Category: Match.com
Match Beta Test Targets Dating App Complaints
TECH CRUNCH – Aug 10 – Today Match introduces features addressing user complaints like how much time it takes to find a relevant match and ghosting. An anti-ghosting feature will push users to either continue a conversation or unmatch the recipient instead of leaving them hanging.
"Matched by Us," is a new recommendation system that presents one, free match a week. Users see each other and don't wait for a "like" back to engage in a conversation. Match has been internally testing adding human curation to suggestions, an actual match-making service. "Right now, human curation is one area that we're really excited about and want to crack," CPO Dushyant Saraph said. The new features are rolling out to Match's U.S. userbase in beta, as the company kicks off a new brand campaign targeting adult daters.
Match Group have 15m paying customers across its brands, up from 13m YOY. Quarterly revenue was $708m, with net income of $141m. Match Group plans to add audio and video chat, including live video, to its dating brand portfolio. Match's dating app is among those that will benefit from Hyperconnect integrations as Match explores "building out live experiences."
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
Mark Brooks: Putting the people back into personals. The future of dating apps is 'live'. Match experimented with matchmakers under CEO Jim Safka, bought a 20% stake in Chinese hybrid matchmaking service Zhenai in 2011, and flirted with Three Day Rule in 2014. eHarmony also experimented with a brand extension into live high-end matchmaking in 2013.
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Match.com in $50M Class Action Crosshairs
LAW.COM – July 15 – A South Florida litigator filed a class action seeking $50M in damages in New York federal court against Match Group. The class action complaint alleges Match Group committed fraud, breach of contract, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Users claim they were tricked into purchasing subscriptions to Match.com. After creating free profiles, the defendant informed new users that other members had initiated contact with them. But to read those messages or to craft a response, the users had to upgrade their accounts to a paid subscription, which hundreds of thousands did only to find out that "many of these communications were scammers". The lawsuit is based on a FTC lawsuit filed in 2019 that stalled, and a separate action in California. Match Group settled the latter case in California state court last week for $2M, without admitting fault, based upon claims arising out of automatic renewals without user consent.
by Michael A. Mora
See full article at Law.com
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More Younger People Are Looking for Friends on Match, Bumble and Tinder
WALL STREET JOURNAL – July 8 – Dating apps are getting friendlier. More younger people see no problem swiping left or right to find friend matches rather than dates or hookups. Millennials and Generation Z have been comfortable using dating apps to meet platonic friends for a few years now, especially when moving to a new city. During the pandemic, the practice boomed. In a recent survey of 300 members of Generation Z aged 16 to 24 in the U.S., 35% said they have used dating apps to make platonic friends over the past 12 months, according to OnePulse, a consumer insight app and web portal. 27% said they used dating apps to make friends because they were lonely in lockdown. More women than men – 39% vs. 29% – said they used dating apps to make platonic friends.
by Ray A. Smith
See full article at Wall Street Journal
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Dr. Helen Fisher – Science Proves That Love Is an Addiction, Tech Is Changing Courtship
LTR – June 21 – Dr. Helen Fisher, Biological Anthropologist at the Kinsey Institute, has devoted her career to the scientific study of love, attraction, and compatibility. Dr. Fisher, who is the Chief Scientific Advisor for Match.com, has conducted numerous neurological, empirical, and survey studies to develop a greater understanding of relationships. According to her research, technology has not killed love, it has changed courtship. Love continues to be deeply woven into society and culture. Three brain systems influence romantic love: sex drive, romantic attraction, and attachment. They are governed by hormones and neurotransmitters. Dr. Fisher's annual study of daters shows that 40% met their last first date online. Video chatting has become a significant intermediary prior to in-person meetings, providing greater opportunity for vetting and chemistry-building. Dr. Helen Fisher shares her wealth of scientific knowledge in the latest video in the LTR Conference series.
LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.
The April LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by The Meet Group, Real Gifts & Courtland Brooks.
Match Urges Singles to Get Back to Love
THE DRUM – June 15 – Ryan Reynolds’ agency and production firm Maximum Effort has teamed with Match to deliver a playful, musical campaign encouraging singles to reignite their love lives. It’s time to “Get back to love” according to Match. 12 real wedding singers belt out a parodic musical number urging the world’s single folks to get back out there so they can get back to working again.
Does Match.com’s ‘Hannah’ Enjoy Microwaving Butterflies?
SNOPES – June 10 – In 2015, the UK version of the Match.com dating site unveiled a #Loveyourimperfections promotional campaign, which urged viewers to embrace their imperfections with the suggestion that someone users could find through Match.com might consider what they see as a flaw to be a positive attribute. One of the most-reproduced images purportedly derived from this campaign is "Hannah," whose imperfection is that she "microwaves butterflies in her spare time." "Hannah" wasn't really microwaving butterflies, however, nor was that trait assigned to her by Match.com's advertising campaign. The popular image was the product of the (now-dormant) Twitter account WeFixYourAdverts, which posted versions of advertisements that had been tweaked through digital manipulation to make them darkly humorous.
Match Group Partners With the UK Government to Promote COVID-19 Vaccinations
PR NEWSWIRE – June 7 – Match Group is working with the UK government to promote COVID-19 vaccinations across its brands including Tinder, Match, OurTime, OkCupid, Hinge, and Plenty of Fish. The apps will run ads for the UK government's Hope Campaign, share vaccine resources, and offer vaccination badges for singles to display on their profiles, as well as free "Super Likes" and other boost-type features for UK users who say they are vaccinated. Members will start seeing the banners and incentives starting this week, and the campaign will run throughout the month of June.
Match CEO Shuns Casual Dating on the App
YAHOO FINANCE – June 4 – Dating apps will now offer COVID-19 vaccination badges. Match and Match Affinity CEO Hesam Hosseini joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss.
Q: Can you disclose at this current moment what percentage of folks have actually chosen to have the badge? Are there any negative commentary saying we don't appreciate this new feature?
A: The feature is launching actually in a week. It's really about our members choosing to disclose that.
Q: What have you seen to back up the idea that people really want to get out there and start using dating apps, not just to meet but actually get out on dates?
A: We're seeing two parallel trends. So for some, the pandemic was a moment of reflection. And as they're getting back out and starting to date, they're really looking for something meaningful. For others, it was a year with, frankly, a lack of intimacy, and they're looking for something more fun and just more casual dating this summer. And when we saw those trends, our reaction at Match was, if you're looking for something casual, that's totally cool. Just don't come to Match. Match is built for meaningful relationships.
Q: When you look across all of your brands, which platform do you see getting the biggest bump?
A: Our non-Tinder brands, including Match, combined saw 30% growth YOY.
by Akiko Fujita & Melody Hahm
See full article at Yahoo Finance
Match CEO: ‘We’re Going to See the Biggest Cuffing Season Ever’
YAHOO FINANCE – June 7 – While the summer is generally a time for casual dating, Match CEO Hesam Hosseini thinks the fall of 2021 looks to be particularly auspicious for more serious relationships to blossom. "We predict that come the fall we’re going to see the biggest cuffing season ever." Match will soon provide U.S. users the ability to display "vaccinated badges" on their profiles. And in partnership with the White House, the dating juggernaut is offering free "Super Likes" and other boosts for users who say they are vaccinated. The campaign will last until July 4, which President Biden set as the deadline to have 70% of Americans fully or partially vaccinated.