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

Match Group Fully Acquires Hinge

TECH CRUNCH - Feb 7 - Last year, Match Group acquired a 51% stake in Hinge. The company has now confirmed that it fully bought out Hinge in the past quarter, and today owns 100%. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Match believes Hinge can offer an alternative to those who aren't interested in using casual apps, like Tinder. As Match explained in November, it plans to double-down on marketing that focuses on Tinder's more casual nature and use by young singles, while positioning Hinge as the alternative for those looking for serious relationships. The company said it would also increase its investment in Hinge going forward, in order to grow its user base. "Hinge downloads are now 2.5 times more than the next largest app, and 40% of Bumble downloads," said Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Why Millennials Are Burnt Out on Swipe-Based Dating Apps

MENSHEALTH - Feb 6 - Hinge's user base grew by 400% in 2017 after it eliminated its swiping feature. Once, a dating app that sends users one suggested match per day, reached 7M downloads last May. Still, swiping or not, some are giving up dating apps altogether, opting for offline dating and matchmaking services like Three Day Rule, which doubled its revenue in 2017, and now serves 10 cities in the U.S. "The online dating thing never came naturally to me. I found the experience quite overwhelming," says Tina Wilson, CEO and founder of the matchmaking app Wingman. "Trying to describe myself for a profile gave me anxiety." Eventually, Wilson's friends got involved. "They had way better insight into who I should be dating and loved to tell me so," she says. She realized her friends could play a vital role in helping her meet a compatible partner, so she created Wingman, an app that allows users' friends play matchmaker. Text-based apps are also on the rise. A spin-off of the popular Instagram account @_personals_, the Personals app will allow its lesbian, queer, transgender, and nonbinary users to post old-school personal ads.

by Sofia Barrett-Ibarria
See full article at Men'sHealth

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Who Got the Most News Coverage in 2018?

OPW - Jan 13 - Every day we review the news and bubble up what we think are summaries of the most important intell in the most important news items. All year, every day. Then in January we like to do an annual review of the news and let you know who got the most coverage on OPW.news for the prior year. Subscribe here for daily updates.

Here's the rankings for who got the most press coverage on OPW.news in 2018.

1. Tinder, 182 posts on OPW.news
2. Bumble, 116 posts
3. Match Group, 105 posts
4. Facebook Dating, 58 posts
5. Grindr, 40 posts
6. Badoo, 33 posts
7. eharmony, 33 posts
8. Match, 29 posts
9. OKCupid, 28 posts
10. Hinge, 24 posts

Here's our analysis for 2018

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Tinder and Bumble's Recent Advertising Efforts

NEW YORK TIMES - Dec 18 - Tinder has a new publication, Swipe Life, specializing in personal essays that reinforce the idea that dating misadventures are cool, invigorating and youthful. Other dating apps are also getting into the content business. Grindr has its own news site, Into; Hinge, as part of an ad campaign last year, published short-form fiction on walls and billboards. Tinder is the top dating app in the US and worldwide, according to App Annie. ~50% of Tinder's users are ages 18 to 25. Elie Seidman, Tinder's CEO, said that the company wants to brand itself as the leader of early-life dating. When Swipe Life began this fall, its articles sang of the exciting spontaneity of singledom. For example: "I Moved to L.A. for a Tinder Relationship That Lasted Two Weeks, But I Don't Regret It - Here's Why." Bumble's strategy seems inspired by the Forbes's annual 30 Under 30 lists. Its "Find Them on Bumble" campaign collects the 112 "most inspiring New Yorkers," and subtly links their success to Bumble.

by Jonah Engel Bromwich
See full article at New York Times

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The Subtle Way Dating Apps Reinforce Our Racial Biases

HUFFINGTON POST - Nov 22 - A new study out of Cornell University suggests that dating app algorithms don't do us any favors as far as sexual racism goes. To conduct the study, the researchers downloaded the 25 top-grossing apps in the iOS app store as of fall 2017, including Tinder, OKCupid, Hinge, Grindr, Meetville and Coffee Meets Bagel. Then they looked for features that could affect users' discriminatory behavior toward other users. This included terms of service, their sorting, filtering and matching algorithms and how users are presented to each other. They found that most apps employ algorithms that cater to users' past personal preferences and the matching history. So if a user had matched with white users repeatedly in the past, the algorithm was more likely to suggest more white people as "good matches" moving forward.

