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

Coronavirus Is Changing Online Dating - Permanently

FORBES - Apr 5 - The coronavirus lockdown is changing how we date, likely shifting our habits permanently. Dating apps are pushing users to meet for virtual dates, rolling out new video-based features. "While we are socially distant, we definitely aren't disconnected," says Tinder CEO Elie Seidman, who reports daily messaging activity among the app's American users has risen by 10% to 15% across the country. Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd hopes people will use Bumble's in-app video chat feature. With more people at home, Bumble saw use of this function spike 93% between March 13 and March 27. The average call was ~30 minutes long. "We're hearing more and more about virtual coffee dates, dinner dates and movie dates," says OkCupid CEO Ariel Charytan. "We recently heard from a new OkCupid couple in Brooklyn who set up a candlelit dinner over video chat for their first date earlier this week." "For now, dating apps have little opportunity to turn this new user behavior into additional revenue streams. Estimates on revenue and profit are going to come down. No one really knows by how much," says Evercore analyst Benjamin Black. Spending on dating is "something you can pull back on. You're not gonna die without it. It's not a consumer staple." So far the apps' goal of maintaining their audiences seems to be working. The number of weekly active users across Tinder, Bumble and five more of the largest dating apps was largely unchanged from February into mid-March, according to App Annie.

by Adam Brown
See full article at Forbes

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Tinder Accuses Bumble of 'Exploiting' COVID-19 in IP Fight

LAW360 - Apr 3 - Tinder's lawyers are accusing Bumble of "exploiting the country's COVID-19 crisis" to delay an already-contentious intellectual property lawsuit. They claimed Bumble's lawyers were using the logistical problems posed by the coronavirus pandemic - namely, remote depositions - as a back door to postpone a July trial. A federal has agreed to postpone the July trial by two weeks but ordering discovery to continue on an updated schedule. Following that order, an attorney for Bumble strongly disputed Match's accusations. Match sued in March 2018, accusing Bumble of infringing both patents and trademarks by launching a "copycat" dating app with similar layout and "swiping" features to Tinder.

by Bill Donahue
See full article at Law360

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Grindr Is the Dating App That Drains the Most Battery From a Mobile

GAY TIMES - Mar 30 - Uswitch has analysed the 50 most popular apps on major app stores and looked at how many battery-draining permissions an app used, and when it came to dating apps Grindr came out on top. Grindr had 28 battery-draining permissions, it was followed by Bumble which has 20, Tinder which has 18 and Hinge which has 13. Google has 72 battery-draining permissions, Facebook 50 and Facebook Messenger 46.

by Matt Moore
See full article at Gay Times

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Tinder Most Used Dating App Now

FORBES - Mar 29 - The 2020 SKYN Condoms Sex & Intimacy Survey was not designed to examine the current or post-COVID-19 world. Its data gathering and results just happened to take place while the global pandemic was getting its boots on and heading out from Wuhan. According to Skyn, 39% of respondents used Tinder over its rivals to find love. Generation Z folks said they were more likely than Millennials to use Tinder (48% to 36%). #2 was Match.com (33%) and #3 Bumble (19%).

by John Scott Lewinski
See full article at Forbes

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Bumble Is Giving Away £5,000 Grants to 150 Small Businesses in Need

STANDARD.CO.UK - Mar 27 - As the UK goes into lockdown, with only 'essential' services allowed to remain open, small businesses are taking a hard hit. Bumble is asking its users to nominate local small businesses in need. Bumble has decided to give 150 grants of up to £5K to small businesses. Grants will be awarded across the world. Bumble says it will 'prioritise businesses led by women and non-binary founders'.

by Laura Hampson
See full article at Standard.co.uk

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How Coronavirus Is Transforming Online Dating

MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW - Mar 25 - Dating apps have struggled; after all, the whole point of dating is to physically meet someone. Match has seen stocks tumble 25%, and had to balance public health with mission statements. "Tinder understands that our members are oftentimes meeting new people in-person, and, given the current environment, we wanted to remind them of the precautions they should take," the company said in a press release, citing the World Health Organization. The firm is now rolling out a feature that lets users match with people outside their immediate geographical area. Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of dating app Bumble, was far more explicit in a public letter: "Please date virtually for now." One way to do it is by reinventing the speed date. Dawoon Kang, cofounder of Coffee Meets Bagel, says the app has begun hosting virtual meetups for 10 to 15 members at a time, consisting of a video call moderated by a company representative. A participant who is interested in another can email the representative; if two people feel sparks, the representative connects them.

by Tanya Basu
See full article at MIT Technology Review

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During Coronavirus Lockdown, Tinder Surpasses Bumble, OkCupid and Hinge Downloads

