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

Daniel Salmon - Current Worldwide Trends in Online Dating

LTR - The US Internet research team is headed by Daniel Salmon, who started working at New Street Research in 2022 after spending 18 years as the leader of the US Internet & Media research team at BMO Capital Markets. Dan graduated from Princeton University and currently resides in New York City. Investors and industry experts value his perspectives, and he frequently speaks at industry events and conferences. His quotes have been featured in major media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal.

Dan presented his research and analysis of the dating industry. He begins by acknowledging the negative sentiment surrounding public dating stocks and the concerns over the saturation and maturing of the sector. He presents a chart showing the historical valuation of dating companies on a profitability metric called Earning Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) and notes that there has been a significant pullback in enthusiasm for the industry in recent years. Despite this, he believes that the dating industry still has growth potential and the larger players have advantages, such as the potential to acquire smaller businesses.

The April LTR was kindly sponsored by technology providers Livebox by The Meet Group, Courtland Brooks and Matchmaker.com

Joel Simkhai - Challenges and Opportunities

LTR - Joel, an Israeli-American tech entrepreneur, founded Grindr, a dating app for gay and bisexual men based on location. Grindr became widely popular after its launch in 2009 and transformed the way people connect in the LGBTQ+ community. Simkhai was the CEO of Grindr until 2018 when he sold the company to the Chinese gaming company Kunlun Group. He was recognized as one of Forbes' "30 under 30" in the Technology category in 2012 for his work on Grindr. Recently, Joel launched a new gay dating app called Motto, which is different from other dating apps as it only shows users a limited number of profiles per day. Motto is mainly targeted toward casual dating and hookups within the LGBTQ+ community.

Joel discusses the challenges and opportunities of the dating industry. One of the advantages of starting a dating app today is the availability of technology that simplifies building the app and scaling it. However, a major disadvantage is the highly competitive and crowded market space. Simkhai also emphasizes that it is essential to focus on marketing and growing the network to gain more users. He predicts that the future of dating apps will prioritize the value of the network and the authenticity of users. Finally, he predicts that software development will become more accessible and iterative, which will make it easier for anyone to build an app.

The April LTR was kindly sponsored by technology providers Livebox by The Meet Group, Courtland Brooks and Matchmaker.com

Geoff Cook - Do Things That Don't Scale – Then Scale Them

LTR - Geoff is the former CEO & co-founder of The Meet Group, a social dating and live-streaming company. He's also former co-CEO and GM of video for the parent company ParshipMeet Group. He successfully transitioned the company from 90% advertising revenue in 2016 to 60%+ user-pay revenue while dramatically expanding revenue by investing heavily in live-streaming video.

Geoff joined the dating industry in 2005 and pioneered one-to-many video. He discussed the challenges that startups face in their early stages and the importance of scrappy tactics, such as manually recruiting users or focusing on a narrow market. Cook emphasized that building a better mousetrap is usually not enough to launch a successful startup; it often takes something remarkable, and founders must be willing to do things that are messy and don't scale in order to get there. He also shared how this philosophy was used at The Meet Group to roll out their live-streaming product.

The February LTR was kindly sponsored by technology providers Livebox by The Meet Group, Courtland Brooks and Matchmaker.com

Professor Paul Dolan - How to Connect With and Use Academics to Inform Your Product Strategy

LTR - Currently, Professor Dolan holds the position of Professor of Behavioural Science at the LSE and serves as the Director of the Executive MSc in Behavioural Science. He is an internationally recognized authority on happiness, behavior, and public policy, and conducts original research on the measurement, causes, and consequences of happiness. With more than 120 peer-reviewed papers and 31K citations, he has collaborated extensively with policy-makers and private companies.

Professor Dolan discusses the benefits of collaboration between academics and the dating industry, particularly in the areas of economics and psychology. He explains that academics are interested in establishing cause-and-effect relationships between interventions and changes in behavior. This is best achieved through observing human behavior in natural environments without them knowing they are being watched. In the dating industry, manipulating people's profiles can help establish causal effects, but ethical considerations must be taken into account. Professor Dolan also mentions that there is currently less collaboration between academia and the dating industry than in other fields such as health and finance.

The March LTR was kindly sponsored by technology providers Livebox by The Meet Group, Courtland Brooks and Matchmaker.com

Ruben Buell - Monetizing Dating Apps Via Gifting

LTR - Ruben is the CEO of RealGifts, which provides a platform for users to access top-selling products from various brands and send personalized gifts through mobile apps and websites.

