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

Comscore: Majority of UK Online Dating Users Are not Digital Natives

PR NEWSWIRE - Sep 5 - Comscore has released its 2019 Online Dating in the UK report, which reveals insights into the behaviours of online daters in the UK.

1 in 6 Internet users aged 18+ visited a dating site or app in June 2019. The report debunks a few misconceptions, such as online dating being the preserve of a younger audience. The report covers:

• Demographic breakdown of online daters.
• Choice of platform and behavioural insights, by platform and gender.
• Gender distribution by online dating website and mobile app.
• Loyalty of online daters towards their dating apps.

See full article at PR Newswire

OPW.news Loves You

OPW - Sep 8 - We're the straight-talking, no frills news summary service for dating executives. No fluff, just punchy news summaries.

eharmony: How to Create the Perfect Profile Pic

OPW - Sep 7 - So many people get their dating profile picture wrong. eharmony is showing its users how to make the perfect profile picture.

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YY Rebrands Its Social Platform to Speed-dating App 'Zhuiya'

TECHNODE - Sep 5 - Chinese live-streaming company YY is relaunching its "Shiting PK" social app to "Zhuiya" to include speed-dating functionalities based on common interests, targeting users 18 - 30 years old. Upon logging in, users are required to choose from a number of interest tags, after which they are redirected to a chat room with other users who have picked the same tags, featuring a matchmaker moderator. In the chat room, users can start three-minute private speed-dating sessions with other users. Zhuiya also has live-streaming features.

by Tony Xu
See full article at Technode

Match Analysts Unfazed by Facebook's Expanded Dating Service

BLOOMBERG - Sep 5 - Match Group shares fell ~7% in Thursday trading after Facebook announced it would be expanding its dating service into the U.S. Facebook's dating feature was first unveiled in 2018 and prior to its U.S. launch it has previously been tested in 19 other countries. Despite Match's share-price drop, Bloomberg Intelligence wrote that there was "limited risk" for the company from Facebook.

by Ryan Vlastelica
See full article at Bloomberg

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Facebook Dating Launches in the U.S.

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 5 - Facebook's dating product is today launching to all in the U.S., promising to leverage the company's deep insight into people's personal data to deliver better matches than Tinder, Bumble, Match and others. With its U.S. arrival, Facebook Dating will now also allow users to integrate their Instagram posts in their dating profile and add their Instagram followers to their "Secret Crush" list, in addition to Facebook friends. For starters, the people users are shown on Facebook Dating will not include your Facebook Friends. Users can also opt to have Facebook Dating only show them people without common friends. Dating is an opt-in experience. Officially, Facebook says that match suggestions are based on "your preferences, interests, and other things you do on Facebook."

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Tinder Launches New Feature in Brazil, Called Match Time

CANALTECH - Sep 4 - This week, Tinder rolled out a new feature Tinder Time feature in Brazil. Tinder Time notifies users when there is a high activity on the app. According to Tinder, during a peak period the activity within the app goes up 15x, so the chance of scoring a match goes up 250%.

by Nathan Vieira
See full article at Canaltech

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Online Matchmaker Love Group Cuts Staff Amid Protests in Hong Kong

STOCKHEAD - Sep 4 - Financial markets are watching closely as the ongoing political crisis in Hong Kong stretches into its third month. As clashes between protestors and police become increasingly violent, many analysts are questioning how it will affect Hong Kong's standing as a trading hub and international finance centre. This has also affected the business of matchmaking. Matchmaking company Love Group had reduced marketing spend and shed some part-time staff, in order to cut costs to match the corresponding decrease in revenue.

by Sam Jacobs
See full article at Stockhead

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M17's CEO Joseph Phua on Asia's Diversifying Live Streaming Landscape

KRASIA - Sep 4 - After a botched IPO, M17 is carving out its niche as a B2B live streaming platform. By revenue, BIGO is the biggest live streaming platform in Southeast Asia, followed by VivaVideo, also a China-owned app, and MLive, an Australian-owned app. The fourth is 17, owned by Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based M17 Group. M17 is linked to Southeast Asia because it's the result of a merger between Singaporean dating app Paktor and 17's predecessor.

