THESUN.CO.UK – Aug 22 – The 44-year-old TV star is launching a brand new dating website called Serious Dating. She says she felt compelled to launch the new website after growing 'sick' of failing to find love via all the other apps that are already out there.
by Jasper Green
See full article at The Sun
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 22 -UK dating app Toffee, which caters exclusively to the privately educated, has plans to roll out in other countries over the next 12 months. The app is also launching on Android in September. A Toffee press release stated that it now has 10K monthly active users in the UK.
by Isobel Asher Hamilton
See full article at Business Insider
THE VERGE – Aug 22 – Last week, a group of current and former Tinder employees, including co-founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, sued Match Group and IAC for $2B over allegations that IAC hid Tinder's potential for growth in an effort to avoid paying billions of dollars to the startup team. Tucked into the suit is also the claim that former IAC CEO Greg Blatt sexually harassed Tinder VP of marketing and communications Rosette Pambakian, and that Match allegedly merged Tinder into itself to eliminate stock options without telling any of the employees. Match has placed the four plaintiffs who still worked at Tinder on leave following the lawsuit's filing. An old Gawker article, published in March 2013, could potentially suggest that the alleged misconduct Pambakian seeks to expose had been ongoing. The piece, written by N. Michelle AuBuchon, recounts a story in which a man referred to as "Jim," who was the "former head of her department who had been appointed CEO of a major dating site," harassed an employee and then demeaned AuBuchon. But the current Tinder lawsuit isn't about sexual harassment – it's about money and stock options. Meanwhile, a source close to Tinder says that Rad actually sold a great deal of stock following the merger between Tinder and Match Group, and suggested that the co-founder didn't have much faith in the future of the dating app and that Match's valuation was accurate.
by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge
STANDARD.CO.UK – Aug 22 – Selective dating app The League, which is aimed at young, successful individuals, launched in London last summer. The San Francisco-based club is gearing up to open in Paris next month, and in the lead-up has just hosted 70 of its users on a week-long boat trip in France. They mingled over morning yoga, long brunches, and an all-day free bar while cruising down the Seine in Paris. The League screens applicants wishing to join the app on a number of different criteria, including job title, education and industry. To help vet prospective members, users must sign up using their Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. And the selection process for the cruise was just as meticulous. "We had ~5K applicants for the trip," said The League's CEO and founder, Amanda Bradford. The majority of guests reserved private balconies and private studios, she said, which averaged at ~$3,500 each, plus flights. And according to club, three couples have already sprung from the trip.
ECONOMIST – Aug 20 – Personal ads never accounted for more than 1% of marriages in America. Today dating sites and apps account for about a sixth of the first meetings that lead to marriage there. As early as 2010 the Internet had overtaken churches, neighbourhoods, classrooms and offices as a setting in which Americans might meet a partner of the opposite sex. In a 2013 study from Harvard University and the University of Chicago showed that marriages that started online were less likely to end in break-up. The business is worth $4.6B globally, growing fast and highly competitive. Match Group had revenues of $1.3B in 2017. Facebook is getting into the market, too. Many users, while welcoming the broadening of choice that the online world offers, are also becoming aware of its downsides. For those who find popularity on the apps, endless choice can become something of a burden. Others talk of the exhaustion of trawling through endless matches. New services are looking at ways to make their users happier.
See full article at The Economist
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BUSINESSWIRE – Aug 21 – The Meet Group has launched Quick, its new one-on-one live video chat feature, to users of its MeetMe mobile app in the US. The Meet Group's video monetization now exceeds $42M a year. With Quick, users can either choose to match with another user for free or choose to be matched with users of a specific gender for a fee. In addition, similar to one-to-many livestreaming, users can give virtual gifts in Quick, which they may do to show interest to the broadcaster, break the ice or start a conversation.
See full article at Businesswire
POPSUGAR.CO.UK – Aug 21 – Bumble started as a dating app but over the years, it's become a social networking app. In October 2017, it launched Bumble Bizz for professional networking, and its Bumble BFF feature helps women forge friendships. Until now, the three features were a package deal. That all changed today, when Bumble began offering the ability to turn off dating mode.
EMARKETER – Aug 20 – In the latest episode of eMarketer's "Behind the Numbers" podcast, analyst Rahul Chadha and forecaster Showmik Podder break down some of the key data in eMarketer's new estimates for mobile app usage. Which app categories are growing fastest, and why? Today, 94.2% Americans with a smartphone are using an app. There are two app categories that 4 years ago ~5% of smartphone owners were using – dating & grocery shopping. Currently ~ 25M Americans are using dating apps, that represents ~ 22% of all singles in the USA. Nearly half of 18-25 years old are open to the idea of using a dating app. Half of dating apps' users login daily.
MENAFN – Aug 18 – Matchmaking Institute CEO Arlene Vasquez Washburn has officially resigned from her two-year post. In her statement, Arlene explained she wanted to put all of her focus on her passion for relationship coaching, business consulting and training of other love industry professionals. Arlene Vasquez Washburn is herself a Master Executive Certified Matchmaker and Relationship Expert who got her start in the industry in 2012 when she founded AVConnexions, a boutique matchmaking company.