Dating Services

Rumors began to swirl last December that German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE’s e-commerce arm, NuCom Group, had expressed preliminary interest in acquiring The Meet Group. It has now been announced that the companies have entered a definitive agreement to proceed with the acquisition. NuCom will pay $6.30 a share in the deal, putting an enterprise value on Meet Group of approximately $500 million.

Based in Pennsylvania, The Meet Group is a maker of mobile apps that focus on live streaming broadcasts and text-based conversations, including MeetMe, Skout,  LOVOO, Tagged and Growlr. NuCom’s holdings include eHarmony, which it acquired in 2018, and the Germany-based dating platform Parship. The Meet Group’s dating brands will be combined with NuCom’s portfolio company Parship Group. The acquisition will help both companies diversify their revenue streams and broaden their combined international footprint.

Image: Forbes

Having trouble finding a worthwhile match on Tinder? The dating app made “swipe left” and “swipe right” two of the most recognizable phrases in popular culture — but what it hasn’t necessarily done is made it easier to find a date using those infamous gestures.

In an effort to help singles get more out of their Tinder experience, the company has started testing a premium service it’s calling Tinder Concierge. An advertisement recently released on the platform announced the new feature with an image of a limousine parked outside of an ornate building. The short description of Concierge explains that users can pay $20 to schedule a session with a “team of experts” who will help them “craft the perfect profile.” Users who are interested are invited to sign up for the waitlist to get more information.

The ad has been greeted with mixed responses on Reddit. A few users expressed curiosity about the idea. Others called Concierge “transparently a scam” and “something that’s going to flop miserably.” A skeptical user shared the theory that Tinder would simply note when a user has a Concierge session and updates their profile, then show them more matches — which increases the likelihood that they’ll get more right swipes — so the user will think the service is working. Several users noted that their version of the ad set a Concierge session at $50, not $20.

It’s the 2020 election season, and political campaigns are competing for young voters – and turning to dating apps Tinder and Bumble for help.

Young campaign volunteers are using dating apps to chat with their matches and advertise for their candidates over dating apps, according to International Business Times. Some are even springing for premium versions of Tinder so they can change location and engage voters in other states. Still other app users are advocating for more political engagement, including announcing in their profiles that they only date registered voters.

Tinder announced that its hit interactive series Swipe Night has been greenlit for season two. The new season is expected to debut this summer, according to The Verge.

Swipe Night season one premiered last year in October in the U.S., and will be released internationally in March. The series consisted of five-minute episodes available once per week (Sunday evenings throughout the month) via the Tinder app. As users watched, they were presented with choices of what to do in real time, which informed how the story unfolded for them, described as a “choose-your-own-adventure” format.

The choices viewers made also populated their user profiles, so other Tinder users could see how they chose and make decisions as to whether or not to swipe right or message them.

Bonding with a date over shared interests is nothing new. Neither is weeding out potential dates who don’t share your values. In a time when it is growing increasingly difficult for people to date across political lines, OkCupid is making it easier for singles to meet matches who share their views — at least when it comes to climate change.

An overwhelming majority of OkCupid users think climate change is one of the most devastating threats currently facing the planet. According to data provided by the company, 97 percent of its users believe climate change is real and 82 percent say they’re concerned about its potential impact. More than 90 percent also said they’d be willing to change their behavior if they found out something they do is bad for the environment. OkCupid says it has seen a 240 percent increase in mentions of related terms appearing on people’s profiles, including “climate change,” “environment,” “global warming” and “Greta Thunberg.”

For heterosexual, cisgender singles, online dating offers a mind-boggling number of opportunities to swipe your way to your next date. There are apps for vegetarians, vegans and bacon enthusiasts, apps for farmers, apps for sea captains, apps for geeks, apps for dog lovers, apps for affairs, apps for hooking up on airplanes, apps for spiritual singles and members of different faiths, apps based on political leanings, exclusive apps for A-listers — and that’s on top of Tinder, Bumble, Match, Hinge, OkCupid and the other general dating apps that dominate the market.

For queer singles, the landscape looks different. Grindr changed the game for men seeking men, but no app for anyone else on the queer spectrum has reached the same level of success. That may change with Lex — a new app that grew out of a missed connections Instagram page. Lex describes itself as a dating and social platform for lesbian, bisexual, asexual, womxn, non-binary, trans, genderqueer, intersex, two spirit and queer people. In other words, almost anyone but cisgender men.

And that’s not all that sets Lex apart. The original Instagram account was inspired by the personal ads found in On Our Backs, a women-run erotica magazine published in the 1980s and 1990s. In a similar vein, Lex profiles are text-only personal ads. There are no photos unless a user elects to link their Instagram account to their profile. Although it’s an old school approach, it feels brazen and modern in an era when profiles are getting shorter and swiping through images is the preferred method of connection for millions of singles.