MARKETBEAT - May 20 - Match Group insider Jared F. Sine sold 6,230 shares of the firm's stock last week. The stock was sold at an average price of $78 for a total value of $486,438. Following the completion of the sale, he now directly owns 13,132 shares in MTCH, valued at $1,025,346. A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MTCH shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Match Group from $90 to $100 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Nomura Securities also gave the stock a "buy" rating. BidaskClub upgraded Match Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold". SunTrust Banks and Deutsche Bank both gave the stock a "buy" rating.
Jared F. Sine, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary for Match Group, Sells The Company's Stock
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Hinge Rolls out in-app Video Calls, Launches Hinge Labs
MASHABLE - May 20 - Hinge launches Hinge Labs, the first dating app research program backed by behavioral data and not solely on surveys. The app is now also testing in-app video calls and select markets (Dallas, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C.), and will roll out the feature globally this summer. Logan Ury, Hinge's Director of Relationship Science and Dr. Emily Hittner, Hinge's Director of Research, are at the helm of Hinge Labs. Hinge Labs's first project is analyzing video dating. The team sent out a number of surveys to users during quarantine to track how people are using video dating. The data shows that perception of video chatting is different than the reality. While 58% of users cite fear of awkwardness as the top reason for not video dating, 81% of those who did felt no or "only slight" awkwardness.
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Queer People See More Harassment in Dating Apps Than Straights
ADVOCATE - May 19 - A recent Pew Research poll found out that lesbian, gay, and bisexual users are more frequently subjected to harassment than straight users. The data showed that 48% of LGB dating app users have experienced someone contacting them long after they expressed they weren't interested, compared to 35% of straight users. 17% of LGB users said that they've had people threaten to physically abuse them, compared to 7% of straight users.
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India Gay Matchmaking Service, Arranged Gay Marriage Bureau, Under Fire
NBC NEWS - May 19 - The Arranged Gay Marriage Bureau, which promises to help Indian gay men and lesbians find love, is accused by some of being a "malicious" scam. The matchmaking service was the subject of a Vice Media report last month titled "The Arranged Gay Marriage Scam." The 20-minute documentary follows two U.K.-based clients of the service - the documentary's host, Reeta Loi, and a man referred to only as Keith - who, after 11 months, each received just a handful of dating profiles. At the end of the film, Loi calls the bureau a "malicious" scam.
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Bumble CEO: Dating in the Age of Covid
CNN - May 19 - How people date during a global pandemic? Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder and CEO of the dating app Bumble, says her company is helping their users answer that question and find connection from a distance. She talks about how this pandemic may permanently change the way people date, and how Bumble is positioning itself in a competitive market for dating services. "We have actually come out of our two best revenue weeks in the history of the group. People are enjoying digital dating," says Whitney Wolfe Herd.
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Single Americans Are Boasting About COVID-19 Results in Their Dating Profiles
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK - May 19 - People have been disclosing the status of their COVID-19 antibody tests in their dating app profiles. The coronavirus antibody test determines if a person's body has had an immune response to a previous infection with the virus.
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Fairytrail Dating App Lets Singles Go on Virtual Tours
TRAVEL DAILY NEWS - May 18 - Fairytrail is a new dating app that lets users go on virtual adventures powered by Airbnb and Viator, a Tripadvisor company. Singles create a free profile on Fairytrail and match with each other (just like on Tinder or Bumble). Once users match, Fairytrail recommends different virtual tours to them from Viator and Airbnb based on their profiles. Users aren't able to talk at this stage. They simply choose the tours they like. If there's overlap in the tours picked, Fairytrail connects the users to talk and book the matched tour.
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Muslim Matchmaking Platform Hawaya Expands Across GCC
ZAWYA - May 18 - Following its success in Egypt, Hawaya (previously Harmonica, acquired by Match Group in 2019), a Cairo-based mobile dating app that approaches matchmaking with respect for Muslim traditions and cultures, has announced the expansion across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. Hawaya was founded in 2017 by an Egyptian entrepreneur, Sameh Saleh, who crafted the app to help his sister go through a safe journey towards marriage. The name Hawaya was inspired by the word "Hawa" which means "love" in Arabic.
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Muzmatch Raising $100K to Build a School in Pakistan
MUZMATCH - May 18 - Muslim dating app Muzmatch is big on charity. In 2018, the app raised £8K to feed school children in Sudan; and in 2019 Muzmatch raised £14K to help end forced marriages. This year, the app is partnering with Read Foundation to build a school for children in Pakistan.
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Guardian Soulmates Dating Site Shutting Down
THE ARMENIAN REPORTER - May 14 - Online dating site Guardian Soulmates is to shut this summer time after 15 years. The crew behind the site said that online dating has turn out to be "a very different place" compared to when it was first launched, with the rise of dating apps. "To keep up with the changing times we'd need to invest heavily in new technology and develop a new way of operating, and it's just not viable," they stated. Several Twitter customers expressed their unhappiness over the information of Guardian Soulmates' closure. "You had been the classiest act on the town"; "You ran your business with dignity! Unlike most dating sites. Goodbye and thank you so much!"
by Jackson Delong
See full article at The Armenian Reporter
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Bumble Partners with Cosmopolitan to Promote Virtual Dating
MOBILE MARKETING MAGAZINE - May 15 - Bumble is partnering with Cosmopolitan, as it seeks to boost awareness of its virtual dating offering. The content will aim to refresh the conversation around virtual dating, with tips and ideas that are relevant during lockdown and beyond.
by David Murphy
See full article at Mobile Marketing Magazine
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New Dating App, Peel, Limits the Number of Conversations
NOW TORONTO - May 14 - Peel, created by two Toronto developers, limits the number of conversations users can have at one time in an effort to create "meaningful" interactions. Peel, which launched last month, is marketing itself as an antidote to apps that let users endlessly rack up matches - which, the owners say results in very few interesting conversations and even less dates.
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Lockdown Love Survey: Brits Are More Polite and Creative
ODA - May 14 - According to new research for Online Dating Association, a quarter of daters are 'more polite' since coronavirus crisis begun, they are less pushy and more inventive about building a relationship. 64% see dating apps as a 'lifeline' to those living alone. Half (53%) report that during the lockdown, they are having longer conversations on dating services.
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OkCupid Gives Virtual Dating Tips
AFAQS - May 15 - OkCupid has partnered with The Screen Patti to showcase a new couple's journey - from the time they first met online, to going on a virtual date, to forming a connection, to now doing all things together while self-isolating.
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