KELOWNA DAILY COURIER – Oct 1 – Markus Frind, who created PlentyofFish.com, is developing a winery on a farm at 1475 Pritchard Drive. He bought the 13 acre property last Sep for $7M. Frind founded PlentyofFish in 2003 and sold it to Match in 2015 for $575M. At the time, PlentyofFish had 90M registered users with 3.6M active daily users.
by Ron Seymour
See full article at Kelowna Daily Courier
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK – Aug 17 – Hinge is one of the first dating apps to integrate politics into its algorithm. If users choose to state their political beliefs, it will feature prominently on their profile under the 'virtues' section, in which users also state their education level and height. There are four options for them to choose from: 'liberal', 'moderate', 'conservative' and the ambiguous-yet-intriguing 'other'. According to Plenty of Fish, the majority of singles (59%) won't start a conversation with someone who's dating profile promotes an opposing political view. The survey also revealed that 44% of singles said they wouldn't date someone who voted for Trump.
by Olivia Petter
See full article at Independent.co.uk
FEMALE FIRST – Aug 16 – Plenty of Fish has found that on average, people hold out until the fourth date to have sex with a new partner. Most people will wait until date number two to pucker up but at least a quarter steal a kiss on the first date.
OPW – Aug 15 – In 2009 when PlentyofFish needed more people in Bostin and NYC we advertised in the subway with this ad.
Is this advertising obnoxious? Is it polarizing? Does it get people talking? What's your thoughts? How do you think this advertising made sense? Please comment at the Courtland Brooks blog.
Post by Mark Brooks, CEO IDEA
THESUN.CO.UK – Aug 9 – Dating site POF is down in the UK and elsewhere throughout the world amid complaints from users that they can't login to the site. Some users have also taken to Twitter to complain directly to Plenty of Fish's official account. One tweet dates back to August 6, indicating that the problem is an ongoing one.
METRO.US – July 27 – Plenty of Fish analyzed 9M profiles and discovered that 34% of female music lovers and 24% of male music lovers were more likely to find a catch. Men who listed country music as an interest on their dating profile receive 32% more messages. Additionally, men who like country music are 65% more likely to find a match, 52% more likely to want to get married, and 49% less into wanting to just hook up. Women who like classic rock are 68% more likely to find a match. Women who like classical music are 93% more likely to want to get married.
THE MOTLEY FOOL – July 24 – The latest service to join Match is Hinge, a site that once billed itself as the "anti-Tinder" because it focuses on relationships instead of hookups. The purchase leaves Bumble as the only major dating app not owned by Match, and the two are currently suing each other. Match has acquired dozens of services over the past nine years and in the past three years spent $610M acquiring different brands, about equal to its cumulative operating earnings for the same period. While none of the deals have seemed to have gone like a bad date, the rise in Match's cost of revenues has outpaced its revenue increases due to acquisitions like POF and Pairs. Last year, revenue from North America, which contributes 56% of Match's total, grew 9% as a result of more people signing up for Tinder. Yet North America ARPU was flat. The deal for Hinge gives Match a 51% stake with the right to purchase the rest of Hinge within the next year. Though Hinge doesn't disclose the number of users it has, undoubtedly individuals using dating apps have accounts at multiple sites, so Match is paying for members it likely already owns. Match's total subscribers hit 7.43M in the Q1, up 26% YOY, and some of them have to be Hinge members, too. Making another acquisition might put another dating app into Match's diverse collection, but it doesn't really do anything to bolster what is making money for it, namely Tinder.
by Rich Duprey
See full article at The Motley Fool
PR NEWSWIRE – May 10 – Emogi will partner with Plenty of Fish, giving its users access to new conversational content. Emogi will be the exclusive provider of all animated sticker and GIF content on POF, enriching conversations for users as they communicate through the app's messaging function.
PR NEWSWIRE – Apr 24 – The Plenty of Fish Conversation Nation 2018 survey reveals singles are more turned off by bad grammar than bad sex. The study, which surveyed 2K US singles 18+, revealed conversation as the benchmark for chemistry and compatibility. 74% of singles say conversation is the #1 indicator of chemistry, even over physical attraction. 58% of singles say bad grammar is a bigger turn off. 59% won't start talking to someone whose dating profile promotes a political opinion opposite of theirs. Across party lines, 52 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats won't start a conversation with a political opposite.
