PR NEWSWIRE – Q2 Revenue was $48M, compared to $55.3M in Q2 2021. On a constant currency basis, revenue would have been $50.3M. Net loss was $8.8M, compared to $49M in Q2 2021. Total paid subscribers grew from 831K to 838K. Zoosk end of period subscribers grew 4% YOY. Zoosk new subscribers grew 17% YOY. The company expects to deliver low double-digit Adjusted EBITDA margins for the full year.
Month: August 2022
Hinge Launches LGBTQ Dating Guide to Answer
MASHABLE – Hinge has a new FAQ guide full of advice specifically about LGBTQ dating. The NFAQ (Not-so-Frequently Asked Questions) guide is full of answers to questions relating to LGBTQ dating and identity, including how to navigate dating when you're not quite ready to come out.
Dating News Headlines: Spark Networks, OkCupid, Hinge, The Meet Group
Quick links to today's dating news headlines
- Spark Networks Reports Second Quarter 2022 Results, Continued Subscriber Growth for Zoosk – PR Newswire
- OkCupid Releases Major Product Updates in 2022 – OkCupid Blog
- Hinge Launches LGBTQ Dating Guide to Answer NFAQs – Mashable
- Online Dating Enters Web3 With a Human Touch – Newswire
- How Filteroff Dumped Traditional Online Dating – Strategy Online
- Forging Connections Inside "The Fourth Place" – Fast Company
Dating Apps Prosper in an Evolving Market
LA BUSINESS JOURNAL – Dating apps made $5.6B in revenue last year, with ~$3B being made by Match Group. Since the start of the pandemic, more people have turned to dating apps. In a publication titled "The Future of Dating is Fluid," Tinder pointed out that 2020 was an outstanding year. 60% of members came to Tinder because they felt lonely. 50% of Tinder's Gen Z users participated in a video chat, and 30% were playing online video games together. Those who tried virtual dating saw it as a low-pressure way to get a sense of someone and their personality. Hannah Shimko from the Online Dating Association said the pandemic made people more comfortable with being online. She added that new companies are trying to be innovative about bringing back in-person dating. One example is FROME, a dating app that encourages offline dates. When users sign on, they can choose "available today"or "available this week" to set up a date. When a user is interested in someone, they will send an invitation with a day, time and place. Once the other user confirms, they are locked to each other for the day and cannot connect with anyone else.
Can Safety Features Help Dating Stocks Attract Investors?
OPTO – The Tinder Swindler story highlighted the urgent need for greater transparency in order to protect users. In 2020, romance scams accounted for a total loss of ~$304M, up 50% from 2019. A month after the documentary's release, Match Group announced plans to launch background checks on Tinder in partnership with the National Domestic Violence Hotline and Garbo. The news was received well: the group's stock climbed 12.8% on the day of the announcement. While investors have fallen out of love with subscription-based tech stocks, with Match Group down 42% year-to-date, a rising trend in introducing safeguarding features to protect users has taken off. Bumble announced that it is working with trauma support website Bloom to provide free support for women who report physical or emotional abuse. Bumble makes clear that developing a secure environment is front of mind.
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Friendship on Dating Apps in India Is the New Trend to Watch out for
NEWS PATROLLING – Indian dating app QuackQuack analyzed its user data and behavior aiming to understand the place of dating apps in terms of friendship. QuackQuack's data and survey show that among the ~22K downloads per day, more and more people are joining the dating app intending to make friends rather than just dating. 41% of the new QuackQuack users are looking to make new friends, and the majority of these people are from tier 2 cities. The majority of users looking for friends are in the age group of 18 to 22. Among the women users, 54% are looking for friends, compared to 40% of men who are interested in making friends.
Looking for Love in the Metaverse
Nevermet connects VR enthusiasts, who build profiles including in-depth personal bios and avatars. Once two people match they leave Neremet to connect in a virtual world of their choosing. Flirtual sends users to VRChat after they've connected on the Flirtual app. Planet Theta launches November, and will connect matches via virtual speed dating. 1-min chats lead to 3-min coffee dates in a Planet Theta-designed cafe. After virtual coffee users see their dates' photos and can connect in Planet Theta's metaverse world, virtually sipping drinks at a bar or feeding squirrels in the enchanted forest.
by David Westenhaver
See full article at Forbes
Mark Brooks: The mind boggles. What's your thoughts on VR / AR and AI enabled Internet dating? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this Swell.
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Match Hopes to Re-Spark Tinder With a New CMO
Q&A With George Rawlings and Matt McNeill Love: Founders of Thursday
BUSINESS LEADER – Dating app Thursday only works one day a week.
Q: Can you tell us how it works?
A: If you sign-in on a Wednesday, it will tell you to go away. Once Thursday comes around, the app will come to life and show you people that want to go on a date.
Q: Do you have any concerns about the longevity of the idea?
A: Since we launched in Oct 2021, we've hosted 322 events and every week, without fail, they sell out. The number of users increases month-on-month and we're looking at new territories, both in the UK and abroad.
Q: How have you funded the business so far?
A: Our first round was on Crowdcube in 2018. We also raised a round of £100K from friends and family. Then in lockdown, we raised an additional £350K through angel investors and following this, we had our official seed round for £2.5M last summer.
Q: What have you learned through your fundraising?
A: Raise what you need, rather than what you can.
Q: When you're raising, what are the expectations from those funding you?
A: We were told to hire lots of senior people, as fast as we could. But it would have been expensive, and we would have run out of money. We've been very careful about hiring and taken the process very slowly.
Q: What is the most outlandish thing you have done to raise money?
A: We held up a sign outside of a Lamborghini garage asking if anybody rich wanted to give us some money. We raised ~ £20K that day.
Q: How do you organise your marketing?
A: We have a team of eleven in total, but we don't have a marketing department. It is a case of us all getting together and discussing ideas, and no idea is stupid.