FOX BUSINESS - Mar 25 - While many businesses have suffered dramatically under the coronavirus, its been a great week for Tinder, which saw an increase in first-time installations of the app in the U.S., according to Sensor Tower. First-time installs of Tinder were up 13% last week in the U.S. compared to the week of March 2, but were down 5% worldwide for the same comparison period. Bumble's downloads fell 10% in the U.S. and 11% worldwide, Hinge downloads fell 7% in the U.S. and 12% worldwide, and OkCupid fell 16% in U.S. and down 20% worldwide.

by Lucas Manfredi
See full article at Fox Business

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The Top Dating Industry News for March 24th

OPW - Mar 24 - Dating on the Rise, Free Premium Features, POF Livestreaming, Dating.com VC Fund.

For the top weekly dating industry news in ~2 minutes subscribe to OPW's Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker , Google Podcasts , Spotify , Anchor , Stitcher , Overcast , Radio Public or Apple Podcasts . Listen to the trailer for the channel.

Bumble Folks Are Flirty

TMZ - Mar 24 - Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Bumble's seeing a 21% increase in its voice chat and video call usage, and people are staying on the line longer than normal, as in 15 minutes on average. Bumble says messages are being exchanged at a higher clip overall in San Francisco (26% bump), NYC (23% increase) and Seattle (21% jump). Bumble and Tinder are doling out dating advice for the COVID-19 era and encouraging singles to get to know someone without meeting up in person.

See full article at TMZ

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Q&A With Bumble's Vice President of Strategy, Priti Joshi

MENAFN - Mar 23 - As India stays home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, online dating is on the rise. Bumble says that the e-dating space in India will see a gendered shift, with more women taking the lead, and an increased desire for meaningful, lasting connections.

Q: What is India's dating scene like? What makes it unique, as compared to other countries?
A: It is highly fragmented. On one side, there are many global apps focused on dating, and on the other, there are local, homegrown players focused on dating or matrimony. Bumble saw an opportunity to play in the middle - to bring to India a social network where women are empowered to make the first move.

Q: Specifically for women, online dating can get a little tricky. What do you think is women users' ask of an online dating platform?
A: We care deeply about bringing people together with a mission to end misogyny. It was important for us to prioritise safety features.

Q: What have been your key observations over the years since you launched?
A: Over this last year, Bumble India's user base has quadrupled to 2M users and one of our fastest growing user segments is Gen Z. We've also seen that women in India are empowered and excited to take control. Furthermore, we've seen that 40% of women in India use more than one mode on Bumble.

by Siddhi Jain
See full article at MenaFN

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How Is Coronavirus Affecting the Mobile Economy

APPANNIE - Mar 19 - The world is now turning to mobile to stay connected. AppAnnie took a look at Business, Education, Games, Social, Entertainment, Ride-Sharing, Food Delivery, Finance and Dating apps to unearth how coronavirus is impacting the way we conduct our lives each day. In China, city lockdowns began in January 2020. Consequently, in February, the daily time spent in mobile in China jumped to 5h per day, an increase of 30% compared to the average for 2019. Business and Education apps saw the biggest surge in downloads among categories of apps. We have seen a softening in active users among the top dating apps in the US in the weeks post-Valentine's Day, but it's important to note that we typically see a peak in usage surrounding Valentine's Day. Within dating apps, users can still be active by matching and messaging without actually meeting up in-person.

by Lexi Sydow
See full article at AppAnnie

Match Dating Patents Under Threat

BLOOMBERG LAW - Mar 17 - Bumble has established a "reasonable likelihood" that it will succeed in invalidating a Match Group patent for computer dating. Patent covers steps that include swiping left or right to indicate disapproval or approval and then setting up communication between the two people if both sides express interest. The patent office is already reviewing the validity of two other Match patents based on Bumble challenges, with decisions expected by the end of the year.

by Susan Decker & Todd Shields
See full article at Bloomberg Law

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Is Dating Someone With Different Values to You Ever a Good Idea?

STYLIST - Feb 25 - According to a new survey of 12k women by Bumble 61% of women say they look for a partner who shares their values. We asked a behavioural psychologist Jo Cummings how important shared values really are. "Core values, such as wanting children or marriage – or not – are very rarely open to compromise. ..It's also good to be open minded, to have debate, and to be an effective listener, as your partner may give you a perspective on a topic that you hadn't really considered before."

by Lauren Geall
See full article at Stylist

Mark Brooks: Behavioral Economists give product designers and digital marketers a nomenclature to work with to better describe the behaviors they're observing. I run the group BehavioralEconomist.com (as well as OPW.news), and am attempting to connect more Behavioral Economists with the dating industry. Please join the fray and learn the language of BE in the group. I think you might find the language of biases and heuristics and behavior at least interesting.

