FINANCIAL POST – Oct 2 – Noel Biderman's emails indicate that the women who promoted themselves in national media as top executives at Cougar Life, The Big and the Beautiful, and Established Men were hired to attract publicity and new members. In reality they were spokesmodels with most reporters taking them at their word about their executive roles.
by Claire Brownell
See full article at Financial Post
BLOOMBERG – Oct 2 – A new paper published at the Federal Reserve Board found out that:
Credit scores matter for committed relationships because they reveal information about general trustworthiness.
FASTCOMPANY – Oct 1 – When Match.com launched in 1995, it seemed like the matchmaking business was about to have its Amazon moment. "I wondered if we’re going to go out of business," says Amber Kelleher, a matchmaker who had been working with the enormous database of singles her mother had started building, by hand, in 1986. But the Kellehers' business grew. "People were able to take a baby step. They got to us faster," Kelleher says. Maria Avgitidis, the founder of Agape Match, says her clientele has also changed. "As online dating is becoming normalized," she says, "it’s driving up these niche apps and, at the same time, matchmaking." Agape typically charges $15K for six months.
by Sarah Kessler
See full article at FastCompany
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WSJ – Oct 1 - Match.com asked ~5K singles what criteria they used most in assessing dates. Beyond personal hygiene, it was grammar. 88% of women and 75% of men care about grammar most, putting it ahead of a person’s confidence and teeth. The Grade, a new dating app, checks messages for typos and grammar errors and assigns each user a letter grade from A+ to F. One reason people judge grammar and spelling snafus so harshly is that they can reflect the level of effort, or lack thereof, that folks put into their bio. Certain types of typos are also associated with fraud.
by Georgia Wells
See full article at WSJ
OPW – Sep 23 – Please answer this survey.
We'll select a random iDating industry respondant (via random number generator) and donate $250 to the charity of their choice.
If you are an owner or senior employee at an iDating site please answer this 7 questions survey.
Feedback to be used for a white paper and iDate conference and to help publicize the intended future direction of the Internet dating industry to media.
MARKETWIRE – Oct 2 – Jewish networks subscribers grew 1.8% (64,144) compared to Q2 2015. Christian networks subscribers grew 0.4% to 122,068. SparkNetworks is also introducing a new operating metric – period ending subscribers.
The full article was originally published at Spark.net, but is no longer available.
PROACTIVEINVESTORS – Oct 2 – Founded in 2013 and based in Hong Kong, DateTix is a dating app for people to host, discover, and go on real life dates. Enverro is the developer of a cloud-based workforce management platform designed specifically for the energy, construction and resources sectors. The company is acquiring DateTix for 12.5M ($0.40/per share) shares and 12M performance shares that vest on three key milestones.
See full article at Proactive Investors
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
CBC – Oct 2 - It doesn't matter how two people meet. In the end everyone is just looking for love, says a new study from Jocelyn Wentland, a sessional instructor at the University of British Columbia's psychology department. She surveyed 3.5K participants. The study looked at 4 meeting venues:
60% of participants said they used an online app for dating purposes, 70% of those people reported sexual activity with an online partner, 30% of all participants met their most recent sex partner online.
PRESS RELEASE – Oct 1 – Lunch Actually, Singapore based high-end matchmaking company, has acquired MeetNLunch, the number one matchmaking service for busy professionals in Thailand. This acquisition comes after Lunch Actually Group's recent launch of its dating app, LunchClick, in April 2015, as well as its expansion into Jakarta in October 2014. To date, LunchActually has ~400K members. Last year their revenue grew ~50% and hit a new revenue milestone of $5M. MeetNLunch has been connecting singles in Thailand since 2006.
See all posts on LunchActually
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
CNET – Oct 1 - Tinder has released Super Like globally after its initial launch in Australia earlier this month. The new feature offers the option of swiping up to indicate a higher level of interest in the other user.