Month: October 2020

IDEA Webinar – Future Growth Opportunities – Friday 6th, 11am EST

Posted on October 31, 2020

Idea-weblogo-2xOPW – Oct 31 – Where's the growth opportunities for the dating industry? Join us to hear from top flight executives leading some of the top dating companies on the planet. 45 min panel.

PANELISTS
Geoff Cook – CEO, The Meet Group
Eric Eichmann – CEO, Spark Networks
Ravi Mehta – Former CPO, Tinder
Ross Williams – CEO, Venntro (White Label Dating)

HOST
Mark Brooks – Pres. IDEA.gp & CEO CourtlandBrooks.com

Kindly sponsored by:
RealMe – Making dating apps safer
vPaaS by Meet Group – Video
Dating Pro – Dating software
Real Gifts – Gifts plug-in

The Internet Dating Excellence Association (IDEA) exists to help the dating industry grow, by helping dating industry luminaries and leaders connect, learn and share.

Limited places – Reserve your free spot here

DigiD8 Dating App Uses DNA to Find a Match

Posted on October 31, 2020

NBC BOSTON – Oct 30 – DigiD8 is a new controversial dating app that uses users’ DNA to find the perfect match. The idea is to use DNA comparisons to make sure people who share a genetic mutation, like those that cause Tay-Sachs disease or cystic fibrosis, never meet, fall in love, and have kids.

See full article at NBC Boston

Dating in the Runup to the Election

Posted on October 30, 2020

Okcupid politicsNEW YORK TIMES – Oct 30 – Singles are putting their political affiliations front and center as they search for partners. Some singles want to know if their potential matches are civically engaged, even on a basic level. Others see their dates' politics as indicators of compatibility. In a survey, Bumble found that out of 50 factors women considered in a potential match, politics ranked ninth. (It came in behind smoking habits, family plans, life goals and relationship intent.) 33 to 35% of all users said the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have made them care more about the political views of their potential match. On OkCupid, politics has become the most popular category. ~1.2M people who use OkCupid said they prefer to date people who share their political views.

by Valeriya Safronova
See full article at New York Times

See the top news on Bumble
See the top news on OkCupid

Dating App Luxy Cleans up Sugar Accounts

Posted on October 30, 2020

Luxy no sugraOPEN PR – Oct 30 – Luxy has identified that since the Coronavirus-related economic crisis, the number of Sugar Babies trying to enter Luxy has skyrocketed. Up to 200 of over 3K daily applicants are falling in the Sugar category. Luxy has a lot of barriers to stop them from joining the community. Luxy is the most popular selective dating app. It has been dubbed as 'Tinder for Millionaires' and caters exclusively to wealthy and successful people. Since its launch in 2014, Luxy has paired ~2M singles.

See full article at Open PR

See the top news on Luxy 

IDEA’s Project 0d8 Helps Dating Services Improve

Posted on October 29, 2020

Idea-weblogo-2xOPW – Oct 30 – Project 0d8 is an IDEA (Internet Dating Excellence Association) project. We're opening up access to a team of amazing top tier professors in the fields of Behavioral Science and Evolutionary Psychology to help you improve your game. Please see 0d8.com for more information. They want the ability to run surveys, do randomized control tests and look at aggregate data to test hypotheses that can help you improve your dating apps and understand user behavior more profoundly. Email mark@idea.gp if you'd like to help further the science behind Internet dating.

On Jewish Dating Site JustKibbitz, Moms Get to Play the Yenta

Posted on October 29, 2020

Justkibbitz logoJEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY – Oct 29 – On a visit home to Fort Lauderdale back in 2013, Jeffrey Kaplan watched as Kaplan's mother pulled out her computer to show him the fake JDate profile she'd put together in an effort to help Kaplan's brother find love. That was the germ of the idea for JustKibbitz.com, a dating site where parents, grandparents and friends can set up profiles for their loved ones to try to find them a potential match. Kaplan and co-founder Mike Ovies launched the site this year after winning $150K at an investment capital pitch contest in 2019. So far, hundreds of people have signed themselves and their children up, according to Kaplan.

by Sara Ivry
See full article at Jewish Telegraphic Agency

See the top news on JustKibbitz

eharmony: 21% of UK Singles Now on the Hunt for Love

Posted on October 29, 2020

Eharmony logo bigger 2019PR NEWSWIRE – Oct 28 – A new eharmony study has revealed that a fifth (21%) of single Brits are fully activated to find love before it's too late. Singletons say they are largely seeking companionship (40%) as opposed to casual dating, and many are worried about feeling lonely during a second wave (36%). A similar number (35%) admit that they want to 'settle down' so they can see the pandemic through within the confines of a long-term relationship.

See full article at PR Newswire

See the top news on eharmony

Premier Dating Expert Andrea McGinty Launches 33 Thousand Dates

Posted on October 29, 2020

33thousandPR NEWSWIRE – Oct 28 – America's premier dating expert Andrea McGinty has launched 33 Thousand Dates, an upscale dating coaching platform designed to help Gen X and millennial women take a simple, fun and proactive approach to online dating. McGinty is the founder of multiple successful businesses, including It's Just Lunch matchmaking service.

See full article at PR Newswire

Grindr Accused of Letting Racist Users Get Away With ‘Zero Consequences’

Posted on October 29, 2020

Grindr icon 2020PINKNEWS.CO.UK – Oct 28 – Racist Grindr users often face "zero consequences whatsoever" on the gay dating app, according to researcher Gene Lim, who is currently completing a PhD at Monash University in Melbourne investigating sexual racism. Grindr bans racism and discrimination in its community guidelines, but Lim said that such behaviour often goes unpunished.

by Patrick Kelleher
See full article at PinkNews.co.uk

See the top news on Grindr

Hinge Turns Profitable

Posted on October 28, 2020

Hinge iconSEEKING ALPHA – Oct 28 – Amid the pandemic, Match Group announced that Hinge is now profitable and on track to triple revenue this year. In February of this year, Match Group acquired the remaining 49% of Hinge that it didn't already own. Match had previously purchased a majority stake in the app back in June 2018. Tinder's somewhat sleazy reputation as a "hookup app" allowed other entrants such as Hinge to build brands around the idea of a more relationship-focused service. Rather than retool Tinder to be all things to all people, Match bought Hinge and embraced the idea of market segmentation. Although Match doesn't offer any specific numbers, Morgan Stanley analyst Lauren Cassel estimates that the app has 6M active users and ~400K paying subscribers. Those numbers are dwarfed by Tinder's estimated user base of ~50M active accounts and ~6M paying users, but Hinge's customer base is older, and thus, willingness to pay is higher. Assuming that the 400K paying user figure is accurate, simple arithmetic shows that Hinge could be generating ~$64M annually in sales from subscriptions alone.

by Mike Berner
See full article at Seeking Alpha

See the top news on Hinge
See the top news on Match Group