by Brittany Wong
See full article at Huffington Post

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The Most Popular Love Language on Hinge Is Quality Time

BUSTLE - Nov 16 - Dr. Gary Chapman outlined love language in his book The 5 Love Languages. The idea being that there are five different ways people feel love and show love in their relationships. The five love languages are: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch. But what's the most popular way to express yourself in a romantic relationship? According to new data from dating app Hinge, the most common love language is Quality Time, which was over twice as popular for its users as the next option, Words of Affirmation. There was some discrepancy between men and women in how they looked at the other love languages. For men, Physical Touch and Words of Affirmation were both neck-in-neck for second place, but for women it was just Words of Affirmation comfortably in ahead.

by Lea Rose Emery
See full article at Bustle

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Tinder Doubles Down On Its Casual Nature

TECH CRUNCH - Nov 8 - Tinder has never really shaken its reputation as a "hook up" app, instead of one designed for more serious dating. Now, it seems Tinder is planning to embrace its hook up status. According to Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg, Tinder is launching its first-ever brand marketing campaign that will promote the "single lifestyle" with billboards and other digital initiatives. "The market defined the brand, versus the business defining the brand," said Ginsberg, referring to its "hook up app" reputation. The company will also invest more in Hinge going forward. Ginsberg said Hinge will help the company to address the "previously underserved" audience of 20-somethings looking for a serious relationship. The plan is to make Hinge the anti-Tinder, then pull in users as they exit Tinder in search of something real.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Tinder Now Has 4.1M Paying Users, Expects $800M In Revenue This Year

TECH CRUNCH - Nov 7 - Match Group surpassed analyst's forecasted revenue of $437M, reporting Q3 revenue of $444M, a 29% increase YOY. Match says it expects to bring in a total of $1.72B in annual revenue. Despite positive earnings, the company's 4Q outlook failed to satisfy Wall Street. Match said it expects $440 - $450M in revenue in Q4, falling short of the $454.5M analyst estimate. Shares of Match sank 10% in after-hours trading as a result. Year-to-date, Match's stock is up ~60%. Tinder continues to be Match's growth engine, responsible for half its paid users and half its projected annual revenue. Tinder is expected to bring in $800M in revenue in 2018. Hinge, another app-based dating service acquired by Match in June, is on its way up. Match says it's seen a 5x increase in downloads since it first invested. Match also announced that it would, for the first time, issue a special cash dividend of $2 per share on Match Group common stock and Class B common stock, to be paid out on Dec. 19.

by Kate Clark
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Slow Dating Is The French-Invented Hack

COSMOPOLITAN - Nov 5 - Dating app Once launched in France and recently made its way stateside. Instead of passively swiping through profiles, Once introduce each user to only one person, per day. If the users both like each other, they start a conversation and see where it leads. If not, they have to wait until the next day to meet someone new. But what if all potential matches are bad? Jean Meyer, CEO of Once, says making good matches is a concern, obviously, but he's more focused on cutting down absentminded app time. "Even if your match of the day is crap, it's okay," Meyer says. "Maybe you're not going to talk to that person, but at least you're going to put the app away, and you may even put your phone away and do something else with your day. You can put 100% into another task that's not swiping on ten-thousand profiles." The League, which only serves users a few matches per day, operates on a similar premise as Once. And when Hinge redesigned to eliminate swiping and force people to slow down a bit, users grew by more than 400%.

by Hannah Smothers
See full article at Cosmopolitan

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The CEO Of Hinge Sometimes Goes 2 Weeks Without Checking On His Team

BUSINESS INSIDER - Oct 27 - Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod doesn't have email on his smartphone. He said it makes him a better leader because he has time and space to think. The only things he can currently do with his phone are check the time, make calls and send texts, listen to music, and browse Hinge. "I'm a much better decision-maker, I'm a much better strategist, I'm a much better leader when I'm not wrapped up in the minutia of what's going on in the company and what's going on in the world," McLeod told Business Insider. "I'm giving myself the space." When he takes vacations, he doesn't check in with his staff for "a week or two at a time." In fact, McLeod made the decision to "reboot" Hinge, in 2016, while he was away from the office and spending Thanksgiving with his family. With the time and space to think clearly, he realized that Hinge had become too similar to other dating apps. Hinge subsequently made a number of changes to the app, most notably removing the swiping feature. Today, it bills itself as "the relationship app."

