push Data Privacy Suit Into Arbitration

LAW360 - Aug 3 - Grindr has urged a New York federal court to push into arbitration a proposed class action claiming it illegally shared users' personal data with advertisers, claiming users agreed to arbitrate such claims in the app's terms and conditions.

See full article at Law360

See the top news on Grindr

OKCupid Debuts New Matching System for Online Dating

FORBES - Aug 3 - OKCupid rolled out a redesign this week that introduced a new matching system. The system, named "Stacks," unveils potential matches with new categories, including: Recommended, Question Pros, Online, Nearby, New People (for paid subscribers), Popular (for paid subscribers) and Match Percentage.

by John Scott Lewinski
See full article at Forbes

See the top news on OKCupid

Aspie Singles Targets Singles on the Spectrum

OZY.COM - July 31 - A new wave of dating apps is emerging, focused on people on the autism spectrum. One of them is Aspie Singles. The app claims 4,500 users with 15-20 new sign-ups per day. The CDC estimates that ~1% of the world’s population is on the autism spectrum, meaning ~70M people. Standard dating apps like Tinder are open to people with autism, but are designed for those who are neurotypical. Hiki, launched in 2019, is another dating app targeting people on the spectrum. Founded by entrepreneur Jamil Karriem, the app has 9K users. Uneepi, an app launched in 2016, has coaches who help people with autism pick up on social cues and learn to communicate their emotions and desires effectively. It has 3,500 users.

by Fiona Zublin
See full article at Ozy.com

See the top news on Hiki
See the top news on Uneepi

German Dating App, LemonSwan, Raised a 7-Digit Round

GRUENDER - July 29 - There are currently ~17M single people in Germany. The online dating revenue in the country will be reach ~212M euros in 2020. The market is dominated by large providers such as Parship or Elitepartner, who aggressively advertise on TV and at S-Bahn stations. So are the large pieces of the cake already distributed? Arne Kahlke and Paul Uhlig don't believe that. The two are founders of dating app Lemon Swan. The app, which claims 250K users, launched 3 years ago. Kahlke has a lot of experience in connecting people. He not only built up Parship's marketing, but also founded ElitePartner in 2004 and sold the company to ProSiebenSat1. Lemon Swan's matching process is similar to that of ElitePartner and Parship - the app works with a psychological personality test and a matching algorithm - but so-called bouncers are also used to check users identity. After a capital injection in January 2019, the start-up has now received fresh capital in the seven-figure range. With the money, LemonSwan wants to become profitable in the German-speaking region in the Q1 2021, and to expand internationally.

by Marie-Charlotte Maas
See full article at Gruender

See the top news on LemonSwan

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com