OPW – Aug 14 – This caught my attention and I thought your marketing teams would also enjoy it. This Just Works is a 1 day marketing conference from Digital Marketer and Active Campaign. They are promising 45 marketing hacks from 15 experts in 1 day on August 26th. Worth a look-in IMHO. Here's the link to get in free, instead of paying $99. 😉
Month: August 2020
Spark Networks Announces Preliminary 1H 2020 Financial Results
PR NEWSWIRE – Aug 11 – Spark Networks' preliminary revenue for 1H 2020 was $114M (€103.4M), exceeding management's prior expectation of $110 to $112M (€93 to €95M). The company anticipates total revenue for the 2020 fiscal year to be $224 to $228M (€190 to €193M). Management also anticipates 2020 Adjusted EBITDA to be between $34 – $36M (€29 to €31M) vs. prior guidance of $30 to $34M.
Grindr Offers New Security Features in Partnership With UrSafe
Match Group Looks to Capitalize on Video Dating During the Pandemic
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Aug 10 – Match Group is now in the beginning stages of developing features such as games and icebreakers to make one-on-one video calls more engaging – part of a broader strategy to find new ways to generate revenue from its millions of users, according to CFO Gary Swidler. Match declined to provide a date for when its new features would become available.
by Kristin Broughton
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Mark Brooks: Tis the season for video, finally. It took a while for people to warm up to video. Webdate was the first to offer video dating, in 2004 no less! But now it's the norm and I think any app that doesn't inspire people to find and do first dates on video will lose some market share to those who do. Meanwhile, The Meet Group continues to grow from strength to strength on the back of its video and video gamification capabilities. POF is powered by The Meet Group's video platform, btw. (Full Disclosure: Webdate and POF are prior long term clients, and The Meet Group are a current client of Courtland Brooks)
Tinder Slammed Over Mysterious Premium Pricing
MASHABLE – Aug 11 – Tinder has recently settled an age discrimination lawsuit in California, which saw users over 29 paying double what younger people were for the subscription. Now the Australian consumer organisation Choice has filed an official complaint with the national consumer commission, the ACCC, after conducting a mystery-shopper survey that found prices for a one-month subscription to Tinder Plus ranged from AUD$6.99 to AUD$34, with no transparency upfront about the variation. The highest price( $34) was for a straight man over 50 in a metro area; the lowest was $6.99 for a queer woman under 30, also in the city. "Based on our mystery shop, we know that Tinder is using age to set different prices. But even within age groups, we saw a range of prices, demonstrating that there are other factors at play that Tinder is yet to explain," said Choice director of campaigns Erin Turner in a statement.
Yubo, Tinder for Teens, Is Growing in Popularity
NECN – Aug 11 – Yubo, has become a dating app for young teens. It was launched in France in 2015 and in 2018 rebranded from Yellow, it’s original name, to Yubo. The app gained popularity in the U.S. during Covid-19. The app claims 25M users worldwide (60% from North America).
Dating Apps Gaining Ground in Socially Conservative Pakistan
SEEKING ALPHA – Aug 11 – Dating apps like Tinder look to gain some ground amid changing attitudes around casual dating in socially conservative regions like Pakistan. Dating for women is still frowned upon in the heavily patriarchal society, but attitudes are changing in the cities, where single women are increasingly using the apps to connect with partners. Most Tinder users in the country are 18-40 and come from major cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Bumble is also gaining ground, as is Muzmatch.
by Jason Aycock
See full article at Seeking Alpha
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Bumble
See the top news on Muzmatch
Eye Meets Soul: A Quarantine Matchmaking Project for Muslims
RELIGION NEWS – Aug 10 – Binta Diallo and her friends were nearly finished binge-watching Netflix dating reality show "Love Is Blind" when the idea hit. In "Love Is Blind," contestants spend several days speed dating without ever laying eyes on one another. Couples who fall in love agree to get engaged, sight unseen. In April, Diallo and a friend launched Eye Meets Soul, a virtual blind matchmaking experience for U.S. Muslim millennials. They designed the project so that personal appearance, race and ethnicity would not be first considerations. In April, when Eye Meets Soul held its first session, organizers randomly selected 10 men and 10 women from the 50 applications they received after posting about the project on Instagram. Each of the singles spoke to two people daily for five days through Zoom. If there was a match, Diallo connected the pair offline so they could pursue things on their own. Out of the potential 10 couples, three matches occurred. One particular relationship seems to be thriving, she said. Applications for the second session, scheduled for early September, are open.
Mumbai Is Hotbed of Sugar Dating, Delhi Close Second
THE PRINT – Aug 10 – With a surge in unemployment rates and the fear of an uncertain future brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, many young Indians are turning to sugar dating. According to SeekingArrangement, Mumbai is the hotbed for sugar dating in India, with 6,246 sugar babies and 21,464 sugar daddies, followed by New Delhi with 3,447 sugar babies and 13,127 sugar daddies. Hyderabad trails closely behind with 1,218 sugar babies and 11,784 sugar daddies. SeekingArrangement launched in 2006, but the India operations are currently run out of Malaysia.
Join OPW.news
OPW – Aug 9 – No fluff, just daily dating news summaries. Subscribe here.