by Shana Lebowitz
See full article at Business Insider

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Hinge To Measure Real World Success

TECH CRUNCH - Oct 16 - Hinge is launching a new feature to improve its recommendations, based on whether or not matches had successful real-world dates. With a new feature called "We Met," Hinge will ask users a few days after they shared their phone numbers if they went on a date, and, if so, if they'd want to see that person again. This data will be used as a signal to inform Hinge's algorithms and improve matches, if the user later returns to the app. During beta trials, Hinge says that 90% of members said their first dates were great, and 72% said they wanted to go on a second. Hinge says We Met will launch today, October 16, on iOS first. Android will soon follow.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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3 Things Match Group CEO Amanda Ginsberg Wants You To Know

THE MOTLEY FOOL - Sep 15 - Match Group CEO Amanda Ginsberg highlighted some key aspects of the dating company's growth strategy during its Q2 earnings call.

1. Tinder's torrid growth continues Direct revenue in the Q2 for Tinder was up 136% YOY, subscribers grew 81%, and ARPU [average revenue per subscriber] rose 33%. Gold subscribers surpassed 50% of total Tinder subscribers in the Q2.
2. An intriguing acquisition Hinge is an early stage, innovative product that is showing great momentum in the U.S. Over the past year, Hinge's monthly downloads have increased by 400%. It caters to people in their 20s, so, Match Group believes that Hinge pairs well with Match.com, which tends to resonate more with people in their 30s and 40s.
3. A massive opportunity in international markets Match Group sees a massive opportunity in certain Asian, North African, and Middle Eastern markets that have very young and highly mobile-savvy populations and plans to build share there over time, either organically or through M&A.

by Joe Tenebruso
See full article at The Motley Fool

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HBO Documentary - "Swiped: Hooking Up In The Digital Age"

BROADWAY WORLD - Aug 30 - In the new documentary, New York Times bestselling author Nancy Jo Sales, investigates the online dating industry's impact on gender issues, examining how it has changed the way people date, mate and think about the apps on their phones, and explores how the act of swiping affects the ability to find true and lasting connections. Directed and written by Sales, the film debuts on Sep 10, exclusively on HBO. The film features interviews with, among others: Jonathan Badeen, co-founder and CSO of Tinder; Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble; Justin McLeod, founder and CEO of Hinge; and Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match Group.

See full article at Broadway World

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Political View Is Important In Dating, Survey Finds

INDEPENDENT.CO.UK - Aug 17 - Hinge is one of the first dating apps to integrate politics into its algorithm. If users choose to state their political beliefs, it will feature prominently on their profile under the 'virtues' section, in which users also state their education level and height. There are four options for them to choose from: 'liberal', 'moderate', 'conservative' and the ambiguous-yet-intriguing 'other'. According to Plenty of Fish, the majority of singles (59%) won't start a conversation with someone who's dating profile promotes an opposing political view. The survey also revealed that 44% of singles said they wouldn't date someone who voted for Trump.

by Olivia Petter
See full article at Independent.co.uk

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Is Match Becoming Un-Hinged With Its Latest Acquisition?

THE MOTLEY FOOL - July 24 - The latest service to join Match is Hinge, a site that once billed itself as the "anti-Tinder" because it focuses on relationships instead of hookups. The purchase leaves Bumble as the only major dating app not owned by Match, and the two are currently suing each other. Match has acquired dozens of services over the past nine years and in the past three years spent $610M acquiring different brands, about equal to its cumulative operating earnings for the same period. While none of the deals have seemed to have gone like a bad date, the rise in Match's cost of revenues has outpaced its revenue increases due to acquisitions like POF and Pairs. Last year, revenue from North America, which contributes 56% of Match's total, grew 9% as a result of more people signing up for Tinder. Yet North America ARPU was flat. The deal for Hinge gives Match a 51% stake with the right to purchase the rest of Hinge within the next year. Though Hinge doesn't disclose the number of users it has, undoubtedly individuals using dating apps have accounts at multiple sites, so Match is paying for members it likely already owns. Match's total subscribers hit 7.43M in the Q1, up 26% YOY, and some of them have to be Hinge members, too. Making another acquisition might put another dating app into Match's diverse collection, but it doesn't really do anything to bolster what is making money for it, namely Tinder.

