FORBES – Sep 10 – An analysis of the security practices of 24 leading online dating sites has concluded that only seven use secure-enough password practices. Password management company Dashlane assessed each site on 19 different criteria, including the minimum length for a password to be acceptable, and whether there was a requirement for a mix of letters and numbers. Only Zoosk and OkCupid score ~50%. Most mainstream Internet services generally get 75 or above; Apple scores 100%. eHarmony scores 38, while Match.com, Gleeden and Adult Friend Finder all get 30%. At the bottom end of the scale, Badoo and POF with 22.
Category: Badoo
‘PlentyOfFish’ Acquisition Bolsters IAC’s Dating App Dominance
SEEKING ALPHA – July 21 – InterActiveCorp now has complete control over the mobile dating app market in English-speaking countries. Meanwhile PlentyOfFish's mobile app is showing strong growth in Brazil, France, and Spain, strengthening IAC's position in these significant markets. Its likely POF's mobile app is generating annual revenues of ~$50 million. Badoo and LOVOO are the largest remaining worldwide competitors, and its likely POF is the #3 competitor worldwide.
SeekingAlpha estimates POF is grossing ~$40k per day, a ~30% yoy revenue growth. Annual revenue on iOS in the USA alone is ~$15 million which would make it ~15% of POF's $100,000,000 revenue. Sources suggest that IAC paid 12.8x EBITDA for POF. Mobile revenue likely comprised half POF's revenue.
by Max Lukenbach
See full article at Seeking Alpha
Badoo Seeking To Expand Bitcoin Payments Globally
COINDESK – Mar 11 - Badoo is now allowing its users to pay for premium features using bitcoin in more than 20 countries. Launched in January, the payment option was initially available in Italy, Spain and the UK, before expanding to an additional 20 countries. The payment option was enabled through a partnership with Dutch online payment provider Smart2Pay.
Which Dating Sites Received The Best And Worst PR In 2014?
CB – Feb 7 – A lot of companies that traditionally receive a lot of press hits appeared to be lacking this year, including POF, Badoo, SNAP Interactive and Zoosk. Tinder got the most press coverage in 2014, followed by Match.com. Articles mainly highlighted Tinder's impressive growth. It also scored some negative press, most notably the Whitney Wolfe lawsuit. We heard a little less about eHarmony last year, but they still received solid press coverage thanks to their new eH+ service and the announcement of a plan to launch a "jobs matchmaker". OkCupid, as usual, made the list along with AshleyMadison, Grindr and Hinge. There were also companies with more sad than good news. Cupid was one of them. They sold their casual dating sites in 2013, posted weak 2013 annual results, tried unsuccessfully to revive their business, and even launched new services such as LoveBeginsAt and dating app Tangle. In December the news came out that the company decided to sell the remaining mainstream dating sites and quit the dating business. It was not an easy year for Spark Networks either. After some bad news for investors, a fight between the company leadership and Osmium partners began, ending in July with Osmium appointing 4 new directors to the Spark´s board. CEO Greg Liberman left the company in August and layoffs began in September.
Bumble Has Better Initial Traction Than Tinder, Witney Wolfe Says
BUSINESS INSIDER – Jan 28 – In August, Whitney Wolfe was in the middle of a very-public sexual harassment lawsuit with Tinder, which is now valued at ~ $750M. She says she came up with the name and initially promoted it on college campuses. She was given a cofounder title. One person who reached out to Wolfe after the lawsuit was Andrey Andreev, the co-founder of Badoo. Now he’s partnered with her on a new dating app that resembles Tinder, Bumble. They recruited another Tinder co-founder who departed, Chris Gulzcynski, and Tinder’s former VP of Design, Sarah Mick. Bumble, like Tinder, uses profile swiping to match single people in the same town. But on Bumble, women are forced to make the first move. Wolfe says the initial traction is even better than Tinder’s was, with ~100K downloads in a little over one month and high user engagement.
by Alyson Shontell
See full article at Business Insider
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Badoo’s Founder And Whitney Wolfe Started Bumble, Female Friendly “Tinder”
BUSINESS WEEK – Dec 9 – Whitney Wolfe, Tinder's former VP of marketing, launched Bumble which works like Tinder but only women can start conversations. In Sep, Wolfe, Tinder's former VP of marketing, settled a lawsuit that accused CEO Sean Rad and marketing chief Justin Mateen of writing her co-founder status out of the company's history and sending her inappropriate SMS. A week after she filed the claim, Wolfe says she received an e-mail from Andrey Andreev, founder of Badoo, expressing support. They hatched a plan to start a new “female-focused product,” Andreev said in an e-mail.
by Natalie Kitroeff
See full article at Business Week
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In-depth Analysis Of Popular Dating Apps
GMA NEWS – Oct 17 – Radian 6 analysis shows that buzz surrounding dating apps is high at a total of 2,094,611 mentions. Tinder is the leading topic of discussion for most at 1,383,012, far outpacing counterparts Badoo (505,611), Grindr (137,779), and Twoo (63,733). Sentiment analysis for each of the apps shows an overwhelming positive response, with exception of Grindr (10,179 neg/8,658 pos). A more in-depth analysis reveals that the consensus on dating apps is that they are mainly used for and associated with hooking up.
by Iggy Gan & Erica Sanidad
See full article at GMA News
Which Dating Sites Got The Best And Worst PR In 2013?
OPW – Jan 3 – Here are the Courtland Brooks rankings of the top 10 and the worst 4 performing idating sites for PR in 2013. We used Meltwater News and our qualitative analysis.
Best
- Match
- eHarmony
- Tinder
- OkCupid
- AshleyMadison
- Grindr
- Down (BangWithFriends)
- HowAboutWe
- Spark Networks brands
- Zoosk
Worst
- TRUE
- FriendFinder
- Cupid
- White Label Dating
Badoo Now Has 200 Million Users
INSIDE-DIGITAL – Dec 13 – Badoo has recently welcomed the 200Mth user. The number of registered members increased by ~25% in the past year.
Badoo Wants To Shake Up Dating Market In US And UK
BLOOMBERG – Dec 3 - Badoo has attracted ~200M people worldwide, 25M of them are active. The challenge is now to expand beyond its strongholds in Southern Europe and Latin America. Badoo is eyeing Asia, UK and US. The company has been profitable since 2009, and sales last year expanded ~33% to $200M. It has hired Goldman Sachs Group as an adviser and doesn’t rule out an IPO. Meetic and Match.com are not concerned about the challenge from Badoo. Sam Yagan said his service is superior to Badoo and is rated higher by users.
by Ilya Khrennikov & Manuel Baigorri
The full article was originally published at Bloomberg, but is no longer available.