EXIT NEWS - Aug 21 - Dating app currently has some 200k members spread throughout the global Albanian diaspora. It's founder Valon Asani is planning to launch Dua.help to give assistance to Albanians travelling abroad and Dua.biz to connect Albanian-owned businesses across the planet. Dua is headquartered in Switzerland, has an office in Kosovo and plans to open in Tirana as well as other places in the region where Albanians live.
« July 2020 | Main | September 2020 »
Albanian Dating App Dua.com to Diversify Into Business and Assistance Matching
| |
Match Group Criticizes Apple
DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL - Aug 18 - Match Group has come out against Apple, which has found itself in the crosshairs of Epic Games. The maker of the popular Fortnite title sued Apple after it was removed from the App Store. "We fully support Epic Games' efforts today to show how Apple uses its dominant position and unfair policies to hurt consumers, app developers and entrepreneurs," a Match spokesperson said in a statement. "Regulators across the globe have expressed similar concerns and are examining Apple's arbitrary practices." Epic Games said Apple is keeping prices high so it can collect 30% of consumer payments made in apps, such as Fortnite, and is being blocked so it can't pass on the savings from direct payments. In addition to Apple, Epic also is suing Google after Fortnite was removed from the Play Store.
| |
Blued Hits 50K Mark on Appointments for HIV Testing
CAPITAL WATCH - Aug 18 - Blued, Asia's top LGBTQ platform, has facilitated 50K online appointments for HIV testing at ~200 partnered testing establishments in China as of 2019. The company said it has recorded ~10M page views for HIV-prevention content on BlueCity's platforms.
| |
Dating App Taimi Wants to Evolve Into a Social Network
WHICH-50 - Aug 18 - According to founder Alex Pasykov, who also previously launched another dating app, Hily, "We're currently in the process of enhancing and expanding the world's largest LGBTQI+ platform." Dating will remain a key part of the app, he said, "However we have shifted our focus to the social network and have seen steady growth in terms of numbers." Since March 2020 the numbers have grown by ~50%. The company is also developing new initiatives including live streams.
by Andrew Birmingham
See full article at Which-50
This post also appears on VerySocialNetwork.
| |
Grindr's Campaign Wins National Award
DOMINION POST - Aug 18 - Last year, Monongalia County Health Department (MCHD) officials teamed up with Grindr to display alerts within 50 miles of the county. When clicked, these alerts redirected to the health department's information page on syphilis. Today, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the voice of the nation's 3K local governmental health departments, named its 2020 Model Practice Award Winners. 21 outstanding local health department programs have received this recognition, including "MCHD-Grindr Partnership to Alert Grindr Users to Syphilis Outbreak".
| |
CEO of Dating App Perchance on Dating During the Pandemic
NBC MIAMI - Aug 18 - The CEO of Miami-based dating app Perchance tells NBC 6 more people are trying to connect. The app has seen 160% increase in new users during the pandemic.
| |
Struck, a Dating App That Matches Users Based on Their Entire Birth Chart
COSMOPOLITAN - Aug 18 - Struck is a new dating app, which launched last month in LA and the Bay Area after a long battle to get in Apple's App Store, and expanded to New York in early August. Designed by former Apple engineers Rachel Lo and Alex Calkins and advised by astrologer Nadine Jane, the app puts astrology front and center. Along with name, age, and gender, Struck asks for the date, time, and location of users' birth to calculate their birth chart.
| |
Dating App Stocks You Might Fall in Love With
CAPITAL WATCH - Aug 18 - High demand for dating apps is likely to continue even after the pademic. In the Q2, Tinder gained ~200K users, bringing its average subscribers to 6.2M. Also, direct revenue for Tinder jumped by 15%. In total, Match's revenue soared 12% YOY to $555.5M. Match is now projecting to generate Q3 revenues of ~$600M. Thanks to the strong earnings, the stock is now trading at an all-time high since it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2015. Another stock to watch is MEET (The Meet Group). In the Q2, Meet's revenues skyrocketed 74% YOY to $90.33M. Net income rose by nearly five-fold to $10.38M. On the international online dating stage, one company likely to continue seeing demand is Spark Networks SE. Based on preliminary financial results, Spark generated $114M in revenue, beating its previous expectations of $110 - $112M. Newly listed Chinese BlueCity might be worth some love. Its stock skyrocketed as high as 124% in its trading debut from its IPO pricing of $16 per share. The company's app Blued is the largest LGBTQ community in China, India, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
by Anthony Russo
See full article at Capital Watch
See the top news on Match Group See the top news on The Meet Group
See the top news on Spark Networks See the top news on Blued
| |
White Label Dating Sees 66% Growth in New Subscription Revenues
PRESS RELEASE - Aug 14 - WhiteLabelDating.com, the dating SaaS platform, sees a 66% increase in new paying subscribers in August, versus the start of lockdown in March. Notable increases were seen in the USA, with a +50% increase in new registrations over this period and a +100% increase in new subscription revenues. 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.