by Rich Duprey
See full article at The Motley Fool

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IAC CEO Joey Levin: We Bought Hinge To Disrupt Ourselves

CHEDDAR - July 13 - At first glance, Match Group's acquisition of dating app Hinge, known as the "anti-Tinder," doesn't seem to make much sense. But for parent company IAC, the more competition - even internally - the better. "We have always disrupted ourselves, and we like to disrupt ourselves," explained Joey Levin, CEO of IAC. "So when we see something that says it's the anti-something-we're-doing, if it's a good business, it's a good management team, it's a good story, it's a good product, that's something we're interested in doing. We like competing with ourselves."

by Conor White
See full article at Cheddar

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Hinge Releases "Most Compatible" Feature

YAHOO LIFESTYLE - July 11 - This new feature recommends one highly compatible match every day. The app selects the matches based on algorithms that suss out users previous actions on the app and their interests. Hinge's latest feature comes on the heels of Match Group's purchase of a 51% controlling stake in the app in June. It also comes over a year after the company moved away from swiping.

by JP Mangalindan
See full article at Yahoo Lifestyle

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Match Group Update: Tinder Gold Is Getting Even Shinier

SEEKING ALPHA - July 10 - June has been a busy month for Match Group. The company announced that it had acquired a controlling stake in Hinge, and also introduced several new features for Tinder, with several more currently in the works. Tinder Picks is a new feature available exclusively for Tinder Gold subscribers. Picks, which mimics rival app Coffee Meets Bagel, presents users with four profiles daily based on factors such as education, interests, and swipe history. Loops feature, which it had previously tested in Canada and Sweden, allows users to post two-second, looping videos to their profiles in lieu of a static photograph. The company is testing a "Places" feature, which allows users to see potential matches who frequent similar bars, shops, and other locations. In Q1 '18, Tinder added 368K subscribers and delivered its best average revenue per user (ARPU) growth in two years. According to Match CFO Gary Swindler, Tinder's ARPU in Q1 grew 37% year-over-year. The company's ARPU as a whole reached $0.58 in Q1 - well above the $0.53 that it achieved in 2017. With such fantastic economics and a sticky user base, Match Group is significantly undervalued as a company. Yet, shares remain depressed amid negative sentiment surrounding Facebook's entry into online dating.

by Mike Berner
See full article at Seeking Alpha

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Facebook Acknowledges It Shared User Data With Dozens Of Companies

CNET - July 1 - Facebook has admitted providing dozens of tech companies with special access to user data after publicly saying it restricted such access in 2015. It continued sharing information with 61 hardware and software makers after it said it discontinued the practice in May 2015. Facebook granted a special "one-time" six-month extension to companies that ranged from AOL to UPS to dating app Hinge so they could come into compliance with the social network's new privacy policy and create their own versions of Facebook for their devices. Data shared without users' knowledge included friends' names, genders and birth dates. Facebook said it has ended 38 of the partnership and plans to discontinue seven more by the end of July. The disclosure was part of Facebook's second attempt to address questions posed to Zuckerberg in April by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

by Steven Musil
See full article at CNet

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Hinge CEO On Online Dating Business

CNBC - June 25 - Justin McLeod, Hinge founder and CEO, discusses the Hinge app as well as his thoughts on the dating app landscape.

Q: How is Hinge different?
A: We have a product team that really focuses on helping our users get out on first dates. Users have to fill out a deeper profile. Because people use the app much more interactively, we can learn their taste much better and match them up with people they are really going to like.

Q: How much do you charge?
A: $8 per month for premium subscription, but there is a free option as well.

Q: What is the difference between free and paid?
A: Premium members can send unlimited number of likes and are able to filter by religion, etc.

Q: What is the % of free vs paid users?
A: Free 85%, 15% paid.

Q: What do you think about Facebook dating?
A: Our demographic (millennials) are using Facebook less and less so Facebook is not a thread to our business.

See full article at CNBC

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