FINFEED – May 19 – DateTix is launching its matchmaking app in China this week. DTX plans to market its matchmaking service in Shenzen this month, before expanding its operation to Shanghai in August, Beijing in November and Guangzhou next year. DTX's dating app's focus is on serious relationships.
Month: May 2016
Dating App Siren To Be Featured In The PBS Series ‘Start Up’
GEEKWIRE – May 18 – The dating app was founded by Susie Lee and Katrina Hess in 2014. It relies on conversation as a starting point rather than photo surfing. Siren raised $500K this spring.
CEO Of Diverse Will Discuss The Japanese Mobile Dating Market At iDate L.A.
WEBWIRE – May 19 – Hiroshi Tsumoto, President of Diverse, will provide an overview of the Japan mobile dating market during the next mobile dating conference, taking place in June 9-10 in LA. Diverse is the largest online dating company in Japan. In addition to its online dating services, Diverse manages offline dating events as well as web media for women.
Lloyd Miller Keeps Buying Shares Of Spark Networks
FRANKLININDEPENDENT – May 18 – Lloyd Miller now serves as a major shareholder of the public company. Lloyd Miller presently owns 3.29M shares or 14.33% of the company's total market cap. Osmium Partners holds 14.98% of its portfolio in Spark Networks.
The full article was originally published at Franklin Independent, but is no longer available.
See all posts on Spark Networks
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
FindFace App To Kill Anonymity
CNET – May 18 – FindFace, a facial recognition service in Russia, lets people photograph strangers and identify them on Vkontakte. The app claims to have a 70% success rate when it comes to identifying people. FindFace markets itself as a dating service, but its founders hope to make money from licensing its algorithm to law enforcement and retail companies. People can download the app, and when they spot someone they're interested in, they can take a photo and upload it to the app to find the person's Vkontakte profile.
Q&A With Head Of Mobile App Acquisition At MatchGroup
LIFTOFF – May 18 – James Peng is the Head of Mobile App Acquisition at the Match Group in San Francisco.
Q: How did you get into mobile marketing?
A: After 4 years of investment banking and private equity investing, I decided that I wanted to apply my skills in a completely different industry. Mobile marketing was the ideal mix of analysis, business development, and creative thinking for me.
Q: What do you like most about mobile marketing?
A: That it is in its infancy and evolving more rapidly than any other industry in the world.
Q: What is the biggest mistake you made as a mobile marketer?
A: It was early on when I spent my time testing as many channels as possible. I could have exchange notes with other industry professionals and focus on top channels.
Q: What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?
A: The analytical horsepower to assess each user as an ROI opportunity and to dynamically optimize toward your goals. The ability to think creatively about marketing. CPIs are always increasing and that shouldn’t surprise you.
Q: What do you think is the biggest misconception about your profession?
A: That mobile marketing is made up of people with marketing experience and degrees. I more often see people with technical experience and business majors in our industry.
Q: What does a quality mobile user look like to you?
A: An engaged user.
Q: What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged users?
A: Bringing a user into your app isn’t the hardest part – you then have to engage and retain them to drive value. I recommend understanding what your CRM team is doing to boost user value through unpaid means such as optimizing push notifications and emails.
Q: How do you stay ahead of changes in technology?
A: By keeping a close network of industry peers.
Q: How important is diversifying user acquisition outside of Facebook?
A: Relying on FB only is risky. It takes upfront investment to succeed on other channels.
Q: What do you see as the next big thing in mobile marketing?
A: User-level targeting for traditional mobile ad network traffic.
Chinese Tinder, Tantan, Secures $32M
by Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul
See full article at DealStreetAsia
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
David Cameron Joins With Tinder To Convince Young People To Vote
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – May 16 – David Cameron has joined forces with Tinder to encourage young people to vote. As the Prime Minister steps up his campaign in the lead up to the EU Referendum, he has been searching for ways to reach young people. Young people are less likely to vote than the general population, but more likely to be pro-EU.
by Helena Horton
See full article at Telegraph.co.uk
Spark Networks Is Tightening Its Belts, No TV Ads, Layoffs
OPW – May 17 – Spark Networks announced its Q1 results on Monday. Q1 revenue was $9.9M, a YOY decrease of 27% driven by a decrease in average paying subscribers, and an 8% decrease from the prior quarter. Net loss was $3.4M. Spark Networks is reducing direct marketing spend for ChristianMingle by 65-75%, mainly by cutting the TV ads 2/3 and focusing on their church partnership program to acquire new members. Spark is also laying off close to 50 employees, mainly from the customer service department to save ~$4.5M annually.
The full article was originally published at Spark Networks website, but is no longer available.
Dead Meet – Dating Site For Death Professionals
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – May 16 – Fed with potential partners thinking she was a closet necrophile, trained mortician Carla Valentine set up Dead Meet – a dating site where people who work in the 'death industry' can get together. Valentine launched the site in late 2014. She works as a technical curator at the Barts Pathology Museum in London – where she recently won an award for her collection of 300 brains. Dead Meet now boasts ~5K members.