POLITICO – Aug 21 – The Match Group hired Mercury Strategies in June to lobby on a Senate bill that would revoke Section 230 protections for companies that host child pornography. Mercury Strategies is a federal government affairs and public policy consulting firm that is helping businesses find solutions to their most critical legislative and regulatory challenges.
Category: Match Group
Match Group Criticizes Apple
DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL – Aug 18 – Match Group has come out against Apple, which has found itself in the crosshairs of Epic Games. The maker of the popular Fortnite title sued Apple after it was removed from the App Store. "We fully support Epic Games' efforts today to show how Apple uses its dominant position and unfair policies to hurt consumers, app developers and entrepreneurs," a Match spokesperson said in a statement. "Regulators across the globe have expressed similar concerns and are examining Apple's arbitrary practices." Epic Games said Apple is keeping prices high so it can collect 30% of consumer payments made in apps, such as Fortnite, and is being blocked so it can't pass on the savings from direct payments. In addition to Apple, Epic also is suing Google after Fortnite was removed from the Play Store.
Dating App Stocks You Might Fall in Love With
CAPITAL WATCH – Aug 18 – High demand for dating apps is likely to continue even after the pademic. In the Q2, Tinder gained ~200K users, bringing its average subscribers to 6.2M. Also, direct revenue for Tinder jumped by 15%. In total, Match's revenue soared 12% YOY to $555.5M. Match is now projecting to generate Q3 revenues of ~$600M. Thanks to the strong earnings, the stock is now trading at an all-time high since it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2015. Another stock to watch is MEET (The Meet Group). In the Q2, Meet's revenues skyrocketed 74% YOY to $90.33M. Net income rose by nearly five-fold to $10.38M. On the international online dating stage, one company likely to continue seeing demand is Spark Networks SE. Based on preliminary financial results, Spark generated $114M in revenue, beating its previous expectations of $110 – $112M. Newly listed Chinese BlueCity might be worth some love. Its stock skyrocketed as high as 124% in its trading debut from its IPO pricing of $16 per share. The company's app Blued is the largest LGBTQ community in China, India, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
by Anthony Russo
See full article at Capital Watch
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Match Group Looks to Capitalize on Video Dating During the Pandemic
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Aug 10 – Match Group is now in the beginning stages of developing features such as games and icebreakers to make one-on-one video calls more engaging – part of a broader strategy to find new ways to generate revenue from its millions of users, according to CFO Gary Swidler. Match declined to provide a date for when its new features would become available.
by Kristin Broughton
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Mark Brooks: Tis the season for video, finally. It took a while for people to warm up to video. Webdate was the first to offer video dating, in 2004 no less! But now it's the norm and I think any app that doesn't inspire people to find and do first dates on video will lose some market share to those who do. Meanwhile, The Meet Group continues to grow from strength to strength on the back of its video and video gamification capabilities. POF is powered by The Meet Group's video platform, btw. (Full Disclosure: Webdate and POF are prior long term clients, and The Meet Group are a current client of Courtland Brooks)
Match Group’s BLK Dating App Launches BLKVoices
DALLAS INNOVATES – Aug 4 – Dallas-based dating app BLK, a subsidiary of Match Group, has created a new in-app feature called #BLKVoices to create a space for users to share their opinions on social and cultural topics. Since launching in August 2017, the BLK app has had ~3M downloads, making it the largest dating app for Black singles. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the engagement encourages conversations around racism and discrimination.
by Sophia Gonzales
See full article at Dallas Innovates
Match Group Reports Q2 Results – Revenue up 12%
PRNEWSWIRE - Aug 4 – Total Q2 revenue grew 12% YOY to $555M. Operating income was up 14% to $196M, and Adjusted EBITDA was up 13% YOY to $228M (excludes $8M of separation costs incurred by Match Group prior to the closing of the transaction). Average Subscribers increased 11% to 10.1M. Tinder Direct Revenue grew 15% YOY, driven by 18% Average Subscriber growth to 6.2M. Non-Tinder brands collectively grew Direct Revenue 9% YOY. Match Group's Q2 Financial ResultsMark Brooks: This is very encouraging for the dating industry overall. Match is getting product right, at scale, across a diversity of brands, although I think they could tease out more of their market gaps with niche approaches. One important contributor to revenue is video. In their earnings call they pointed out POF Live and the video dating based game "NextDate" as being particularly successful right now. "…it's fun and it does communities, and it's an experience people seem to like." fyi, POF Live and NextDate are powered by The Meet Group. (FULL DISCLOSURE: POF are a prior long term client, and The Meet Group are a current client of Courtland Brooks)
Tinder’s New CEO Catch Drives Match Group to Peak Price
INVESTING – July 29 – Shares of Match Group jumped Tuesday after the announcement that Jim Lanzone was named the CEO. The stock is up ~8% to a record high. Tinder's direct revenue grew 31% YOY, driven by 28% average subscriber growth and 2% growth in average revenue per user in the Q1. Tinder averaged 6M subscribers in the first quarter.
Tinder Names New CEO
VARIETY – July 28 – Jim Lanzone, former head of CBS Interactive, has been appointed Tinder's new CEO. Lanzone takes over the role from Elie Seidman, who is stepping down. Lanzone starts at Tinder on Aug. 3, reporting to Match Group CEO Shar Dubey. Lanzone had spent nine years at CBS, most recently president and CEO of CBS Interactive. He exited CBS last fall to join venture-capital firm Benchmark Capital as executive-in-residence. Earlier in his career, Lanzone was CEO of Ask.com, which he joined in 2001 after its acquisition of eTour.com, where he was co-founder and president.
Is Video Dating Here to Stay?
BBC – July 21 – Video dating surged during lockdowns, but how much will the trend stick around in the 'new normal'? A recent survey from Match showed that 69% of users in the US were open to video chatting, whereas just 6% had tried it before the pandemic. There was also a surge in interest in livestreaming dating games, with The Meet Group, a US market leader in the sector, reporting a 95% surge in usage of its products since March. These include video speed-dating events and blind-dating games for users who want to focus on personality rather than looks. Dr Helen Fisher, who works as an advisor to Match Group, says that lockdowns around the world followed a period in which many millennials were already experiencing swiping fatigue. Dating app growth slowed globally in 2019, and Fisher's own research before the pandemic suggested a growing appetite for closer emotional connections developed over a longer period, instead of casual hook-ups. With countries now easing lockdowns, most dating experts think people will quickly return to developing romantic relationships offline, rather than focusing on video-based dating. However, there is a consensus that the trend for video dating won't disappear completely, with many suggesting that video calls in the 'new normal' will form part of a screening process before a first real-life date.
by Maddy Savage
See full article at BBC
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Tinder’s “Army of Swipers” Continues to Grow
VISUAL CAPITALIST – July 15 – Almost half of Americans today between the ages of 18 and 29 report having used a dating site or app to find a partner. Match Group acquired some 20 companies throughout its brief history. As a result, Match Group now has an impressive 45 dating services in its growing roster. Since their 2015 IPO, Match Group's stock is up 600%, reaching a market capitalization of $25B. Tinder now claims 59M people.