RealGifts is a platform that allows people to send physical gifts across social and dating platforms. Ruben Buell, who has a lot of experience in the dating industry, spoke about RealGifts and its potential benefits for dating platforms. He explained that gift-giving is an important aspect of building and strengthening relationships and can help people stand out on dating apps. The RealGifts platform offers a way for people to send gifts that recipients will love, creating a positive feeling and a dopamine rush. The platform is customizable and generates revenue for channel partners.

The March LTR was kindly sponsored by technology providers Livebox by The Meet Group, Courtland Brooks and Matchmaker.com

Carmelia Ray - the Future of Content Marketing, Social Selling, and Brand Recognition Through TV and Media

LTR - For 30 years, Carmelia Ray has been a prominent figure in the dating industry, serving as a celebrity matchmaker, TV host, and online dating expert. During this time, she has helped ~8K matchmaking clients and engaged in ~65K conversations with singles from around the world about matters of love and relationships. She is recognized as one of the most successful matchmakers, having worked with renowned entrepreneurs, corporate executives, celebrities, and influencers. Carmelia is also the host and associate producer of her reality dating show called "Mom vs Matchmaker," and has appeared on several TV programs. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with various matchmaking agencies, top dating coaches, and major online dating sites.

Carmelia talks about her experience as a matchmaker and how she has used media to increase her visibility and authority. She shares ideas on how to attract media to a brand and reach a target audience through content marketing, social selling, and brand recognition. Carmelia discusses the three types of media: paid media, owned media, and earned media, and highlights the importance of producing content to establish one's voice and stand out. She advises taking advantage of crises to solve problems for people and attract media attention. Finally, Carmelia emphasizes the power of leveraging media to create instant visibility and authority. She also advises on how to get featured in the media, including building relationships with producers and writers, creating video content, and following up with enthusiasm. Carmelia emphasizes the importance of being authentic and sharing personal stories to connect with audiences.

The February LTR was kindly sponsored by technology providers Livebox by The Meet Group, Courtland Brooks and Matchmaker.com

Steven Macecevic, CEO of Datefit, Spoke About Influencer Marketing at LTR 18

LTR - We run LTR events a few weeks after each event, so more people can enjoy and learn from them. LTR stands for Love, Tech, Relationships and is where IDEA members learn, share and connect online. See www.IDEA.gp.

Steven is a lifetime entrepreneur who's spent the past 8 years developing and operating online dating communities, including DateFit. With a strong passion for fitness and healthy living, Steven built a community for singles that provide them a place to find others with the same passions and zest for life. Datefit launched in Jan 2019. Steven spoke about his experience with influencer marketing - finding the right influencers, negotiating with them and managing them, and creating effective content.

The December LTR was kindly sponsored by technology providers Livebox by The Meet Group, RealGifts, Courtland Brooks and Matchmaker.com

Delbert Ty - CMO of Coffee Meets Bagels - How Regional Disparities in Maturity Can Help Us Predict the Future

LTR - Delbert has been building businesses and making impactful brands for the last 15+ years. He started his career in P&G working on its most iconic brands. He then took his talent to the world of technology and startups. Now he is CMO of Coffee Meets Bagel. He emphasizes that CMB focuses on delivering the highest quality matches looking for long-term relationships. It is designed for serious intent & efficiency.  

Delbert predicts the future of the dating industry with analogies such as laundry. Laundry has its own kind of convergence. He maps that convergence and compares this to the dating industry convergence. People me people at work, and througn friends, and matchmaking services, and then the web came along. That's where the first generation of online dating services, match, eHarmony, OkCupid, and then eventually mobile came along. Online dating really exploded in popularity and homogenized. He believes everything eventually follows the same trajectory.

We have a very extended Q&A session with Delbert where we discuss the rise of influencer marketing and it's challenges.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.

The September LTR was kindly sponsored by vPaaS by Meet Group and Courtland Brooks

Alex Tam, CEO of Paktor - How Paktor Has Brought Asia Together

LTR - As the Group CEO of Paktor & GaiGai, Alex oversees online and offline matchmaking brands as well as the associated dating and image coaching businesses in Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. GaiGai was started for singles to meet in casual settings without the hours of swiping and chatting. Prior to starting GaiGai, Alex worked as an investment analyst at hedge fund Lionport Capital in Singapore. He graduated with a double degree in Accounting and Business Management. Alex mentioned that localisation is important in dating apps. Paktor's local branding is through the use of stickers and gifts to engage local singles. Paktor also partners with local businesses including tourist attractions.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.

