Month: August 2017

What Is A Big Dating Site?

Posted on August 27, 2017

Questionmark in a bulbOPW – Aug 27 – We're cleaning up this page, where we list most of the dating sites we've ever run news on since we started Online Personals Watch in 2004. It's a great resource for quickly referencing all the top news on a particular Internet dating site or app. Anyway, we figured it would be nice to sort the Internet dating services by color coding them by their size. But we're not sure where to draw the line. Here's what we've got right now.

Key
Green – big dating services with more than a million registrations a year.
Amber – medium-sized dating services with 100k to 1 million reg a year.
Red – small dating services with under 100k reg a year.

What do you think? Please comment below here, or on Facebook or Linkedin, wherever you see this post, or email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com. I'd like to make sure we get this right, for you. 😉 Thanks for your consideration.

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks

Why Bumble Doesn’t Need To Settle For Match’s $450M

Posted on August 27, 2017

Bumble app iconMASHABLE – Aug 25 – Bumble has recently turned down a $450M acquisition offer from Match Group. For Bumble, there's no need to settle at this stage. The app is profitable and growing, adding 50K users a day. Last week, the team moved to a new office in Austin. Bumble has 70 employees worldwide with offices in London, Australia, and Germany and plans to open one in New York City next year. The company will release an app redesign in the fall, where users can swap between Bumble for dating, Bumble BFF for friendship, and Bumble Bizz for networking. Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe has an intriguing founder story and unique product that lands her and her company stories in major media outlets.

by Kerry Flynn
See full article at Mashable

See all posts on Bumble

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Besedo Content Review

Posted on August 26, 2017

OPW – Aug 26 – Besedo does content review for some of the big names in the dating industry. They're based in Stockholm and have offices around with the world, including a big support group in Malta. 550 people in all. I paid their Stockholm office a visit to learn more about their services. It was fun. More soon. Here's my personal vlog on the visit.

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks

Why The Meet Group Is Down 28% This Year

Posted on August 26, 2017

Themetgroup logoTHE MOTLEY FOOL – Aug 25 – It's been a pretty rough 2017 for The Meet Group's shareholders, as the stock's year-to-date decline approaches 30%. The problem is Meet's rising operating costs, which increased 62% YOY. The largest component included sales and marketing expenses, which skyrocketed 121% during the period. Meet's share price is likely to remain volatile. The bigger long-term issue is that the company is trying to carve out its niche in a crowded space – and it lacks any unique competitive advantages to fend off the competition.

by Chris Neiger
See full article at The Motley Fool

See all posts on The Meet Group

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Represents A Third Of Total PMC In MTCH As Reported In Q2

Posted on August 26, 2017

Tinder logo new 2017SEEKING ALPHA – Aug 25 – Tinder has ~50M monthly users but only 2M are PMC. Match Group total PMC is 6M. Match Group revenue comes mainly from paying customers, indirect revenue from ads generates ~3% of the total revenue. Recently Tinder introduced a new feature that places ads with a similar format as regular user profiles. The ads appear among the deck of possible matches that the users swipe right or left. The ads are targeted for each user thanks to an agreement with Facebook and appear every 20 or 30 swipes or so. This feature will allow Tinder to monetize from non-paying users which represent the majority of the Tinder base.

by Mauro Solis
See full article at Seeking Alpha

See all posts on Match Group
See all posts on Tinder

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Matrimony.com To IPO In September

Posted on August 25, 2017

Matrimony logo on the wallFINANCIAL EXPRESS – Aug 25 – Matrimony.com which runs the online matchmaking website BharatMatrimony.com, is likely to launch its Rs 500 crore ($78M) IPO early next month. Proceeds from the issue will be used for advertising and business promotion activities, purchase of land for construction of office premises in Chennai, repayment of overdraft facilities and general corporate purposes. Matrimony had filed its draft IPO papers in August 2015. However, the company did not go ahead with the plan.

See full article at Financial Express

See all posts on Matrimony.com

This post also appear on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Zest Conference, For European Startups

Posted on August 24, 2017

Zest Malta logoOPW – Aug 24 – I'm speaking at Zest conference in Malta September 19-20, on The Behavioral Economics of Internet Dating. Zest is for the tech community in the Mediterranean region to learn and share about disruptive technology. See the speakers. The two day conference is backed by the Malta Government and is just 199 Euros to attend. Please let me know if you're coming and I'll organize a get together.

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks

Which iDate Should You Attend?

Posted on August 24, 2017

Idate logo biggerOPW – Aug 24 – Here's a ready reference to help you decide which iDate Internet Dating Conference is the best fit for you.

iDate London is Oct 3-4 with a pre-conference on the 2nd. It covers the entire industry, but is focused more on European markets.

iDate Miami is Jan 25-26 with a pre-conference on 24th. It also covers the entire industry, and is more worldwide focused, with weighting on USA.

iDate PID will probably be in Minsk again, and is focused on the Premium International Dating industry.

Then iDate Los Angeles is usually at the end of June and is focused on Mobile Internet Dating. Worldwide, but mobile.

That's the best way to think of the four iDate Internet dating conferences.

Online Personals Watch is partnered with the iDate dating industry conference since 2005. The conference serves the needs of the dating industry executive, marketeers and product managers, and serves as a window into the dating industry for investors and startups. I hope to see you at one of these conferences in the coming year. I help the host by recommending speakers. Please let me know anyone you'd particularly like to see speak.

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks

Momo Delivers Strong Results, But Stock Plunges

Posted on August 24, 2017

Momo logoINVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY – Aug 23 – China social app developer Momo delivered a strong Q2 earnings report this week but the stock plunged as expenses soared. The revenue rose 214% YOY to $312.2M, beating the consensus of $286M. But Momo said that expenses jumped 189% YOY to $246M. The increase was attributed to higher revenue sharing with broadcasters related to Momo's live video. It also attributed the higher costs to an increase in marketing and promotional expenses to enhance brand awareness, attract users and promote its live video service, among other reasons. Momo shares plummeted more than 20% to close at 36.02 on the stock market today.

by Brian Deagon
See full article at Investors Business Daily

See all posts on Momo app

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team