The Meet Group Exceeds Profit and Revenue Expectations in Q2

The Meet Group’s revenue and profits soared past original milestones for Q2 of this year, thanks in part to so many singles turning to dating apps during coronavirus lockdowns.

The company beat Wall Street estimates, with net income at $10.3 million, up from $2.2 million in the same period last year. This was a huge jump – resulting in a 373% increase in profits for the company. According to Philadelphia Business Journal, The Meet Group did not conduct an earnings call with investors over Q2 results, nor did they speak to the publication about the increase, and what part of its business was generating the most income.

After some digging however, PBJ found that its video revenue went from 21.3 million (40.9% of all revenue) in 2019 to 61.4 million (67.9% of revenue) this year. 

The Meet Group is not the only dating app company having a good quarter. Match Group, which owns popular apps like Tinder, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fish also exceeded revenue expectations despite initial concern when paid services began to drop in April, but then bounced back quickly as people gravitated to video dating.

The Meet Group earnings report comes ahead of its pending $500 million acquisition by NuCom (owned by German media company ProSieben, which also owns popular dating apps eHarmony, Parship and Elite Partner). The Meet Group’s dating app portfolio includes MeetMe, Skout, German app Lovoo and niche gay dating app Growlr, all of which would be under NuCom. 

The Meet Group was ahead of its time in regard to video technology, and was the first western app company to debut a livestream feature back in 2017. As the pandemic has forced people to stay home, many are still wary to meet in person, and rely on dating apps and video dates for connection.

In fact, The Meet Group even partnered with Match Group, the owner of Tinder, OkCupid and other popular dating apps, to offer its livestream capability on Plenty of Fish’s platform (along with the Twoo dating app). This included the company’s new popular feature NextDate, which allows people to start or tune in to livestreams and send gifts and likes in hopes of connecting and matching with others. It’s kind of like an online version of “The Bachelorette” where there are daters competing for the attention of the person doing the livestream. 

NextDate had been played over 100,000 times per day since it debuted earlier this year, according to The Meet Group. Most of the money it makes from its livestream video platform is from people purchasing gifts for other users, according to PBJ.

“People are on video for everything, Netflix, Zoom, school work, and now they’re doing their dating there too," Meet Group CEO Geoff Cook said in March when people began staying home.

The acquisition is expected to close before 2021.