Dating Services

BroApp

Let’s say you want to keep your girlfriend’s interest but don’t want to invest the time to text her sweet or flirtatious messages. Turns out, there’s an app for that -  BroApp, a new dating app that calls itself “your clever relationship wingman,” can help you out.

With inspiration presumably drawn from guys who didn’t want to deal with the lofty expectations of girlfriends to text every now and then, the BroApp automatically messages your girlfriend sweet things at the times you request. Of course, you can be creative and write your own texts which are stored in the app and doled out at the appropriate times. But the goal isn’t to win her heart over – it’s so you can free yourself up to spend more time with your bros.

The app has a few complications figured out, too. It will not send messages if it detects that you are at your girlfriend's house (by being connected to her WiFi), or if you have recently messaged her on your own. Well, at least there’s that.

Tinder just announced that it's reached a seriously impressive milestone: it’s made 1 billion matches between its users. That number was just 1 million in January 2013, making Tinder one of the most memorable success stories in online and mobile dating history.

In fact, Tinder has been so successful that even celebrities are getting in on the game. Although you might think it wouldn't be hard for good-looking, A-list of famous folks to find a date, it looks like they have a little more trouble on Tinder than we under-the-radar people would expect.

“We’ve had celebrities reach out to us frequently throughout the last year, sort of calling out various frustrations convincing users that they were actually who they are,” Tinder co-founder Sean Rad told TIME. “One impediment is that sometimes their Facebook accounts, which we pull information from, includes different names than their actual likeness… So [celebrities] were asking for the ability to modify their Tinder name and maybe have a verified badge.”

That's right – apparently all kinds of famous people want nothing more than to be able to swipe right, but their potential matches assume that the well-known faces in their profile pictures mean their accounts are fakes. Making it worse is the fact that Tinder requires Facebook account authorization in order to verify identity, and a lot of celebrities use fake names on social networking sites for privacy purposes. It's a combination that's almost guaranteed to make the average mobile dater send a profile straight to the rejection pile.

Rad and his co-founder Justin Mateen know first-hand what that feels like. For a while, they both listed themselves as the app's co-founders in their Tinder profile taglines. Again and again, they found themselves rejected by users who didn't believe they were telling the truth about their identities.

“It was awesome [to know celebrities are on Tinder] because it sort of validated our theories that everyone, even people of influence, need help forming relationships,” Rad said. “It’s important to us that our users know we are committed to authenticity on every level.” So with that in mind, Tinder is adopting verification badges like Twitter in order to confirm celebrity identities and allow the famous and non-famous alike to intermingle without fear of being scammed.

Of course, Rad won't disclose which celebrities are using the app, but he assures TIME that “These are A-listers.” Sochi Olympians admitted to using Tinder during the Games, and Lindsay Lohan told her Instagram followers know that she found her brother on the app, so you at least know that you stand a chance of meeting one of the world’s most talented athletes and one of the world's most famous redheads.

Spark Networks, Inc., the company behind many special-interest online personal sites including JDate.com, BlackSingles.com, and ChristianMingle.com, has reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending on December 31, 2013.

"2013 marked our third consecutive year of growth as we continued to execute our long-term strategic plan," said Greg Liberman, Spark Networks' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "And, unlike the previous two years, in addition to delivering 12% revenue growth, we also demonstrated a meaningful 8% improvement in contribution for the year, punctuated by a 16% increase in Q4 contribution."

Highlights of 2013 for Spark Networks include:

• Total revenue grew Y/Y for 12^th consecutive quarter
• Total contribution grew 16% Y/Y
• Christian Networks revenue grew Y/Y for 13^th consecutive quarter
• Christian Networks ARPU grew Q/Q for first time since Q1 2013

Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013 was $17.2 million, an increase of 6% compared to the $16.3 million earned the year before. Full year 2013 revenue was $69.4 million, a 12% increase compared to 2012. The Christian Networks segment was primarily responsible for that growth.

"Our dual engines – the Christian and Jewish Networks segments, anchored by ChristianMingle and JDate – once again drove our performance,” said Liberman. “In 2013, Christian Networks grew 27%, generated more than $40 million in revenue and constituted 58% of the company's revenue base. While impressive in a vacuum, that is even more notable given that Christian Networks generated less than $6 million and comprised just 14% of our revenue when we relaunched the business three years ago.”

Spark Networks clearly has another iconic brand on its hands with ChristianMingle, but it hasn’t all been good news for the company. Wall Street isn’t loving Spark nearly as much as consumers are.

Earlier this month, Spark dropped 19% to $4.66 – earning it the dubious distinction of being Wall Street's fifth-biggest percentage drop - after the company said 2014 could be a tough year for some of its online dating website. Revenue is up, losses are down, but Liberman found that many online dating newbies let their paid subscriptions lapse in the third and fourth quarters.

In the face of stiff competition from IAC/Interactive's Match.com and OkCupid, Spark Networks plans to switch up its strategy in 2014 by reining in advertising and marketing spending. "We're pivoting a little bit here and focusing on profitability,'' said Liberman. Hopefully the new strategy means a little less heartbreak for Spark Networks investors.

Are you passionate and romantic? Or do you consider yourself more rational and perceptive?

A new study came out from statistician, researcher and computational biologist Emma Pierson, who dug into some eHarmony-released data to produce some interesting findings. Apparently, the adjectives you use to describe yourself on the eHarmony site influences who you are matched with.

