PRESS RELEASE - Jan 10 - ChristianConnection.com's latest campaign can be seen on the London Underground and Manchester Metrolink this month. One ad states that "Love is patient, love is kind. (But sometimes hard to find)." That is, unless you're looking in the right place. The site claims to have matched thousands of happy couples since it launched ~20 years ago.
ChristianConnection.com Is Launching a New Campaign in the UK
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Late Night Discussion on BBC Asian Network About Online Dating with Mark Brooks
OPW - Jan 9 - Mark Brooks was interviewed on BBC Radio Asian Network on Tuesday night about dating apps and Indian dating. You can listen to the episode here (Mark is at 52:56).
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Young Indians Are Driven by Self-discovery, Reveals Tinder Study
LIVEMINT.COM - Jan 9 - The 18-25 year olds prefer to date as a way to learn more about themselves. They are investing at least five years on self discovery, according to a new study done by Tinder. Also, 56% young Indians in the above age group believe in making their parents proud, followed by building strong friendships (56%), finishing education (52%) and exploring the world along with meeting different people (42%).
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Bumble Now Lets Users Filter Matches by Their Star Sign
TENDAILY.COM - Jan 9 - Astro-obsessed daters are thrilled with the new feature but is swiping right based on someone's star sign the ideal way to find love? According to renowned Australian psychic and founder of Absolute Soul Secrets Rose Smith, the whole idea of a list of prerequisites - the ideal age, salary, height, eye colour - is "problematic." Adding the ideal star sign into the mix makes the already small pool of 'perfect matches' even smaller. "But," Smith said, "it does have some validity." "All 12 star signs have positive and negative attributes that you should keep in mind," she explained. If arrogant people really rub you up the wrong way, maybe steer clear of outspoken, bolshy signs like Leo, Taurus and Sagittarius.
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Ohlala.com, Paid Dating Platform, Claims 120K Users
INTERNET WORLD - Jan 9 - "Paid dating" dating app Ohlala.com claims 120K users in Germany, according its founder Pia Poppenreiter. Ohlala is her second start-up she is involved in. Previously, she founded Peppr in 2014 together with Florian Hackenberger. The company wanted to provide a mediation service for escorts and freelancers. She left the company in 2015 following disagreements with Hackenberger, and started Ohlala. The app allows users to be paid (100 - 200Eur) for going on a date. The revenue us generated by selling Ohlala coins to unlock chats. In 2019 Pia going to publish a book about her experience as a businesswoman.
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Lonely? Tech Firms Hope You'll Use an App for That
FLTIMES - Jan 9 - Meeting new friends - and then maintaining those friendships as a busy adult - is not a problem unique to younger generations, says Miriam Kirmayer, a therapist and friendship researcher at McGill University. It's something most adults experience after college. Social media allows users to keep in touch with friends and family without ever picking up the phone. A new study conducted by UC San Diego researchers, found that 3 out of 4 Americans experience "moderate to high levels of loneliness." Harvard psychology professor Matthew Lieberman says our need to connect with other humans is even more fundamental than our need for food or shelter. New York City-based Cuddlist sends out "professional cuddlers" to hold lonely people in a nonsexual way for $80 an hour. Then there's HearMe.app, which allows users to share their thoughts with an attentive stranger for $10 a week. These apps treat symptoms of loneliness, but there's a wave of tech companies attempting to treat loneliness at its core - by helping people make real in-person connections. But the graveyard for meetup and friendship apps is depressingly expansive. Tinder launched a friendship feature in 2016 called Tinder Social, which allowed users to organize group meetups with strangers. A year later, that feature was disabled. Bumble, also launched its friendship feature Bumble BFF in 2016. However, the company was not willing to share numbers on how many of its users signed up. Despite the challenges, new players keep diving in. When it comes to friend-making apps, there's Hey! VINA for women, Atleto for sports lovers, Meet My Dog for animal lovers, and Cliq, We3, and Squad for those looking to meet up in groups. Frendli, DoWhop, and Beekn are all trying to get people out in the real world to make new friends.
by Brittany Meiling
See full article at FLTimes
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TrulyMadly Turns Profitable in FY18 But Revenue Down by 50%
ENTRACKR - Jan 9 - Online dating has been a tough business to crack in India. This can be gauged from the financial performance of TrulyMadly. While the company has turned profitable in FY18, its revenue has suffered a 50% dip during the same fiscal. With Rs 2.3 lakhs ($3K) worth of profit, TrulyMadly has posted a revenue of Rs 3.61 crore ($500K) in FY18 as compared to Rs 7.21 crore ($1M) in the preceding fiscal. Subscription has contributed ~54.2% of overall revenue in FY18. Its revenue from paid service stood at Rs 1.95 crore ($276K) which is 69.8% up from the previous fiscal. Founded by Sachin Bhatia, Hitesh Dhingra, and Rahul Kumar, TrulyMadly lets singles discover each other through shared interests and personality profiles. The company competes with Tinder, Hyderabad-based QuackQuack, Woo, Bumble and a handful of others.