Q: You started out building a dating app in Singapore. How did you end up as the CEO of a live streaming company based out of Taiwan?
Joseph Phua (JP): When I was single and started using Tinder I wanted to bring the app to Southeast Asia. That's when we built Paktor in 2013. I met my current business partner Jeffrey Huang, in 2014. We were competitors at that time, but in 2015 he stopped working on the dating app and started live streaming. At some point he was going through operational difficulties. One of the investors backed out after signing a binding agreement. I stepped in and we decided to merge 17 and Paktor, and I took over as CEO. M17 and Paktor still operate as standalone apps.

Q: What's the difference between BIGO and M17?
JP: We target mature markets. Our competitors are targeting developing markets with low ARPU so they need a big user base.

Q: You took a hit with the last minute cancellation of the IPO. What happened, and what are your new plans?
JP: We decided to withdraw and now we are looking towards building the business. We expect to make $300M in revenue this year, we're profitable. We have 50M registered users.

Q: Where's live streaming headed next?
JP: You cannot escape live streaming. Online dating was a taboo just a few years ago, now it's normal. Same with live streaming. It's already mainstream and all around us. We're already working with major media corporations.

by Nadine Freischlad
See full article at KrAsia

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Facebook Users' Phone Numbers Found Online

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 5 - The exposed server contained ~419M records over several databases on users across geographies, including 133M records on U.S.-based Facebook users. The server wasn't protected with a password so anyone could find and access the database. Each record contained a user's Facebook ID and the phone number listed on the account. This is the latest security lapse involving Facebook data after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which saw ~80M profiles scraped to help identify swing voters in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Facebook spokesperson Jay Nancarrow said the data had been scraped before Facebook cut off access to user phone numbers.

by Zack Whittaker
See full article at Tech Crunch

Top Dating News - Facebook Dating, (Ask)Match, and Blued's IPO

OPW - Sep 3 - Here's the top dating news in ~2 minutes. Subscribe to Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) on Youtube (and turn on notifications) or to the podcast on Breaker, Google podcasts, Spotify, Anchor or Stitcher. 

Momo's Stock Price Likely to Remain Volatile as Growth Slows

GRIZZLE - Sep 3 - Momo released Q2 results last week which were better than expected. The stock price have also received a boost from Zao, the face swapping app which went viral over the weekend. For Q2 revenue grew 32% to $604M, $25M ahead of consensus. But revenue from live streaming video is seeing a dramatic slowdown in growth. This segment grew revenue 18%, vs 32% for the entire company. Value added revenue, which includes virtual gifting, was the main growth driver and increased 169%. Momo faced several challenges, including the temporary suspension in May of the homepage and its Tantan dating app. However, the stock still has a strong following. Going forward, this share is likely to be driven by sentiment more than anything else. As such it may best be treated as a trading stock.

by Richard Bowman
See full article at Grizzle

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Gay Dating App to Launch a Friend Mode

THE LONDON FREE PRESS - Sep 3 - Chappy, a dating app for gay men, will be launching Friend Mode, a new platonic connection feature that allows users to connect for friendship. A Swedish study of ~13,600 men and women found that having few or no close friends increased the risk of having a first-time heart attack by ~50%.

by Simone Paget
See full article at The London Free Press

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Momo's New App ZAO Sparks Mass Downloads and Major Concerns

RADII - Aug 30 - Momo's new face swap app Zao is the hottest thing on the Chinese internet right now. But the app is also raising a host of privacy concerns on Chinese social media. Users take a selfie and put themselves into their favorite movie or soap opera. Zao user agreement states that the app gives Momo global rights to use any imagery created on the app for free. Once a user has opted in, there doesn't seem to be the right to revoke the agreement.