The September LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, and Courtland Brooks

Adam Cohen-Aslatei (S'More) - Community as the Evolution of Dating

LTR - Adam has spent 8 years of his career working with leading dating companies. First, he worked with The Meet Group, then after some time in consulting, he joined Magic Lab as the MD of Chappy. Then he started S'More.

Adam found that, although singles have been swiping for 10+ years, 81% of them have not found long-term relationship success on "swipe apps." The evolution of dating is the transition from transactional dating which is focused on profiles to communities where there are much more organic ways to discover someone new. He mentioned that S'More is the first social network for singles powered by content.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.

The June LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, FaceTec, OneRep, and Courtland Brooks

Dr Haluk Akin (Pembe Panjur) - Managing Multiple Dating Products With a Unified Technology Perspective

LTR - Dr. Akin is an operations research analyst and web expert. He's developed complex operations research projects for the US Navy and a Fortune Global 50 company. He's also worked for top Turkish social networks, and e-commerce companies on web analytics, and large-scale SEO. Pembe Panjur is Turkey's meaningful relationships dating service. Launched in 2010 it now has 6M+ users. It uses scientific matching with 60+ socio-economic questions and 60+ personality questions. Dr. Akin noted the solution to technical, financial & other problems with managing multiple products/brands that he does with his team in Pembe Panjur: (1) A unified technology that has fewer languages and fewer server types (2) An automated code build process and (3) A simplified code deploy process.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.

The June LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, FaceTec, OneRep, and Courtland Brooks

Paul Larsen - Payment Processing Update for Dating & Social Communities

OPW - Paul has been focused on payment processing for online subscriptions for the last 30 years. He has run Paul Larsen Consulting since 2003 and advises dating and social and other subscription companies on payment processing strategy and tactics. Paul mentioned 8 points regarding the current subscription economy after its continued 10-year rise:

• Subscriptions are saturated, yet, subscriptions are expanding relentlessly.
• The Economy is soft.
• Involuntary churn is climbing rapidly.
• The networks have created havoc by redefining declines.
• The networks are cracking down on chargebacks.
• The networks have developed challenging recurring rules.
• Merchants will be penalized with higher fees for not using tokens.
• But there is a silver lining in each of these.

He brings a world of payment processing knowledge, and specific context experience and gives us the latest scoop on payment processing in our sometimes challenging field.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.

The April LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, FaceTec, OneRep, and Courtland Brooks

Bill Alena - Digital Intimacy - the Future of Dating & Social

OPW - Bill Alena, the CIO of Social Discovery Ventures, a master of digital revenue and social, presents how and why Digital Intimacy is the future. The next dating evolution will focus on building intimate relationships within a strictly digital ecosystem. Current dating apps are very transactional. More social and engaging platforms will thrive as products to solve loneliness are built. Bill digs into how video, AI, and the MetaVerse will forever transform space.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.

The January LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, FaceTec, OneRep, and Courtland Brooks

Courtney Kovacevich - an Overview of The Women In Dating Initiative

OPW - Courtney presents the vision and purpose of Women in Dating and provides a roundup of 2021 initiatives, along with what's in store for 2022. Courtney founded Women In Dating, an initiative sponsored and supported by RealMe. Women in Dating is for women, including trans women and people of marginalized genders wishing to access a women-centered community. The mission is to work together to provide thought leadership and guidance to women in the industry, create a space where women can learn and inspire one another, guide and shape the direction of the industry, and drive meaningful change toward a diverse and inclusive dating industry.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.

The January LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, FaceTec, OneRep, and Courtland Brooks

David Siegel - What Is Metaverse?

OPW - Before it was finally called Metaverse, in 2010, David Siegel wrote a book about it. David consults on digital acceleration and the semantic web, especially Metaverse. David defines Metaverse as the real-time location-aware web. He describes the connected worlds in Metaverse, like the power strip in Wreck-It-Ralph, where the characters from one game could enter several other games. David also noted that Metaverse gives new forms of collaboration for companies, digital assistants, and open markets.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.

The December LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, FaceTec, OneRep, and Courtland Brooks