PATCH.COM – Aug 12 – Hily has partnered with Austin Pets Alive! to create 15 profiles for homeless cats and dogs looking for their forever home. The campaign, called "It's a petch!", started on Aug. 2 and will continue through the end of this month. Each pet profile features cute photos and a short introduction of each pet.
Month: August 2021
Podcast: OKCupid Offers 22 Gender Options
ADWEEK – Aug 12 – After 12 years of experience in the New York dating scene and now married with children, Melissa Hobley is currently in 32 different dating apps. She is the current Global Chief Marketing Officer for OKCupid, so she must keep a close eye on what the digital dating landscape looks like. Melissa talks about their latest campaign, “For Every Single Person,” which celebrates the app’s inclusion-minded functions, such as the 22 genders and 12 orientations to select from within their profile.
Bumble’s Q2 Results – Revenue up 38%, $11M Loss
GLOBE NEWSWIRE – Aug 13 – Total revenue increased 38% to $186M. Bumble App Revenue grew 55% to $127M. Badoo App and other revenue grew 11% to $59M. Total paying users increased 20% to 2.9M. Net loss was $11M and, compared to net loss of $5.5M last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $52M, or 27.9% of revenue, compared to $32.5M, or 24.1% of revenue in Q2 2020.
Tinder Series ‘Swipe Night’ to Explore ‘Gen-Z Whodunit’ in Season 2
Senators Target Apple’s App Store Exclusivity in New Bill
THE VERGE – Aug 13 – There's a new bill targeting the power Apple and Google have over the app store market. The bipartisan "Open App Markets Act," introduced by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Marsha Blackburn, and Amy Klobuchar would ban app stores from forcing developers to use the store's payment systems. It would also bar companies from punishing developers that offer lower prices on a separate app store or through their own payment systems. The bill would also make it unlawful for companies like Apple to use non-public data from their stores to build competing products against companies using their service.
Match Repositions to Focus on Adults – Unveils New Brand Platform ‘Adults Date Better’
Evolving OkCupid in India
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 11 – Virtual dates became an acceptable way of dating. In 2020 OKCupid rolled out its redesign globally called Stacks which is a new matching system that consolidates multiple discovery methods into one, making it even easier to find the type of person users are looking for.
Anukool Kumar is Marketing Director for OkCupid in India: We've seen women discovering their independence and extending that security to choosing relationships that see them as more than just a horoscope or radius of a roti. More women are opening conversations. The new Stacks discovery experience shows matches in a focused, thoughtful way, and gives daters the choice of dating 'online', 'recommended' (a stack of recommendations based on preferences), 'nearby', and 'match %'. Globally, there's been a 30% increase in messages sent. since 2020. OkCupid has 20 sexual orientations, 22 gender options and over 60 identities, making it truly inclusive.
Bumble Survey Says Covid Has Made Online Dating Better
THE PRINT – Aug 11 – 48% of people in a Bumble survey in India say there's an increased attention to a prospect's personality rather than looks. (Sample size 2,000 single Indians, conducted in June 2021). 74% of respondents said they have seen a decline in negative behaviour such as ghosting, breadcrumbing, and catfishing. One in three people said they feel less pressured while dating amid the pandemic. 45% of Indians believe online dating is a "norm" and the most usual way of going on dates. 72% were confident they could fall in love with a person they meet via dating apps.
Apple Removes Hornet Gay Dating App From Turkish Store
SPIEGEL.DE – Aug 10 – In Turkey, digital LGBTQ + offers are repeatedly blocked. Now Hornet has disappeared from the App Store. About a year ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused LGBTQ + activists of undermining "our national and spiritual values" and "poisoning" young people. The verbal attack was not an isolated incident. Government politicians in Turkey repeatedly attract attention with homophobic and transphobic statements. Apple has removed Hornet from the Turkish app store. The reason for this is a Turkish court ruling from last year. Hornet was blocked on August 6, 2020, citing Law 5651. Originally, the law was supposed to protect the Turkish public from cybercrime. However, it grants the government extensive monitoring and blocking rights on the Internet. Hornet joins a number of similar cases. The gabile.com platform was also blocked last year. The site was created in Turkey in 1999 and is the oldest dating and exchange platform for the LGBTQ + community in the country. Grindr has also been unavailable in Turkey since 2013.
Online Dating Behind Surge in Over-65s Getting Remarried
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Aug 10 – The average age of women who tied the knot in England and Wales in 2008 was 33.8 and 36.5 for men, which rose to 35.8 and 38.1 in 2018, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is partly due to the surge of so-called "silver splitters", those who divorce then remarry in later life. The number of brides and grooms aged 65 and over has increased more than any other age bracket in the past decade. Between 2004 and 2014, there was a rise of 46% from 7,468 to 10,937. The numbers have been steadily rising from 2009 onwards. Access to dating websites and financial independence are among the reasons suggested for this surge in later life marriage. Fewer young people getting married, the overall number of marriages in England and Wales is currently at its lowest level since 2009.