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Dating Apps Prove Popular in China During Covid-19 Outbreak
CHINA DAILY - Apr 17 - Industry experts said the "cloud matchmaking" method, which includes livestreaming and short videos, is gaining traction among singles. According to Tantan, the average time people spent on the app in early- and mid-February increased by ~30%. The number of users surged 60% during the peak hour which often runs from midnight to 1am. During the outbreak, those born after the period around 1995 and after 2000 have become the top users of Tantan. They recorded a 20% increase in messages sent and daily matches. Zhenai.com said its active users reached 10M during the Chinese New Year holiday on Jan 24 to Feb 2, an increase of 39% compared with the same period of last year. ~10K people found highly compatible matches on the app. Baihe Jiayuan Network Group's CEO Wu Linguang said video and livestreaming dating services have been launched to lure customers during the epidemic. The time users spend on video dating rose 30% during the Spring Festival holiday YOY.
See the top news on Tantan See the top news on Baihe
See the top news on Zhenai See the top news on Jiayuan
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Lockdown Affairs Are on the Rise
COSMOPOLITAN - Apr 17 - Illicit Encounters has seen an 18% rise in activity from male members, and a 12% rise from female members in recent weeks. More than half of these men said they'd initiated new affairs in the last four weeks, with 74% of them citing "boredom" as the reason for seeking out new lovers. 46% of female members have made contact with a new partner in that time - with the majority saying the coronavirus crisis had exposed the weakness of their relationship and made them realise they needed "fresh stimulus".
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Gamer Dating App Kippo Kicking up Usage During COVID-19
FORBES - Apr 17 - Kippo is a dating app dedicated to online players. Kippo moves away from the world of formal profiles and left/right swiping. Instead, users are invited to play with or against each other before eventually exchanging information if they wish. The Coronavirus lockdown and general social distancing account for a big boost in usage for Kippo. The app's reps state that online gaming jumped 75% in general since the start of pandemic quarantine procedures. The vast majority of Kippo users are millennials or Generation Z. Regardless of such demographics, overall Kippo usage increased by 275% during the previous 30 days. That activity accounts for a 50% revenue growth over that period amidst ~25K active users.
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Matrimonial Site Shaadi.com Organises #WeddingsFromHome
FINANCIAL EXPRESS - Apr 16 - As weddings continue to get postponed owing to the outbreak of coronavirus and the need to maintain social distancing, Indian matrimonial platform Shaadi.com has launched a new initiative of conducting weddings from home through video conferencing. So far, Shaadi has already conducted one virtual wedding and is expected to conduct another one in the week ahead.
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Before Tinder, There Was Operation Match in the US and Dateline in the UK
1843MAGAZINE - Apr 16 - In 1966 John Patterson went to visit some friends in America and came home with a business idea. He had observed the workings of Operation Match, a computer dating service started at Harvard in 1965 by two undergraduates, that paired students together for dates for $3 a pop. Students filled in questionnaires which were processed by an IBM 1401 – a hulking, five-tonne machine described as "the great God computer" – before receiving the names and telephone numbers of their matches in the post. Patterson saw potential for a similar system in the UK. That same year, Dateline, which would become Britain's biggest and best-known computer dating service and the pre-internet answer to Tinder, was born. "He managed to negotiate a deal with IBM to rent the computer," his widow Sandy Nye recalled. Singles filled a two-page questionnaire. The returned questionnaires were fed into the computer to be read by an algorithm. Six matches spat out and their contact information forwarded on to customers (by 1981, this service cost £45). By 1970 Dateline had risen to prominence and by 1982 the service had 44K customers, which made it the biggest dedicated dating business in the country. Dateline, which also launched a successful offshoot magazine, Singles, and a singles holidays business, declined after Patterson's death in 1997, struggling to make the shift to digital.
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WhitelLabelDating.com: April's Paying Subscribers Grew Impressively
WLD - Apr 17 - WhiteLabelDating.com, a dating SaaS platform, has seen record-breaking new subscribers throughout April. The volume of members converting free memberships to paid subscriptions has increased +5% compared to January 2020, the highest converting month of the year. Launched in 2003, White Label Dating is a leading software as a service business that empowers brands, marketers and affiliates to power their own branded online dating sites. White Label Dating provides the dating software, payment processing, customer support, hosting infrastructure and much more.
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Tagged to Rollout Live Video Dating to Respond to COVID-19
PRESS RELEASE - Apr 15 - The Meet Group, a leading provider of interactive livestreaming solutions, has created two new features designed to help users connect while maintaining proper dating distance on its dating app Tagged, the US dating app primarily focused on African Americans. The two features are: Blind Date and 1:1 video chat. Blind Date allows users to meet and date streamers through a timed video chat based on personality rather than looks. The Company expects to roll-out Blind Date and 1:1 Video Chat to Tagged users over the coming weeks.