The study pointed out that many people tend to use the same adjectives together to describe themselves. For instance, if you call yourself passionate likely you also use the term romantic. If you describe yourself as intelligent you probably would agree that you’re also rational or perceptive.

Based on these adjective groupings, Pierson found that there are five basic types of eHarmony daters: The Romeos (passionate), the Spocks (intelligent, rational), the Snow Whites (sweet, quiet), the Teddy Roosevelts (optimistic and energetic), and the Hufflepuffs (hard working and loyal).

According to the study, most people will identify with one of these groups more than the others, and tend to use adjectives that describe them together – such as dependable and hard-working. This matters to eHarmony because it also determines who to match you with based on these adjectives.

The most striking observation from the data she collected: women tend to be matched with men who are in the same grouping – in other words, Teddy Roosevelts tend to go for other Teddy Roosevelts. There are two exceptions however: Spock women seem to have a thing for Romeo men (opposites attract?), and Hufflepuff women get matched up with Snow White men.

For the men, it lines up pretty closely as well. Though the majority of male members get matched up with women in their same category, Romeo men pair up with Spock women fairly often too. (Good to know that a passionate man likes a smart woman – maybe she keeps him reigned in?) Also, Snow White men tend to go for the loyal, dependable Hufflepuff women.

Where do you fall on the chart? Are you the rational dater, who carefully examines all the evidence before deciding whether or not to fall in love? Or are you easy-going and optimistic, assuming that when you meet the right person, things will work out, so you don’t sweat the small stuff?

There’s some truth to matching based on how you see yourself, because eHarmony claims that their members have longer lasting marriages and relationships than those who met on other dating sites. Mostly, it’s interesting to see that in the end, similar and complementary feelings, approaches and personality traits do tend to attract each other.

The results are in from Match.com and their annual Singles in America survey, and it seems that people are still looking for happily ever after when it comes to relationships.

Match.com surveyed over 5,000 singles to find out what they think about dating, love, sex and relationships today. The biggest find? Technology is changing how we meet each other and also how we date. The majority of singles met their last date online (31%) rather than through a friend (only 25%). Also, 29% of singles use video chat to communicate with a date. It turns out they want to see if there is a little virtual chemistry before they agree to meet in person.

It's no surprise however that women are pickier daters than men. The study found that the majority of men will date a woman who is more successful and makes more money than they do, or is more educated. However, the majority of women won't date a man who is less intellectual or shorter than they are.

What about turn-offs? Most singles judge their dates by how confident they are and by their teeth. It's also a turn-off if a potential date has bad grammar or uses text speak when sending an email. Most daters prefer someone who comes across as more educated.

A bit of advice for men: no sexy selfies! This is the number one turn-off for women. And for the guys? Don't text so often, ladies. If he doesn't respond, avoid sending two or three more texts to get his attention. This is the number one turn-off for guys.

Social media is another sticking point as far as turn-offs go. Avoid airing your dirty laundry and venting over Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platforms. It is the number one social media turn-off for both sexes!

Another big take-away from the study: be kind and respectful. One hundred percent of women and 98% of men value being treated with respect in a relationship and make it their number one priority. In addition, a whopping 97% of singles are turned off when a date is rude to the waitstaff at a restaurant and 96% are turned off by bad table manners. So mind your manners!

The best news? People are still romantics. Eighty-nine percent of singles surveyed agree that you can live happily ever after with a partner. And despite how much people seem to be hooking up, and the majority of singles are looking for commitment and want to get married.

For more information on the service that brought us this study you can read our review of Match.com.

File this one under “Not a surprise.” IAC/InterActiveCorp – owner of Match, OkCupid, Tinder, and more – has released its fourth quarter 2013 financial results, and things are looking good almost all the way across the bar.

IAC’s performance was strong in Q4 2013. Match closed up the year well with 12% revenue growth and 21% OIBA (Operating Income Before Amortization) growth in the fourth quarter. Total revenue for Q4 2013 was $203.9M, up from $182.6M in Q4 2012. For the year, Match grew revenue 10.5% and OIBA 16%, and the company predicts an even better year of growth in 2014.

After pulling out of European markets to focus on the United States in 2009, Match has managed to successfully grow in the US as well as across the globe. The company doesn’t hesitate to call itself “the unquestioned global leader in dating,” with 30 million active users and 3.4 million paying subscribers in 2013.

Core, Meetic and Developing revenues grew 4%, 8% and 69%, respectively, to $115.7 million, $58.9 million and $29.4 million. That growth was driven by an increase in subscribers and as well as the contribution of mobile app Twoo, which was not in the prior year period. On the whole, profits increased due to higher revenue and lower customer acquisition costs as a percentage of revenue.

The most interesting source of IAC’s potential growth is Tinder, the rapidly growing social dating app primarily owned by IAC. Tinder clocked in at 100M daily profile views in August 2013, and is expected to hit 1B daily profile views in April. That’s some serious swiping. Although Tinder's implied valuation today is low, it could prove to be worth more than IAC's current market cap of $6.4B.

Even for IAC’s traditional dating sites, mobile has been big. 50% of all communication for Match.com US is sent from mobile devices. At OkCupid, the number rises to over 60%. Those numbers were single digits as recently as 2010, and IAC says it has just barely scratched the surface where optimization for geo-specific features and mobile markets are concerned.

2014 promises to be full of mobile product enhancements across the board, so IAC expects to see even greater engagement and customer acquisition resulting from smartphones. These are the kind of changes that allow IAC’s portfolio to continuously thrive, despite the changing world around it. The future looks predictably bright for the company.