SEEKING ALPHA – Aug 17 – A spin off of The Match Group is in the works. The company has strong growth potential. Data from IBISWorld shows that online and mobile dating services comprise 75% of the U.S. dating services industry, followed by matchmakers (14%) and singles events (7%). A true disruptive innovation is Tinder. The app is making online dating in general more mainstream. Many analysts have doubt about Tinder's profitability. Most of young singles are not interested in paying for online dating. The fact that there is only a meager % of users who do pay should not weaken the app's profitability. Tinder is focused on younger adults but is becoming more popular among older adults while retaining current members who become older and/or directing them to other IAC's dating services. There are also more streams of revenue that the company can utilize and has discussed implementing. The purposes of the app are expanding. "We want Tinder to be the start of every new friendship, relationship, connection and business relationship", said CEO Sean Rad.
Month: August 2015
Apps For Loneliness
THE GUARDIAN – Aug 17 – Technology is often blamed for social isolation. We’d rather message our friends than meet them. Chatbots take this to the next level. Cortana, the Microsoft creation, will text-message users back and forth about everything. In China, Xiaoice has attracted millions of loyal followers since its introduction last year. Dubbed the "girlfriend app", the chatbot uses artificial-intelligence software to remember details from previous discussions and mines the web for question-and-answer style conversations.
Ross Williams Is Getting Married, Congrats!
CITYAM – Aug 17 – Ross Williams is getting married next week. He and his fiancée met on an online dating site. Back in 2003, Williams founded Global Personals with business partner Steve Pammenter. They developed the concept for "White Label Dating". Between 2007-2011 Global Personals turnover went from £3m to £30m. This year, Global Personals rebranded and became Venntro Ventures. "It's an incubator, really," he explains. "We want to invest in startups that want to scale, and that have a digital product which will improve people's lives." Alongside this, Williams is on the hunt for investment himself, to help Venntro scale even further.
by Harriet Green
See full article at CityAM
Snap Interactive Q2 Results: Revenue Down 7.6% YOY
MARKETWIRED – Aug 13 – Q2 revenues decreased 7.6% YOY to $3.2M and subscription revenue decreased 2.4% YOY to $3.1M. The operating loss was $0.2M, reflecting an improvement as compared to a loss of $0.3M in Q2 '14. Active subscriber count was flat (98K). The Grade app saw an increased user activity with ~8M swipes. (81% increase from Q1 '15)
See full article at Marketwired
IAC Looks For Love In PlentyOfFish
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR – Aug 14 – Last month Match Group, agreed to buy POF for $575M in cash, the highest price it has ever paid for any of its various dating sites. To industry watchers, the high price that POF fetched was not all that surprising. IAC controlled 22% of the U.S. market before adding POF’s 4.9% share. According to Mark Brooks, Internet dating industry consultant and editor of Online Personals Watch, POF deal was mostly about timing. "Buying PlentyOfFish took one question off the table: What about the pressure from free sites, from POF? Now the answer is, 'We bought it.'" Many people looking for love will maintain profiles in several places at once. "One thing we know is that if we can't convert someone on one site, we can usually get them on a competing brand," says Brooks. "There are people who won’t try Match.com, but they will try PlentyOfFish." Analysts are eager for the spin-off. Chris Merwin, a senior U.S. Internet analyst at Barclays in New York, commented that IAC had been held back by Ask.com. "Now that there will be a true value for the Match Group in the marketplace, we think IAC will be able to unlock tremendous value." Brooks, too, feels shareholders are excited that Match Group will now be something "they can touch and feel."
by Lila MacLellan
The full article was originally published at Institutional Investor, but is no longer available.
Are You Human?
OPW – Aug 17 – I asked Dr. Kilpatrick at BeehiveID about the service 'Are You A Human' which identifies humans from bots. Rather handy for iDating? He replied in the form of a blog post. In short, Are You Human is a tool that allows you to replace the captcha. Captcha's can be really annoying for users. Are You Human is way simpler as it relies on observed browsing behavior. But its for catching bots, and in the dating industry we have problems with abuse from humans as well as bots. (Full Disclosure: BeehiveID is a client of Courtland Brooks) – Mark Brooks
Raya Dating App Is Like Tinder For Famous People
BUSTLE – Aug 17 – Raya is the latest online dating platform. It is Tinder for famous people and influencers. To join Raya, members have to satisfy a mysterious algorithm involving Instagram following, mutual connections with other Raya members, personal recommendations, and some kind of selection committee.
Money Are Flowing Into Online Dating Startups
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Aug 17 – Early-stage funding to Internet dating companies has climbed in recent years, from $10.3M in 2010 to almost $65M in 2014, according to the investment database CB Insights. But many VCs still have a blanket ban on dating apps.There are the ethical considerations, which cause some investors to lump dating apps alongside tobacco and gambling companies under the category “do not touch”. Dating apps are also much harder to monetise. A successful product means to lose users, and this high churn requires these apps to rebuild their customer base constantly. Historically, exits from dating investments have been hard to come by, with an early shareholder’s best hope being that IAC will acquire the company.
Lulu Is Now A Dating App, Relaunches In Brazil
ZDNET – Aug 14 – Lulu, the controversial men review app, is relaunching in Brazil with new functionalities that includes access to men, who will be able to view their "scores" in the app, a chat function that will allow women to initiate conversations with men. When Lulu first launched in Brazil in 2013, the app faced legal issues from men who felt offended by comments made by former partners. The new version of the app will no longer require users to link their Facebook profiles to the tool. Anyone on the app can delete their profiles and reviews with an automatic self-removal function.
Dating Factory Opens New Office In Sofia, Bulgaria
DATING FACTORY – Aug 14 – White label dating provider, Dating Factory, is opening its new development center in Sofia, Bulgaria. The company is further extending the team in Sofia to increase its development capacity.
The full article was originally published at Dating Factory website, but is no longer available.