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

Swiping Right On AI

FORBES - Jennifer Flashman, Tinder's director of analytics, explained that in leveraging AI to build better user experiences, the future of dating will increasingly occur over texts and DMs rather than blind dates and phone calls. AI apps are only as good as the data behind them. AI can help recommend the perfect TV show, and it can even help us find a life partner. Hinge has a "Most Compatible" feature, which analyzes a user's preferences and sends recommendations of matches that it thinks will be a particularly good fit. Coffee Meets Bagel shares a selection of curated profiles for users to look at each day at noon via their "smart algorithm". AI could even help combat catfishing and creepy messages. Tinder's "Are You Sure?" algorithm scans messages and compares them against text that's been reported for inappropriate language in the past.

by James Freeze
See full article at Forbes

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Hinge's Latest Feature Aims to Help Users Spark Conversations About Self-care

TECH CRUNCH - Hinge is introducing a new "Self-Care Prompts" feature that is designed to inspire initial conversations between matches about self-care priorities. Hinge's in-app prompts are conversation starters that users answer as part of their profiles and are displayed to potential matches. There are 15 new self-care prompts that users can answer and add to their profiles.

by Aisha Malik
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Match Group to Accelerate Hinge's Launch in India

ECONOMIC TIMES - Organic traction for its dating app Hinge is exceptionally strong in quite a few untapped international markets and it has huge potential globally, the company said. "We've seen a recent surge in organic traction in India without any localization. So, we want to respond to these types of positive signals, and we are accelerating our launch in India," Shar Dubey, CEO of the Match Group. The app is on track to launch in its first non-English speaking market, Germany, in the Q2.

by Dia Rekhi
See full article at Economic Times

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Match Group Q1 Results - Revenue up 20%, New CEO

MATCH GROUP - Total Revenue grew 20% YOY to $799M. Operating income was $208M, an increase of 10% YOY. Payers increased 13% to 16.3M, up from 14.4M in the prior year quarter. Tinder Direct Revenue grew 18% YOY, driven by 17% payers growth to 10.7M. All Other Brands collectively grew revenue by 22% YOY driven by 14% RPP growth and 7% payers growth to 5.6M.

Key points from Match Group's letter to shareholders:

• Match Group CEO Shar Dubey is stepping down. She will remain as a director and advisor to the company, and Bernard Kim will resume his role as CEO.
• Match Group has published its 2nd annual Impact Report to share its progress on social, environmental, and governance initiatives.
• In Japan, Tinder launched a co-marketing campaign with Netflix for the dating reality TV show Love is Blind: Japan.
• Tinder Coins, its in-app virtual currency, is on track to launch globally this summer.
• Hinge is on track to launch in its first non-English speaking market, Germany, in Q2.
• Hinge is on pace to more than 10x revenue from 2019 to 2022.
• Match, Meetic, Pairs, and POF all successfully leverage tech features from Hyperconnect into their products.

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Tinder Crushes the Dating App Scene, but Its Rivals Are Winning Hearts

EMARKETER - Bumble and Hinge attracted more downloads worldwide in 2021 than the previous two years. Meanwhile, Tinder outpaced them both by at ~54M downloads. As of January 2022, the monthly active user base across all three dating apps had grown 17% over the same month in 2019. Hinge posted the fastest growth during this period, at 344%, while Bumble registered a 96% increase. Tinder's already massive user base, however, stayed roughly the same size.

by Sara Lebow
See full article at eMarketer

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Which Dating Apps Got the Most Press Coverage Last Year?

OPW - Last year, we mentioned 281 internet dating industry brands in 1,066 posts. Although Match Group and its brands are clearly dominating this list, Bumble takes first place this time, even though only by one post. Here is the full list of companies with the most press coverage for last year.

1. Bumble (131 posts)
2. Tinder (130 posts)
3. Match Group (96 posts)
4. OkCupid (43 posts)
5. Hinge (42 posts)
6. Match.com (35 posts - shared)
7. Grindr (35 posts - shared)
8. The Meet Group (31 posts)
9. Blued (23 posts)
10. Spark Networks (22 posts)

See the full post at Courtland Brooks Blog

Dating Apps Join Forces for Valentine's Vaccination Push

ADWEEK - Tinder, Ourtime, Match, OKCupid, Hinge, Plenty of Fish and Grindr are promoting vaccinations to their users. Ahead of Valentine's Day, the apps have allowed users to display vaccination badges and stickers on their dating profiles to advertise their Covid-19 status to increase their chances of finding a match. Data from Hinge has claimed that its users who share their vaccination status on dating apps receive 30% more matches than those who don't. OKCupid has seen ~1M of its users add a badge stating "I'm Vaccinated" to their profile pages, while Grindr also claims that the badge is among its three most popular.

