METRO.CO.UK – May 3 – More people than ever are investing their money into online dating sites and apps. There was also a significant rise in online dating spending in the first three months of 2021, as people looked for love after lockdown. The number of transactions in this category increased by 46% YOU, while total spending was up by more than a third (34%).
Category: All UK & Europe
Hawaya Study Shows That 83% of Muslims in Germany Are in Favor of Equality in Partnerships
PRESS RELEASE – Apr 13 – ~4.7M Muslims live in Germany. The matchmaking app Hawaya, which was specially developed for modern Muslims who want to find a long-term relationship, has recently surveyed its users. The survey shows that only a few Muslims of the younger generation favor a conservative attitude and that women in particular want more tolerance. The family's approval of the chosen partner remains important to most, but the majority of respondents (80%) would like to choose their future partner themselves.
50PlusMatch Users Can Share Their Vaccination Status in Their Profiles
METROTIME – Apr 13 – 50PlusMatch, a dating app for singles 50s, introduces an option that lets users share their COVID-19 vaccination on their profiles.
Half of Young Danes Think Sugar Dating Is ‘Perfectly OK’ as Lawmakers Prepare Crackdown
SPUTNIK NEWS – Mar 18 – In a cross-party effort, Danish lawmakers are calling for separate clauses that would punish grooming, sugar dating and other sex-related offenses targeting minors. 50% of the 1,732 Danish young people aged 18 to 30 surveyed said that sugar dating is perfectly okay, Danish Radio reported. While previous reports estimated that 1 to 2% of young people engage in sugar dating, VIVE's survey indicated that 5% of 18-30-year-olds actually tried giving sex, kissing, or sending intimate photos in exchange for everything from a drink to money. According to the dating site SugarDaters.dk, which has ~10K active users every month, it has nothing to do with prostitution. It stressed that it is a dating site like any other and doesn't encourage sex for money in any way.
OkCupid Predicts August 1 as the Hottest Dating Day of the Year in UK
MASHABLE – Feb 23 – According to OkCupid, Aug. 1 will be "the hottest day for dating in 2021," after Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to offer all UK adults the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 31. Vaccines are a hot topic among online daters at the moment, according to OkCupid data. The dating app reports a 137% increase in the mentions of 'vaccine' on OkCupid profiles between November 2020 and January 2021. 42% of OkCupid respondents said they'd cancel a date with someone who didn't want to take the vaccine.
Brits Admit They Have Confessed ‘I love You’ to Someone They Have Only Met Online
THESUN.CO.UK – Feb 9 – One third of British daters have uttered the words "I love you" – to someone they have only ever met online, according to a study of 2K adults. 47% firmly believe it is possible to find 'love at first sight' in the virtual world. The study conducted by Vision Direct found it only takes 4 online dates before deciding someone is worth pursuing – with 33% of participants starting and ending a relationship this year without ever meeting in person.
Virtual Dating Could Save UK Singles £3K a Year
YAHOO SPORTS – Feb 8 – According to research by Ocean Finance, dating under lockdown has on average saved singletons up to £3,224 ($4,442). Ocean Finance also found from a survey of 1K singles that almost 2/3 (64%) would prefer to date in-person – suggesting that money doesn't matter when it comes to finding love. The research also showed that only one in 12 (8%) would continue dating virtually when life is back to normal.
Dating Apps and Videoconferencing Could Be Monitored in New EU Data Rules
EURACTIV – Jan 21 – Dating apps and videoconferencing tools could come under the scope of new EU efforts to monitor online communications in a bid to stamp out child sexual abuse material. In a series of private exchanges between MEPs and Commission services, the EU executive has attempted to clarify a number of concerns related to proposed rules that would allow online communications services to be vetted for child abuse content. In one exchange, the Commission is pressed on whether it considers 'dating apps,' such as Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid, part of the new rules. The response was that while assessments should be made on a case-by-case basis, "the communications features of dating apps may constitute NI-ICS, unless they are merely ancillary features."
Mamba to Invest $3M to Drive Growth in Germany and Italy
ROEM.RU – Dec 15 – Mamba, the Russian dating app, is expecting to be in the top 5 dating apps in Italy and Germany by the end of 2021. So far, the app is not even in the top 10. It faces competition from Tinder, Badoo, Bumble, Happn, Meetic, Lovoo and Lovescout24, as well as the recently launched Facebook Dating. To scale up in Italy and Germany, the company is going to apply a model that has already proven successful in Turkey and Israel. In Israel, Mamba overtook Tinder in terms of the number of downloads. Mamba is 65% owned by Finam and 35% by Mail.ru Group, and claims 60M users.
Dating.dk to Celebrate Singles Day
VIA RITZAU – Nov 10 – Dating.dk, Denmark's largest dating site, invites all singles in Denmark to its online Singles' Day event which is today (Nov 11th) to celebrate the Singles' Day. The event is called "What is love", it's free, and starts at 5pm. Singles' Day was invented in China, where the day was originally an occasion for singles to meet each other. The participants can meet sexologists, behavioral experts and couple therapists. There will be fun quizzes, competitions and the opportunity to meet other singles.