by Lauren Hallanan
See full article at Medium.com
Category: MeetMe
Why The Meet Group Has Strong Growth Potential
GURU FOCUS – Apr 5 – Even though the The Meet Group's stock price has surged 170% higher in the last year, further growth could be ahead. The company is focused on improving user experience through the introduction of innovative new products that may improve its monetization potential. It is also expected to expand into new territories and niches, while further acquisitions could enhance its overall performance. The launch of Battles could drive monetization, as well as attract new users and enhance the user experience. Battles bring together two live streamers in a competition, with users being able to give gifts to support their favorite streamer. The streamer with the most votes is named the winner. Battles were recently launched on the company's Meet Me, Skout and Tagged. The Meet Group is also set to launch a new product called Levels. This adds a gamification element to live streaming through establishing aspirational ranks for users to achieve, as well as exclusive benefits for them to unlock.
by Robert Stephens
See full article at Guru Focus
Mobile Growth Summit: Catherine Cook Connelly, Co-Founder & VP Brand Strategy, The Meet Group
OPW – Mar 21 – The Meet Group grew its live-streaming product – Live – to a $48M business in less than a year. Live, which monetizes through in-app purchases, is one of the most engaging features the company ever launched. Users spend ~25M minutes in Live each day. In her presentation, Catherine Cook Connelly talks about how they built Live, why it monetizes so well, and how it enables meaningful connections for their users on MeetMe, Skout, Tagged, and LOVOO.
Q&A With Catherine Cook Connelly, Co-Founder and VP Brand Strategy, The Meet Group
MARKETING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTS – Feb 15 – Catherine Cook Connelly, the co-Founder and VP Brand Strategy at The Meet Group spoke at the Mobile Growth Summit 2019 this week. Her session is about how they built Live, their live streaming video feature and why it works so well for their portfolio of apps. "It is the most successful product we have ever launched in the company's history, reaching a $71M annualized revenue run rate in just 15 months of being active," she said.
Q: What was behind your decision to build Live?
A: From watching MOMO and other popular Chinese dating apps, we began to see how live streaming can fill a core product gap in dating apps. We've always thought of our apps as the neighborhood bar, and video is the live entertainment meant to keep people engaged and give them something more to talk about. Our apps – LOVOO, MeetMe, Tagged, and Skout – have ~25M minutes of live video every day, and we have not experienced cannibalization of our core text-based chat. Instead, live video fills the product gaps.
Q: Did you have a monetization model in mind prior to its launch?
A: Yes, we used the monetization model popularized in Eastern live streaming apps that rely on viewers to send gifts to the broadcaster. The model has taken off with our users because streamers have an incentive to make interesting streams. We're introducing new products such as Battles, which brings an exciting competitive dynamic to Live. The feature brings together two live streamers for a live competition, whether it be for best dancer, musician or comedian. Each battle lasts just a few minutes, and the winner is the streamer who earns more diamonds from the audience. On a larger scale, we expect to bring Levels to the platform this year. Levels adds a gamification element to Live by establishing aspirational ranks for users and exclusive benefits to unlock.
Q: It seems like being a "live streamer" is now a formal occupation that can be quite lucrative… can you discuss this phenomenon as you are seeing it unfold firsthand?
A: A few of our streamers have said they plan to quit their jobs or have taken a step back from their previous job to build themselves up as streamers. 20% of our streamers consider themselves full-time live streamers.
by Sudipto Ghosh
See full article at Marketing Technology Insights
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The Meet Group Begins to Rollout Battles
See full article at The Meet Group Website
The Meet Group to Raise $10K for Action Against Hunger
PRESS RELEASE – Nov 15 – The Meet Group's members (MeetMe, Skout and Tagged) have been successful in raising $10K for Alex's Lemonade Stand in September and $10K for Ryan's Well Foundation in August. This month, the Meet Group is partnering with Action Against Hunger. The campaign is set to launch today (Nov 15) to raise an additional $10K to fight global hunger. The company will offer a limited edition virtual gift in its MeetMe, Skout, and Tagged mobile apps. For every gift sent to broadcasters, The Meet Group will donate $0.25. Action Against Hunger has led the global fight against hunger for ~40 years. The organization is committed to doubling the number of children who receive urgent hunger care, from 3M to 6M by 2020.
See full article at The Meet Group website
Fascinating Interview With Geoff Cook, CEO Of Meet Group
OPW INTERVIEW – Sep 3 – Meet Group has acquired Skout, Tagged and Lovoo, and has added video, in similar fashion to Momo, in the last year. Fascinating! I asked Geoff how the integrations are coming together, and monetizing.
Meet Group is ahead of schedule for enabling video, and are finding that audiences across their various geographic markets are very similar in terms of their behavior around video. Livestreaming really fits the dating context well, and actually helps solves a particular core problem with Internet dating. Many males and females are left out with Internet dating apps. They come to a dating platform to feel less lonely, and end up feeling more lonely. However, on Meet Group dating services, “livestreaming video enables them to replace feelings of loneliness with feelings of entertainment where they can actually engage with the broadcaster.” But its not all about entertainment. 56% of video users report that they meet in real life.
“Video monetizes extraordinarily well.” Meet Group went from zero revenue from ‘gifts’ to video broadcasters to a $37 million run-rate business from video gifts by July 2018. This is mainly from MeetMe and Skout. Meanwhile, Lovoo has been experimenting with bitcoin, but this is very fledgling and not a huge contributor to revenues yet.
Post by Mark Brooks, CEO IDEA
The Meet Group Launches Quick One-on-One Livestreaming
BUSINESSWIRE – Aug 21 – The Meet Group has launched Quick, its new one-on-one live video chat feature, to users of its MeetMe mobile app in the US. The Meet Group's video monetization now exceeds $42M a year. With Quick, users can either choose to match with another user for free or choose to be matched with users of a specific gender for a fee. In addition, similar to one-to-many livestreaming, users can give virtual gifts in Quick, which they may do to show interest to the broadcaster, break the ice or start a conversation.
See full article at Businesswire
Lovoo Launches Live Video In France And Switzerland
The Meet Group Q1 ’18 Financial Results
BUSINESSWIRE – May 3 – Q1 total revenue was 37.6M, up 88% YOY. Mobile revenue was $30.7M, up 63% YOY. GAAP net loss was $4.2M. "Video revenue grew ~120% from Dec '17 to Mar '18, which we attribute to momentum on our MeetMe app, the launch of livestreaming monetization on Skout, and our focus on strengthening our livestreaming community and the quality of our livestreams. Our annualized video revenue run rate now exceeds $29M based on April's results, up 53% from February's run rate," said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group. The Average revenue per paying video user grow to $76 in March.
See full article at The Meet Group website