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Top Grossing Dating Apps Worldwide for January 2020

SENSORTOWER - Feb 18 - The top grossing dating app worldwide for January 2020 was Tinder with $86M in user spending. 40% percent of Tinder's revenue was from the United States, followed by 7% from UK and 5% from Brazil. Bumble was #2 with $20M in gross revenue, which represented 27% YOY growth.

See full article at SensorTower

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Gay Dating App Chappy Is Shutting Down

PINK NEWS - Feb 17 - According to the app's website, Chappy's team will join up dating app Bumble. No matches made on Chappy will be carried over to the Bumble. The app recommends users to exchange numbers with any matches they've made using Chappy before it closes down. All matches will be wiped from February 28. Chappy was founded by Made In Chelsea star Ollie Locke and Jack Rogers in 2017.

by Josh Milton
See full article at Pink News

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Bumble India's User Base Has Quadrupled Since December 2018

EXCHANGE4MEDIA - Feb 7 - Having crossed ~2M user base in India, Priti Joshi, VP of Strategy, Bumble talks about the brand's plans in India through collaborations with various industries such as entertainment, fashion, lifestyle, sports and tech.

Q: How many countries are you present in? Which is your largest market?
A: Bumble is available in over 150 countries. US and the UK continue to be key markets for us.

Q: Tell us about your plans for 2020? What is the next big disruption you are introducing?
A: We kicked off 2020 with the rollout of our integrated campaign, 'Dating Just Got Equal'. The campaign aims to challenge the antiquated rules of dating by empowering women to make the first move.

Q: Tell us a little about the popularity of your offering in India?
A: It has been a great year for Bumble in India since our launch in Dec 2018. Bumble India’s user base has quadrupled to ~2M users. Indian women are sending twice the number of messages compared to women in the rest of the world. Furthermore, 40% of women in India use more than one mode on Bumble.

Q: How are you marketing yourself in the country?
A: We're constantly leaning heavily on establishing a consistent brand narrative across various offline and digital media touchpoints, along with leveraging data-driven performance marketing, influencer marketing, brand and content partnerships, and experiential activations.

by Tasmayee Laha Roy
See full article at exchange4media

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Singles Dropped $2.2B on Dating Apps Last Year

CNET - Feb 5 - Consumers dropped $2.2B on dating apps last year, according to App Annie's State of Mobile Report. The amount is double what was spent two years ago. Tinder and Bumble came in first and second in terms of consumer spending.

by Erin Carson
See full article at CNet

MagicLab Billionaire Andreev to Launch New Mobile App Business

FINANCIAL TIMES - Jan 31 - Blackstone's all-cash acquisition of Mr Andreev's stake in MagicLab (Badoo, Bumble) closed this week, valuing the group at around $3bn. Mr Andreev (45) said. "It's given me ability, time and money . . . I don't want to retire." He said that one idea is focused on charity and donations - something he wants to make "more accessible . . . the same as what I did with dating". MagicLab is now led by Whitney Wolfe Herd. Andreev founded Badoo (now 425m+ users) in 2006 as a hybrid of social networking and dating and pioneered the "freemium" business model. A non-compete agreement with Magic Lab means that Mr Andreev will no longer be in the dating business. Twenty former Magic Lab staff have joined him in a new venture, based in Mayfair, that will retain Mr Andreev's longstanding focus on mobile apps and social networking. He plans to hire more soon.

by Tim Bradshaw
See full article at Financial Times

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Dating Apps Face US Inquiry Over Underage Use and Sex Offenders

ASSOCIATED PRESS - Jan 31 - Bumble, Grindr, The Meet Group and the Match Group are the current targets of the investigation by the U.S. House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on economic and consumer policy. The subcommittee is seeking information on users' ages, procedures for verifying ages, and any complaints about assaults, rape or the use of the services by minors. It is also asking for the services' privacy policies and details on what users see when they review and agree to the policies.

by Barbara Ortutay
See full article at Associated Press

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MagicLab Told to Implement Workplace Reforms After Sexism Allegations

FORTUNE - Jan 30 - MagicLab, the parent company of Bumble and Badoo, should reform its workplace policies following allegations of sexual harassment, a U.K. law firm has found. MagicLab hired Doyle Clayton, a British firm specializing in employment law, to investigate allegations of a misogynistic and hostile work environment for women raised in a July Forbes story. In its statement, Doyle Clayton said there was "a lack of credible evidence in relation to most" of 24 specific allegations Forbes raised in its story, including "the more serious ones." It did, however, find there was evidence to support three allegations, which it described as "minor".

by Jeremy Kahn
See full article at Fortune

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