See full article at Radii

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Match.com Goes Beyond Just Setting up the First Date

DALLAS INNOVATES - Aug 30 - Hesam Hosseini, the new CEO at Match.com, talks about Match.com's makeover. He and his team have completely overhauled the app so much that it's unrecognizable from a year ago. Hosseini wants to slow people down, there's a strict no swiping rule on Match, so users have to deliberately spend more than a second on somebody's profile. "Match has never been about quantity. It's always been about quality," he says. "We have to date a little bit smarter, helping people realize what they want and getting them to change their behavior." The app has launched AskMatch, a "dating coach" service that's free and available to all paying members. Users can speak to a highly trained coach over the phone to ask about anything concerning their dating life. AskMatch is currently being introduced across the country.

by Alex Edwards
See full article at Dallas Innovates

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Q&A With Founder of Video Dating App Loko

THE DAILY FRONT ROW - Aug 30 - Vivek Jain is the founder and CEO of Loko, a video dating app.

Q: What differentiates Loko from other dating apps?
A: We only allow video profiles, and the only method to communicate is through a video chat - or what we call an "Elimidate." The idea is to have a short video date before meeting in person to get the awkward first date out of the way.

Q: Does the video format really cut to the chase of finding out who someone is?
A: I think nothing does so more than meeting in person. But video is as close to meeting in person as it gets.

Q: Has Loko had any success stories yet?
A: We're too young still. We will soon be announcing a campaign in which we will be paying for the honeymoon of the first couple that meets on Loko and ends up getting married.

Q: Where does the name Loko come from?
A: It's Hawaiian, and it means "character" and "disposition." We're about personality more than anything else, so it really fits. It's also an anagram for "look."

See full article at The Daily Front Row

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Dating Apps Are Making Marriages Stronger

WALL STREET JOURNAL - Aug 29 - Researchers from the University of Chicago found that more than a third of U.S. marriages between 2005 and 2012 started online - and that online couples have longer, happier marriages. They also found that more anonymous online communications produced greater self-disclosure. "Humans started down a path to becoming isolated the moment the first person put on the headphones of their Sony Walkman," says Eric Resnick, a professional dating profile ghostwriter in Orlando, Fla., who met his wife online. "We hide in our phones. Online dating sites and apps make it possible to reach out in a way that doesn't make most people uncomfortable." It also helps them open up. "Most online daters have a tendency to discuss the reasons their last relationships have failed without even realizing it," says Mr. Resnick. A 2017 study by researchers at the University of Essex in the U.K. and the University of Vienna in Austria, published in the social-science journal SSRN, found that marriages created online were less likely to break up within the first year than marriages that started offline. The researchers suggested that people who meet online are more likely to be compatible precisely because they're matching with partners they might have otherwise overlooked.

by Peggy Drexler
See full article at Wall Street Journal

Spark Networks SE Reports First Half 2019 Results

PR NEWSWIRE - Aug 29 - Spark Networks, parent company of EliteSingles, eDarling, Jdate, Christian Mingle, JSwipe, SilverSingles, Attractive World, and Zoosk, reported its first half 2019 financial results. H1 2019 revenue was €49.2M, down 7.1% YOY. The YOY decrease was attributable to the 9% decrease in the number of Average Paying Subscribers. Net loss was €4.9M, an increase of €3.8M compared to €1.1M in the H1 2018. The YOY increase in net loss was primarily attributable to higher professional fees related to the merger with Zoosk that closed in the H2 2018, and an increase in income tax expense in the H1 2019.

See full article at Spark Networks website

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Venntro Media Group Celebrates 16 Years in Business

PRESS RELEASE - Aug 30 - Venntro Media Group, the operator of SaaS platform WhiteLabelDating.com, celebrate their 16th year in business this week. Venntro is part of the Tech City UK Future Fifty programme, is a City A.M. Leap 100 company and has been recognised as delivering significant economic impact to the UK by London Stock Exchange Group, named in its '1000 Companies to Inspire Britain' report for two consecutive years.

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Gay Dating App Blued Plans U.S. IPO at $1 Billion Value

BLOOMBERG - Aug 30 - Blued, China's largest gay-dating app, is planning a U.S. IPO that could raise ~$200M. The share sale will likely take place next year and could value Blued at ~1 billion. Founded in 2012 by former policeman Geng Le, Blued has become an icon for the Chinese LGBT community and attracted ~$130M in venture capital as of March. The dating app also offers live streaming and connects men who want to become parents with overseas surrogates.

by Crystal Tse, Lulu Yilun & Manuel Baigorri
See full article at Bloomberg

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