TECH CRUNCH – June 30 – Consumer spending on mobile apps grew significantly during H1 2020, in part due to the COVID-19, according to Sensor Tower. In H1, consumers spent $50B worldwide across the App Store and Google Play, up 23.4% from the H1of 2019. In addition, first-time app installs were up 26.1% YOY to reach 71.5B downloads. During the H1 2020, Tinder generated ~$433M in spending across both app stores, combined. However, this number does represent a decrease of ~19% YOY. It's unclear how much that decline is related to consumers' changing behavior and spending habits during the pandemic. TikTok was the most-downloaded app, the No. 2 and No. 3 apps were WhatsApp and Zoom, respectively.
Category: Reporters – Sarah Perez
Facebook Dating to Launch Video Dating
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
Mark Brooks: The Meet Group got video right before most dating apps in the West. They were inspired by Momo in China for one-to-many video and refined it on MeetMe, then acquired and powered up a number of brands around the world with video, including Skout, Tagged, Lovoo and now more recently Growlr. Their platform also powers POF's video (ref: March, 2020 press release). Full Disclosure: TMG are a client of Courtland Brooks
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Consumers Spent $23.4B on Apps in Q1 2020
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 3 – According to new data from App Annie, Q1 2020 was the largest-ever quarter in terms of consumer spend on apps. In addition, the average weekly time spent in apps and games worldwide was up 20% YOY in the quarter. In Q1 2020, consumers worldwide spent $23.4B through the app stores – the largest-ever quarter. iOS accounted for $15B of that figure and Google Play was $8.3B. There were also 31B new app downloads in Q1 2020, up 15% from Q4 2019.
Tinder’s Video Series ‘Swipe Night’ Gets a Second Season
Tinder Tests New Social Features
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 14 – Tinder is testing a series of new social features designed to boost conversations between users. One of them is a conversational prompt that encourages users to respond to questions or finish a sentence in order to better showcase their personality with their answers. The other, a "Share to Matches" option, allows users to post photos, looping videos and other content that can only be seen by their existing matches. Because the features are tests, some users may see both, some may see neither, and some may see just one or the other. Tinder declined to say where or when the tests were running or when they may roll out more broadly to users.
New Pew Report: 30% of U.S. Adults Have Used Online Dating
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 7 – According to a new Pew Research Center report on online dating, 30% of U.S. adults have at some point used a dating app. That's up from ~11% in 2013. 12% of U.S. adults said they found a long-term relationship via online dating. Younger adults were more likely to be using online dating apps than older adults. LGB adults were twice as likely as straight adults to have used a dating app. In addition, a majority of users reported an overall positive experience with online dating. However a significant portion of U.S. adults (46%) said they don't think it's safe. Pew's research was conducted from Oct 16 to 28, 2019 across a panel of 4,860 respondents. The full report is here.
Tinder to Add New Features Including Filters, Text and Photo Prompts
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 7 – Tinder is expanding users' filtering capabilities. There would be both free and paid options available. In addition, Tinder will also soon roll out new social engagement features, which the company describes as a way for users "to express themselves and show their interests". These would involve a set of text and photo prompts that encourage people to be more thoughtful with their conversations. The prompts are expected to arrive in Q1 2020. Tinder has also confirmed that its in-app, choose-your-own-adventure style story called Swipe Night will roll out to ten new markets this quarter, in parts of Europe and Asia.
Facebook Dating Now Integrates With Instagram and Facebook Stories
Tinder’s Interactive Video Series ‘Swipe Night’ Is Going International Next Year
TECH CRUNCH – Nov 7 – Swipe Night was a success. According to Match Group, "millions" of Tinder users tuned into to watch the show's episodes during its run in October, and this drove double-digit increases in both matches and messages. As a result, Match confirmed its plans to launch Swipe Night outside the U.S. in early 2020. Swipe Night asked users to make decisions to advance a narrative that followed a group of friends in an "apocalyptic adventure." The 5-minute long episodes ran every Sunday night in October from 6 PM to midnight. Swipe Night led to a 20% to 25% increase in "likes" and a 30% increase in matches. Also importantly, the series helped boost female engagement in the app. Swipe Night isn't the only video product Match Group has in the works. Plenty of Fish and Twoo are testing live streaming broadcasts.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
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App Revenue Climbs 23% YOY to $21.9B in Q3