| |
Bumble Launches Ooh Campaign Featuring Local Influencers in Australia
B&T MAGAZINE - Aug 13 - Bumble has revealed its latest out of home campaign across Sydney's CBD. The campaign examines the concept of "dating in 2020", and includes the Bumble Date profiles of local influencers Brittany Hockley, Josh Heuston, Jamie Zhu and Cynthia Taylu. In Australia during peak lockdown, Bumble saw a 76% increase of in-app video calls and since the 'Virtual Dating' badge was released in April this year, ~1M users around the world have added it to their profile.
| |
Online Marketing Conference - "This Just Works"
OPW - Aug 14 - This caught my attention and I thought your marketing teams would also enjoy it. This Just Works is a 1 day marketing conference from Digital Marketer and Active Campaign. They are promising 45 marketing hacks from 15 experts in 1 day on August 26th. Worth a look-in IMHO. Here's the link to get in free, instead of paying $99. ;-)
| |
Spark Networks Announces Preliminary 1H 2020 Financial Results
PR NEWSWIRE - Aug 11 - Spark Networks' preliminary revenue for 1H 2020 was $114M (€103.4M), exceeding management's prior expectation of $110 to $112M (€93 to €95M). The company anticipates total revenue for the 2020 fiscal year to be $224 to $228M (€190 to €193M). Management also anticipates 2020 Adjusted EBITDA to be between $34 - $36M (€29 to €31M) vs. prior guidance of $30 to $34M.
| |
Grindr Offers New Security Features in Partnership With UrSafe
ADVOCATE - Aug 11 - Grindr's users will be offered a 14-day trial of the service, which offers features like hands-free SOS alerts to law enforcement and location sharing with family and friends via voice command. UrSafe describes itself as a "silent bodyguard" on its website. It can be triggered "in milliseconds" with different safewords that correspond to either an uncomfortable situation or an emergency. UrSafe is now offered to four out of the top 10 global dating apps, including Grindr. After the trial, the premium version costs users $4.99 per month.
| |
Match Group Looks to Capitalize on Video Dating During the Pandemic
WALL STREET JOURNAL - Aug 10 - Match Group is now in the beginning stages of developing features such as games and icebreakers to make one-on-one video calls more engaging - part of a broader strategy to find new ways to generate revenue from its millions of users, according to CFO Gary Swidler. Match declined to provide a date for when its new features would become available.
by Kristin Broughton
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Mark Brooks: Tis the season for video, finally. It took a while for people to warm up to video. Webdate was the first to offer video dating, in 2004 no less! But now it's the norm and I think any app that doesn't inspire people to find and do first dates on video will lose some market share to those who do. Meanwhile, The Meet Group continues to grow from strength to strength on the back of its video and video gamification capabilities. POF is powered by The Meet Group's video platform, btw. (Full Disclosure: Webdate and POF are prior long term clients, and The Meet Group are a current client of Courtland Brooks)
| |
Tinder Slammed Over Mysterious Premium Pricing
MASHABLE - Aug 11 - Tinder has recently settled an age discrimination lawsuit in California, which saw users over 29 paying double what younger people were for the subscription. Now the Australian consumer organisation Choice has filed an official complaint with the national consumer commission, the ACCC, after conducting a mystery-shopper survey that found prices for a one-month subscription to Tinder Plus ranged from AUD$6.99 to AUD$34, with no transparency upfront about the variation. The highest price( $34) was for a straight man over 50 in a metro area; the lowest was $6.99 for a queer woman under 30, also in the city. "Based on our mystery shop, we know that Tinder is using age to set different prices. But even within age groups, we saw a range of prices, demonstrating that there are other factors at play that Tinder is yet to explain," said Choice director of campaigns Erin Turner in a statement.
| |