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Tinder Swipeout: the Dating App Crashes for Users Around the World
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK - Jan 8 - Users in the UK and Europe as well as parts of the US are having difficulty with the app. Instead of profiles of a potential date appearing the Tinder users have been seeing a 'Error 5000' message.
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Q&A with Tinder CEO Elie Seidman about His Work Day
FAST COMPANY - Jan 8 - The Tinder CEO reveals his tips and tools for getting the most out of every day.
Q: What's your on switch?
A: Having kids has made me an early riser. My day begins at 5 a.m. I'll go to the gym and then I'll swim. Before heading into the office, I like to put together priorities for the day: the things that must be done today. Doing this ensures that my schedule doesn't control me, because I'm mindful of the big picture.
Q: What's your off switch?
A: Since I'm an early riser, I also tend to end the day on the early side. I love books and like to read fiction to wind down.
Q: What books are on your nightstand?
A: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. This book is ultimately about the role of luck in life. The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy by Bill Walsh. This is, in my opinion, the best book on leadership by far. The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World by Lucette Lagnado. My mother grew up in France, but she was born in Egypt. This book is about the world her parents lived in.
Q: What classic product do you still use because you believe nobody's ever improved on it?
A: An analog IWC Big Pilot watch, the 1987 Toyota FJ60 Land Cruiser, the 1980s Mercedes 300 TD, a headphone amp with vacuum tubes and paper and pen. Nothing will ever improve upon it.
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The Meet Group's Preliminary Q4 and Full Year 2018 Financial Results
PRESS RELEASE - Jan 8 - For the Q4 2018, the company expects:
- Revenue of ~$52.3M, above the high end of its prior outlook $49M
- Adjusted EBITDA of ~$10.3M, above the high end of its prior outlook $9M.
For the full year 2018, the company expects:
- Revenue of ~$178.5M, above the high end of its prior outlook of $174M - to $175M
- Adjusted EBITDA of ~$32M, above the high end of its prior outlook of $30M.
"We ended 2018 with excellent results across our business," said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group. "Video revenue grew in total and across each of our apps in the Q4 compared to Q3".
See full article at The Meet Group website
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Brooklyn Entrepreneur Turns Dating Mishap into Event-Based Dating App
PR NEWSWIRE - Jan 7 - Swoonbox is an event-based dating mobile app, with integrations into TicketMaster, TicketNetwork, Spotify, and Fandango. After a summer running a successful private beta of 3000 users in New York City, Swoonbox is gearing up to launch its public beta in the App Store and Play Store in Q1 2019. The idea was first conceived after co-founder Lester Leong won tickets to the Great GoogaMooga, an exclusive Brooklyn food and music festival. Lester's date cancelled on him at the last minute, leaving him with a spare ticket and no viable options. After spending a year developing the prototype, Lester joined forces with Glitnir Ticketing alumni Bryan Gray, along with its co-founders Gordon Krstacic and Bill McLean, to officially co-found Swoonbox.
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Blued, Chinese Gay Dating App, Halts Registration After Underage HIV Report
REUTERS - Jan 5 - Chinese gay dating app Blued is halting new user registration for a week, following media reports that underage users caught HIV after going on dates set up via the app. In response, Blued vowed to launch a "comprehensive content audit and regulation," and crack down on underage users posing as adults. Blued, which was launched in 2010 and now boasts 40M registered users, is backed by state-run media Beijing News.
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Grindr Harassment Suit Could Change Accountability for Tech
NBC MIAMI - Jan 5 - Matthew Herrick claimed that for months an ex-boyfriend used Grindr to harass him. The harassment continued for months, even after Herrick obtained a temporary restraining order against Grindr that required the company to disable the impersonating profiles. He continues to push back against Grindr, arguing that tech companies should face greater accountability for what happens on their platforms. If successful, the lawsuit could bring a significant legal change.
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Tinder Is Being Used to Lure Victims into Sex Trafficking
680NEWS - Jan 5 - Tinder is being used as a tool to lure victims into sex trafficking, according to Toronto police. Two young women joined Tinder and soon find themselves in the sex trade.
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Inside Facebook's Dating Experiment in Colombia
FINANCIAL TIMES - Jan 5 - At first glance it resembles other dating apps. Users set up profiles, add photos and write a bit about themselves. They set an age range and a distance range for the people they wish to meet. But instead of swiping left or right, users tap on a profile photo to reveal a profile and can then choose either "pass" or "interested". Tapping on "interested" obliges them to leave a message before moving on to view other profiles. The program suggests dates based on users' Facebook behaviour and interests, but users can also use Facebook's Events and Groups to find a match. Three months after it launched, Facebook is cagey about how many people are using the service, but said it has received "lots of useful feedback" that was helpful as it rolled the service out in Canada and Thailand in November. There is now a "Second Look" option that allows users to review people they rejected first time round and a "Pause" option that temporarily stops dating suggestions without a profile being deleted altogether. The biggest challenge to the success of the service remains Facebook's trust problems, following a series of allegations about its use of the data that it collects.
by Gideon Long
See full article at Financial Times
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Is Bumble Trying to Characterize Tinder Users As "Loose"?
