Hinge Launches ‘Date Ideas’

Posted on April 23, 2026
Hinge Date ideas

HINGE – During the Date Ideas test, 54% of Hinge daters shared that the feature made them feel more confident asking someone out, and it led to more matches and dates. Ben Celebicic, Hinge’s CTO said, “date Ideas gives daters a clear, low-pressure way to signal they’re ready to meet.”

Date Ideas: daters select three Date Ideas to feature on their profile. Suitors then select one of the three activities and their availability (this week, this weekend, next week, next weekend) before liking or commenting with them. Available in U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia.

See full article at Hinge website

Mark Brooks: Nice. Next it would be nice to guide them on actual date venues, and specials. Dating can get expensive. Hinge has scale and can negotiate deals with promising new restaurants, book right into their systems, and take a small cut. That’s ‘found money’ in a tight dating market. 

The League Is Using LinkedIn’s Influencers

Posted on April 23, 2026
The League LinkedIn campaign

DIGIDAY – Last month, The League launched its first LinkedIn campaign, “Network here. Find me on The League.” It worked with 10 LinkedIn creators – founders and entrepreneurs – who were also verified The League members. It’s part of the dating app’s larger efforts to retool its media mix, exploring more niche channels outside of the usual suspects, like Meta and TikTok.

See full article at Digiday

Mark Brooks: Courtland Brooks manages advocate-influencer campaigns on Youtube, TikTok and Insta. We’ve not looked at Linkedin, but we will now. I really like that The League recruited from within their community. Great move!

Pure Has a New Feed Design

Posted on April 23, 2026
Pure dating app

MASHABLE – Pure’s new feed is even more colorful and easy for users to express themselves in the loudest way possible. Users choose their profile’s aesthetic and color pattern with a single tap: bright pink, periwinkle, black, and more. The new redesign prioritizes one profile at a time; there’s no grid in sight. There’s a new “Mutual Turn-Ons” view. Pure wrapped up 2025 with close to $100 million in gross revenue and a 95% year-over-year increase in registrations. Revenue grew 46% year-over-year in 2025.

See full article at Mashable

Matchmaking Firm Duo Fined $810k Over Data Leak

Posted on April 23, 2026
Duo logo

KOREA TIMES – South Korea’s data protection regulator has fined leading matchmaking company Duo $810k over a January data leak of 430,000 members, including IDs, passwords, names, birth dates…, according to the Personal Information Protection Commission. An employee’s work computer was hacked, and the company failed to notify authorities for 3 days. Duo also violated its responsibility to implement data protection measures; it didn’t restrict access to its database in the event of multiple failed entry attempts.

See full article at Korea Times

Clarifai Deletes 3 Million Photos That OkCupid Provided to Train Facial Recognition AI

Posted on April 22, 2026
OkCupid data leak

TECH CRUNCH – Clarifai has now deleted 3M OkCupid photos and the AI models trained on them. This is the first clear confirmation that the data was actually used for facial recognition training. The deletion follows the FTC case against OkCupid and Match Group, which settled without admitting wrongdoing.

See full article at Tech Crunch

Milian Files for Hong Kong IPO With 74% Revenue Growth and Human-Led Matchmaking Model

Posted on April 22, 2026
Milian Technology

BENZINGA – Milian is an online matchmaking company targeting young Chinese users, preparing for a Hong Kong IPO. It reported 74% revenue growth last year, with profits tripling. The company stands out by using human matchmakers instead of AI, employing thousands of facilitators to guide conversations and support users through the dating process. This sets it apart from platforms like Tinder and Momo, which rely on algorithms.

See full article at Benzinga

Ophir Laizerovich: Innovating Lead Acquisition in the Dating Industry

Posted on April 21, 2026

LTR – Ophir Laizerovich, president and co-founder of LeadThink and co-founder of The Relationship Company, shares highlights from building a lead-generation business for matchmaking and online dating using Google, Bing/Yahoo, and Facebook. He describes delivering 10k to 20k leads per day primarily in the US (also Canada and Australia), discusses Google’s approval requirements for dating/matchmaking and the shift from credit card to invoice billing, and explains strategies like focusing on pain-point ad copy, starting with long-tail keywords, and improving site speed, ad relevance, and on-page content to reduce costs. On Facebook, he emphasizes non-brand pages for lead gen, heavy image testing (including selfies and audience segmentation), avoiding over-reliance on automated controls, and targeting iOS/desktop versus Android. He reviews landing-page funnel optimization, SMS verification and appointment setting for matchmaking, and using AI-generated images and tools like Midjourney, Gemini, and Reify.

[**See the video here on YouTube**]

The January LTR was kindly sponsored by HubPeople, LeadThink and Courtland Brooks

Muzz Is Officially Launching in India

Posted on April 21, 2026
Logo of Muzz

PASSIONATE IN MARKETING – Muzz has formally launched in India after years of organic growth without a local team or marketing. The platform has 17M users globally and has facilitated ~800K marriages. India has ~200M Muslims. Muslim matchmaking options have mainly been limited to either family-led matrimonial setups or general dating apps that don’t reflect religious intent. This creates an opportunity for Muzz to target users who want both personal choice and family involvement.

See full article at Passionate in Marketing

Tinder and Zoom Offer ‘Proof of Humanity’ Eye-scans to Combat AI

Posted on April 20, 2026
Tinder and Zoom Offer 'Proof of Humanity' Eye-scans to Combat AI

BBC – Tinder will let users prove they are human and not robots using advanced eye-scanning technology amid rising fears over AI. Users of Tinder, as well as platforms like Zoom, can scan their eyes to earn a “proof of humanity” badge. The scan can be done through an app or an orb-shaped device run by the World network. It scans the iris to confirm a person is human. World, formerly known as Worldcoin, is part of Tools for Humanity, co-founded and chaired by Sam Altman, who also leads ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. Once verified, users receive a unique ID stored on their smartphone, known as their World ID.

See full article at BBC

Tinder’s Turnaround Plan Centers on Winning Back Women

Posted on April 20, 2026
Tinder focuses on attracting women

FINANCIAL TIMES –  Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff says attracting female users is a “priority focus” in the push to turn around Tinder. Tinder has fallen from a peak of 65.4M monthly active users in 2021 to 50.5M last year, according to Sensor Tower. Match Group does not publish a gender breakdown of users on its apps, but Sensor Tower estimates around 75% of Tinder’s users are men. Since taking over, Rascoff has introduced a series of new features, including double dates, video calls, and shared-interest matching (such as music taste), aimed at attracting younger Gen Z users and women. He said the decline has improved from -11% annually to -8.5%, with a goal of stabilizing growth by the end of next year.

See full article at Financial Times