See full article at Businesswire
See the top news on The Meet Group
See the top news on Tagged
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Match Is Introducing Video Dating Feature - Vibe Check
HEARTBEAT - Apr 14 - Vibe Check is Match's new video feature that lets users chat and see someone live right in the Match app. Once users have matched and started a conversation, a black video icon will appear at the bottom of their messages. After agreeing to the terms and conditions, they'll be able to request a Vibe Check. The other member can either join right away or decline the request if it's not a good time.
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Matchmakers Are Helping Singles Forge Digital Connections
NOW TORONTO - Apr 15 - Toronto's dating professionals are still making matches, and clients learning to adapt. Christina Jay of Preferred Match has seen a marked change in her clients over the past month: "I think singles are getting pretty antsy and those who were initially opposed to a FaceTime date are now open to it, given the circumstances." Celebrity matchmaker and TV personality Carmelia Ray offers video dating introductions, virtual speed dating events through local platform FirstDate, and even a live weekly matchmaking event called Spicy Love she co-hosts with Miami matchmaker Michelle G. Love coach and matchmaker Lee-Anne Galloway is seeing a willingness among singles to expand their previously-restrictive dating parameters: "I do find myself focusing on coaching more – coaching clients to refocus on what's most important to them in a relationship, as this period of isolation is really highlighting their values and true desires." Rebecca Cooper Traynor of Match Me Canada puts it into plain terms: "There's no room for pickiness. When they are looking for love, here's what people should have on their minds: Could they be isolated with this person?"
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Q&A With CEO of IAC About How Pandemic Affects Its Businesses
WALL STREET JOURNAL - Apr 14 - From online dating to home-repair help, some of the biggest businesses in IAC's portfolio are built on in-person social interaction.
Q: Which IAC brands are hurting the most from the pandemic?
A: ANGI Homeservices works with 250K small businesses that have ~2M employees - painters, electricians, contractors. When they're not allowed to go into somebody's house, those businesses are hit. We've been trying to navigate the regulatory environment, the federal stimulus aid, to figure out how to make sure these small businesses get access to loans.
Q: How has the way you manage changed during the pandemic?
A: We never used to do a call or a meeting with all the CEOs of IAC companies. We would do a dinner once a quarter. But we now do a weekly CEO call, where everybody cares what the other businesses are doing. It helps them put their own experience in context because everyone's experiencing totally new ground and new trends.
Q: How has Match adjusted its online-dating business model to social distancing?
A: We're prioritizing video. We're now looking at all of our products to see how we can integrate video as quickly as possible. Video has been on our road map at Match several times in the last few years, and it never really stuck. People weren't as tolerant of the imperfections of video. Now it's becoming way more acceptable in dating.
Q: What sort of advice is Barry Diller giving you right now?
A: Barry is an optimist, and optimism is really important right now. He’s patient, and that's been an asset for IAC for a very long time. Being patient doesn't mean to miss a moment, but to understand what the current environment is. And the current environment is something that we'll get through, provided you're financially organized to do that.
Q: What's a big lesson you've learned from the pandemic?
A: You can do all the disaster planning in the world, but you can always be surprised. No matter how good things look, you've got to maintain the strength of the balance sheet and some flexibility. The strength of things like working capital matters a lot in moments like these.
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Bumble Now Lets People Match With Anyone in Their Country
THE VERGE - Apr 14 - Bumble is launching two new features to make it easier for people to date while social distancing. Bumble's users can now expand their distance filters to match with anyone in their country. The app previously only allowed people to connect with someone within a 50-mile range. It's also giving people the option to send audio notes to each other, in addition to video and voice calls as well as text chats. Daters can add a "virtual dating" badge to their profile, too, to indicate that they're willing to date over video calls. To encourage people to do this, Bumble says it'll donate $1 to the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Fund every time someone adds the "Virtual Dating" badge to their profile, up to $100k.
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COVID-19 Quarantine Sees a Blur of Activity for Dating App Blindlee
FORBES - Apr 14 - Blindlee sets up users on blind dates thanks to three minute blurred video calls. Blindlee is the idea of two 20-something entrepreneurs, Sacha Nasan and Glenn Keller. They've seen an increase in app usage, even with people who don't necessarily want to find romance. Their data shows 22% of Blindlee users make calls to find friends for moral support during social distancing. "Comparing to February, we saw a 57% increase in March signups due to the outbreak," Nasan says. "This figure is now at 126%. Blurred video calls are up nearly three times and the average number of matches per user has increased by 180%. Users can only match after the call." Blindlee is popular in the U.K., but the app is gaining steam in America, too.
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UrSafe Becomes Latest ODA Associate
ODA - Apr 14 - UrSafe is a hands-free, voice-activated personal safety app fully integrated with 911. The UrSafe app enables online daters to activate friends and family real time location-sharing before their date, so their loved ones can make sure they get home safely. The ODA was set up in 2014 to develop and maintain standards that give users assurance and ensure businesses trade responsibly.
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The Top Dating Industry News for Apr 14th
OPW - Apr 14 - Hinge's "Date From Home" feature, Blindlee, Quarantine Together, Swivel, Bumble's Small Businesses Grant. Thanks to our sponsor RealMe. Helping dating apps improve trust and safety.
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