Online Dating

Match Group stock rose considerably after its second quarter earnings report was better than expected, thanks in large part to its star dating app Tinder.

According to Reuters, Match Group revenue for the three months ended June 30 was revealed in a recent earnings call with investors. It rose about 18% to $498 million, about $10 million higher than forecast. The company grew its average subscriber base 40.5% to 5.2 million in the same quarter, more than expected, thanks to its new features and the launch of Tinder Lite. Match now expects to add over 1.6 million average subscribers in 2019, much higher than the 1 million the company had forecast earlier. With all this good news, Match Group stock rose 17 percent.

Tinder Lite provides a version of the app that uses less storage and provides faster service, thanks to a scaled-down version of the famous swiping technology. It launched for Android phones in certain countries in both Southeast Asia and South America, where most people use less expensive Android phones and Internet speed is slower.

Match’s Singles in America survey, now in its ninth year, is the nation's largest and most comprehensive annual scientific study of single men and women across the United States. This year, Match polled over 5,000 singles about their current attitudes around sex and dating, the their response to the #MeToo movement, and how singles of all ages are changing the way they look for love.

"Modern love, sex and romance are thriving in America—from Millennials to seniors. The current fear that the young don’t care about love and commitment is just plain wrong. They are simply having a hard time finding it and feeling burnt out by the search,” says Dr. Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist and Chief Science Advisor to Match. “Moreover, this year’s Singles in America study gives a first-of-its-kind look at the positive impact the #MeToo movement has had on single men — on dates and in the office.”

Singles still want love and they’re optimistic about their chances of finding it. According to the survey:

Gay dating app Grindr is headed towards an IPO again, now that the U.S. national security panel CFIUS has dropped its opposition.

Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech purchased Grindr fully in 2018, but the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. found this problematic and forced Beijing Kunlun to sell the app by June 2020. According to a report from CNBC, a source familiar with the situation said the efforts to sell Grindr by the deadline were continuing, even as plans for the IPO were moving forward.

The Meet Group, parent to an ecosystem of social networking and dating apps focused on livestreaming, has released financial results for the second quarter of 2019. The Meet Group’s portfolio of brands includes MeetMe, LOVOO, Skout, Tagged, and Growlr.

For Q2 2019, the Meet Group reported revenue of $52 million, an increase of $9.2 million (or 22%) from $42.8 million in the second quarter of 2018. GAAP net income for the period was $2.2 million ($0.03 per diluted share) compared to a GAAP net loss of $0.2 million ($0.00 per diluted share) in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2019 was $9.8 million, compared to $7.6 million in the second quarter of 2018. Non-GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2019 was $8.8 million ($0.11 per diluted share) compared to $6.4 million ($0.08 per diluted share) in the second quarter of 2018. The Meet Group ended the quarter with $26.1 million in cash and cash equivalents.

“Strong execution in video continued to drive our business growth,” said Geoff Cook, Chief Executive Officer of The Meet Group. “We grew revenue 22% from the prior year quarter to a new record high fueled by video revenue growth of 150% over the same period. We increased adjusted EBITDA by 29% and we generated $10.2 million in free cash flow – the highest quarterly free cash flow in our history.”

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble is going all-in on its mission to empower women. The latest move is launching a new ad campaign to help combat loneliness, featuring activist and actress Jameela Jamil.

The #askingforafriend campaign launches August 4th in honor of International Friendship Day, and will focus on encouraging Bumble users to build friendships to counter the growing problem of loneliness around the world. According to studies, social media is part of the problem, with one in five people saying browsing through their feeds makes them feel lonely.

Hily Dating App

Hily is a relatively new dating app that is just 2 years old. Hily stands for "Hey, I Like You" and has gathered over 5 million members since launch and is now a top 10 revenue generating dating app in the app stores (iOS and Android). When Hily launched they touted their artificial intelligence (AI) which is designed to help stop scammers and fake profiles being created. Hily also has AI which is used for matching members together. The more you use their app the better the matching will be as Hily will learn what type of profiles you like based on who you view and like. Working on our review we found Hily is geared more to younger adults and has a similar swipe mechanics of liking or passing on matches as other competing dating apps.

Hily is one of the few dating apps doing well that is not owned by a larger online dating company that has multiple brands. Alex Pasykov, and Yan Pronin are the founders and Hily's headquarters is in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For complete details on this dating service including a list of features, pros, and cons of the service, you can read our new Hily review.