by Stephen Lepitak
See full article at AdWeek

Hinge Explores Audio Side of Online Dating

GOOD MORNING AMERICA - Hinge has been playing matchmaker with the help of user-uploaded audio clips. "65 to 70% of our users were having trouble assessing chemistry," said Michelle Parsons, Hinge's chief product officer. Users can now upload 30-second audio clips to their profiles, in place of written responses to prompts. According to Parsons, since October, "over one million of Hinge's users have now recorded and uploaded a voice prompt. And ~70% of users have actually played a voice prompt." Some Hinge users have even added clips of songs to their voice prompts, allowing potential matches to listen to music while reading their profile.

by Michael Dobuski
See full article at Good Morning America

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Usage of Top Dating Apps Grew 20% YoY in January

IANS - The monthly active users of Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge collectively grew 17% in January 2022, when compared to January 2019, globally. According to Sensor Tower, Tinder has maintained its majority market share among top dating apps in the US for the last five years. From January 2019 through January 2022, Bumble and Hinge's monthly active users reached a fraction of Tinder's, however, their user bases have grown over that time.

See full article at Daiji World

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A Conversation With Jackie Jantos, Hinge's New CMO

MORNING BREW - Jackie Jantos has been preparing for her new role in more ways than one. With experience at companies like Ogilvy, Coca-Cola, and Spotify, Jantos is also an online dating success story: She met her husband on Match.com. Right now, Hinge only captures ~2.5% of the global dating app market share, but Hinge claims it's the fastest-growing dating app in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. This year, Jantos said, the company will localize its language offerings in countries like Germany and Sweden. Right now, the app is available in those countries, but only in English. Another one of Jantos's tasks for the year is growing its Gen Z and LGBTQ+ audiences in the US. She won't say what features might come next, but says the company continues to focus on how to help users "express themselves in different and unique ways," adding that users should expect updates to profile development this year.

by Katie Hicks
See full article at Morning Brew

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Voice - the New Secret to Online Dating Success

WALL STREET JOURNAL - Dating apps are giving users the ability to add voice recordings to their profiles. Last October, Hinge added Voice Prompts to its user profiles. "~65% of our users were saying getting to hear someone's voice earlier on in the dating journey would be really valuable," said Michelle Parsons, chief product officer at Hinge. In June 2021, Tinder gave users the ability to add video recordings - including voice - to their profiles. The League dating app did the same back in December 2019. A quarter of League users are taking advantage of the technology.

by Kathryn O'Shea-Evans
See full article at Wall Street Journal

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Hinge Offering $100 Child Care Stipends to Single Parents in Time for Valentine's Day

FOX BUSINESS - Hinge launches Valentine's Day campaign to help parents pay for babysitters. Starting on Friday, Feb. 4, users will receive an opt-in notification for the holiday campaign at noon EST. Eligible users who have children and enable the campaign will get a chance at earning a $100 child care gift card if they comment on a potential match's profile. Hinge plans to give away up to $25K in gift card stipends.

by Cortney Moore
See full article at Fox Business

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Match Hopes Hinge Can Be Its Knight in Shining Armor

WALL STREET JOURNAL - Match Group reported mixed Q4 results on Tuesday with adjusted operating income coming in just above Wall Street's estimate, while both Tinder revenue and total revenue growth fell slightly short of analysts' expectations. Match attributed the revenue shortfall to foreign exchange and lingering effects of Omicron. Match talked more about relationship app Hinge. Match now says Hinge did just under $200M in revenue last year and forecasts that revenue would grow to ~$300M this year. Hinge's payers increased ~60% in the Q4 quarter versus the same period of 2019 with revenue per payer growing ~300% over that period.

by Laura Forman
See full article at Wall Street Journal

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Hinge Nabs Coca-Cola and Spotify Vet as New CMO

BUSINESS INSIDER - Hinge has hired Coca-Cola and Spotify marketing vet Jackie Jantos as its CMO. Jantos will broaden Hinge's appeal among GenZ and LGBTQ+ daters. She will also oversee international expansion into markets like Germany, France, and Sweden. She was most recently CMO at data privacy and management company Dashlane. Jantos succeeds Nathan Roth, who was Hinge's CMO between 2018 and 2021. The app plans on increasing its multi-million marketing budget by 25% compared to 2021, according to the new CMO.

by Tanya Dua
See full article at Business Insider

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According to Hinge, Therapy Could Be the Secret to a Flourishing Love Life

WOMEN'S HEALTH - According to research conducted by Hinge, the last two years have seen singles prioritize mental health more than ever. The company found that when it comes to dating, mental health isn't just an attractive quality but a necessary one, with daters admitting they aren't accepting anyone who isn’t doing it. 89% of Australian Hinge singles would prefer to date someone who goes to therapy.

See full article at Women's Health

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