EDTIMES - Jan 5 - Bumble has started an aggressive marketing campaign in India to establish themselves in this highly lucrative market. In their video ad, PeeCee (Priyanka Chopra) is shown to be first a corporate hotshot, with the title "Ambitious, not loose" followed by her being involved with her family with the title "Busy, not loose" and finally her taking off a jacket in the gym with the title "Equal, not loose". It's pretty clear that this is a shot at Tinder and it's user base which is widely perceived preferring the hookup culture instead of serious dating culture. Tinder has stepped up its marketing campaign as well. It is telling the market that all of this serious dating stuff is for adult, and adulting can wait.
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The Future of eharmony + Parship - Parship CEO Interview
OPW INTERVIEW - Jan 4 - Tim Schiffers is the CEO of the PARSHIP ELITE Group. Together with their shareholder ProSiebenSat.1, a German media company, they acquired eharmony. I interviewed Tim Schiffers yesterday about the acquisition of eharmony. – Mark Brooks
What do you think of the term 'serious dating'?
We think 'serious dating' is a very good position in the market that cannot be attacked so easily. Classical dating services have come under pressure from apps such as Tinder and Badoo. This did not happen with Parship – it even helped us. With the rise of dating apps, online dating has become more and more normal for people, and as soon as they are looking for a serious relationship, chances are high that they will turn to services such as Parship or ElitePartner.
What will you do with eharmony?
eharmony is a pioneer. They are the inventor of online dating based on scientific methods. We feel eharmony has lost some relevance over the past few years by way of their communication and their approach to media and online marketing. In addition, their platform is not completely state of the art. Therefore, the challenge is similar to the one we faced when we acquired ElitePartner three years ago.
Will eharmony move to the Parship platform?
Yes, we are planning to bring the services together on one shared technical platform, the Parship platform. This migration project is quite challenging and will probably take up to 12 months to complete. As far as marketing activities go, we are well on the way with a number of initiatives around brand, media, online marketing and CRM.
Why does the eharmony deal make sense for Parship?
We share the same mission: Bringing people into happy relationships by believing in the concept of scientific matchmaking. That is what Parship and ElitePartner as well as eharmony have done for years; that is what drives every one of our employees. There are also other similarities such as strong, renowned brands and the need for a focused, effective marketing strategy.
What's your thoughts on Facebook Dating?
I see them more in the classical dating camp. They have brought online dating onto the agenda for more people, which is helpful.
Is Parship considering more international acquisitions/options?
We will be very busy with integrating eharmony, working with eharmony on marketing, CRM, and platforms. That is already a big piece of our internationalization; we are broadening out into the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. As you said, it's a match made in heaven. If we see something else that is a fit however, maybe there is another move.
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Tinder Usage Via Facebook Login Is Sinking
THINKNUM - Jan 4 - As people learn more about the sketchy ways that Facebook has handled personal data - especially when it comes to third-part apps - it's possible that they've moved away from using Facebook login. At this time last year and the year before it, Tinder saw a noticeable lift in December. So is it just Tinder, or the dating app world in general? Bumble doesn't have a noticeable drop in usage. Instead, there is a healthy jump in rank in November as we enter the holidays followed by a consistent user rank since.
by Joshua Fruhlinger
See full article at Thinknum
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Once Founder: Slow Dating Could Be a Perfect Fit for USA
OZY - Jan 4 - When Jean Meyer returned to Paris after traveling abroad for several years, he was surprised to find so many of his friends still single. Most users on Match and eHarmony were much older and in a different life stage, while Tinder was about hooking up and one-night stands. There was nothing in between. "Why isn't there a better dating app for people in their 30s?" Meyer wondered. So, he decided to create one. He launched Once in 2014. The app gives users just one match per day, every day at noon. The app is quickly gaining popularity in Europe and is now available in most Western European countries. But stateside, Once has not yet caught on. Meyer says this is primarily because the company has not spent time marketing across the pond. "It's going to cost a lot to market in the U.S.," he says. "Right now we want to understand the market better and find the right demographic." But Meyer is optimistic and thinks slow dating "will be a perfect fit for the U.S."
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More Older Singles Are Using Dating Apps
CHICAGO TRIBUNE - Jan 4 - People who work with older adults say they are turning more to apps and dating sites. Match has its own dating site and app for people over 50, called OurTime. Chicago is the second-fastest growing city, after Houston, said Match spokesperson Lauren DeFord, and the third most active city, a ranking of time users spend on the app or site. For many older adults, family dynamics are a big part of navigating dating. Watching a parent date can be hard for children still grieving another parent. To make conversations about dating go smoothly, experts advise not telling family members immediately and wait until they’ve gone on a few dates before bringing it up.
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