METRO.CO.UK – June 10 – For now, virtual dates are still the way forward for many, slowly moving into socially distanced dates. That's why Bumble has introduced new filters, so users can stay on the same page as those they're matching with, choosing socially-distanced, socially-distanced with masks, or virtual daters to peruse. Bumble found that 38% of people in-app are still nervous about meeting dates in person.
Month: June 2020
CEO of ProSieben Dismisses Merger Speculation
REUTERS – June 10 – ProSiebenSat.1 Media's new CEO resisted calls for a European TV industry merger. Rainer Beaujean, hired in March to run the German broadcaster after predecessor Max Conze's pivot to digital commerce unravelled, is under pressure to deliver better growth and profits as investors led by Italy's Mediaset circle. Beaujean vowed to chart a course to returns on capital of ~15%, saying he had made the company "storm-proof" in the face of a 40% slump in ad revenues. "A trans-European merger would bring few synergies," Beaujean said. ProSieben was not in strategic talks either with Mediaset or Daniel Kretinsky's Czech Media Invest, both of which have amassed double-digit stakes. ProSieben plans to float its online dating business in 2022.
Inside RealMe – Vendor-of-Interest IDEA Webinar – June 24th, 1pm EST
OPW – June 10 – RealMe and Spectrum Labs partnered to create a first-to-market combined service, CheckPlus. In this IDEA vendor-of-interest webinar RealMe's CBO will give an overview of the RealMe and CheckPlus service and benefits.
PRESENTERS
~ Neil Davis, CBO, RealMe
~ Lee Davis, VP, Spectrum Labs
HOST
~ Mark Brooks, President IDEA.gp & CEO Courtland Brooks
In this webinar, executive leadership of both companies will provide an overview of what that means to you, as leaders of Internet dating companies.
Three real world examples will be covered and you'll have a clear understanding of how this new product combination and offering will enhance user safety and your dating service.
45 mins presenting will be followed by 15 mins Q&A. Register here for the June 25th webinar which will be at 1pm EST.
Online Dating in the Coronavirus Era
WALL STREET JOURNAL – June 10 – "It's giving us a chance to rethink the way we date and meet people," said Dani Fankhauser, who co-founded XO, a new app that aims to facilitate meaningful and more playful relationships. XO uses in-app icebreakers games like "Kiss, Marry, Fight" (choose which of three celebrities/cartoons/brand mascots you want to Kiss, Marry or Fight). This week Coffee Meets Bagel is rolling out a "Virtual Date Nudge" to facilitate socially distanced relationships. Once two people have swiped and started chatting, the app prompts each one to select a digital-date idea from a list of six, including a game night, a virtual museum tour or the swapping of recipes to cook together over video. When one person selects one, signaling "I'm open to it," the other is alerted.
IAC Sets up Sales of Match Group Shares for Separation
SEEKING ALPHA – June 9 – IAC has set agreements with a number of third-party investors for the sale of 17M Class M shares (at $82/share) of Match Group, in connection with the two companies' pending separation. The completion of that deal would change the Class M shares into common stock of the post-split Match.
Covid-19 Killed Online Dating; App Luxy Sees Shift Towards Networking
PR NEWSWIRE – June 9 – Upscale dating app Luxy reports a disruptive shift in user behavior: Instead of dating, members who use the platform for business connections and making new friends have tripled. The app asked its members how long they are willing to wait to meet someone they are interested in. 63% want to wait until the pandemic is over. Only 20% of the singles think that video dating is an equivalent replacement. The disparity of the main objective on Luxy has changed in May compared to the situation before the Coronavirus: Long-term relationship 44% (February 58%), nothing serious 11% (February 34%), new friends 35% (February 8%).
See full article at PR Newswire
Mark Brooks: On this note, we've expanded our focus to cover online social communities now as well, and have soft-launched the Online Social Community Association. See www.OSCA.gp and let me know if you, as an online social community leader, would like to be considered for (entirely free) membership. It's a brand new community. I feel the dating industry and the online social community industry have much to learn from each other, and are entirely non-competitive so we're working to create ways for you/them to learn and share. Watch this space. 😉
Dating App Honeypot Rebrands to Thursday
LINKEDIN – June 9 – Honeypot officially rebrands to Thursday. The app has been redesigned to work only one day of the week – Thursday. The team behind the app wants users to spend as little time as possible on the dating app.
Match Opts to Keep Race Filter for Dating as Other Sites Drop It
BLOOMBERG – June 9 – Grindr and Scruff are nixing the feature in response to Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality. Match is defending the controversial filters as a way to empower minorities, setting off a debate about whether or not the feature should exist at all. "In many cases we've been asked to create filters for minorities that would otherwise not find each other," said Match spokesperson Justine Sacco. On one of Match's dating apps – the company wouldn't specify which – nearly half of East Asian users set ethnic preferences. "It's important to give people the ability to find others that have similar values, cultural upbringings and experiences that can enhance their dating experience," Sacco said. "And it's critical that technology allows communities the ability to find like minded individuals, creating safe spaces, free from discrimination.
by Amy Thomson, Olivia Carville & Nate Lanxon
See full article at Bloomberg
Dating App Once Replaces Dick Picks With Kittens
GLAMOUR.DE – June 9 – If a nude picture is sent to someone on Once, the dating app encrypts it and instead shows a photo of a kitten. The user is warned and can decide whether the original photo should be shown or not. This AI feature has launched this week.
Tinder Changed Dating. Now, the ‘Second Wave’ Is Coming
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD – June 7 – Millennials are sometimes referred to as the "Tinder generation". According to Tinder, the app has been downloaded 340M times globally and it claims to be responsible for 1.5M dates each week. More than half of its users are aged 18-25. People are now more likely to meet their life partners online than through personal contacts. A 2017 Stanford University study of ~3K people found that ~40% of heterosexual couples met their partner online, compared to 22% in 2009. Changing usage patterns during COVID-19 have been interesting. The pandemic has accelerated a shift towards virtual dating that was already brewing. Bumble introduced its video chat function in mid-2019. Bumble's country lead for Australia, Lucille McCart, says it was originally introduced as a safety feature. During the pandemic, the number of video calls jumped by as much as 76%. "The future is being pulled forward," says Tinder's CEO Elie Seidman. "If six months ago you wouldn’t have done a date on video, well, today you'll try it."