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Mad Realities, a production company that funded a dating reality show with cryptocurrency, has raised $6 million from investors to expand its platform, including from reality star and socialite Paris Hilton. 

The company’s first show, Proof of Love, features a bachelor or bachelorette who gets to choose from 4 eligible singles, much like a typical dating reality show. According to Fortune, the difference is that Mad Realities’ show is built around its audience, and those who pay to participate (by purchasing the company’s NFTs) get to choose who competes, be a host themselves, or put a friend on the show, depending on how much crypto they are willing to pay.

Episodes are streamed live and posted on YouTube later, and while the show itself has much lower ratings than the average network show (about 6,400 views total), it has built an avid fan base that’s willing to invest and participate, including 1,000 active members in its group chat.

Online dating company eharmony released a new study about dating in 2022, and despite the pandemic, found that most singles were optimistic about their prospects of finding love, and those in relationships were happy with their partners.

The Happiness Index study focused on how people are navigating dating and relationships in a post-pandemic world, and found that most singles - 76 percent – were optimistic about dating. The majority of those in relationships were satisfied, too, with 75 percent of U.S. couples saying they were happy in their relationships. Of those couples, 71 percent felt that having a romantic partner has positively affected their lives, and 55 percent said that their relationship has gotten stronger.

In addition to feeling more optimistic about their romantic lives, people are also gravitating away from alcohol after indulging during the pandemic. One in five people surveyed said they drank heavily during the lockdowns, and now, 74 percent of singles reported restricting their drinking in the last year. Twenty-one percent have considered not drinking at all. 

Dating apps are having a moment since the pandemic began, and new ones have launched this year that are expanding options for how to connect with others beyond just a swipe. 

Tinder and Bumble are by far the most popular apps, but many singles are looking for something different than your typical swiping experience that instead caters to social habits and lifestyles. Elle Magazine highlighted a few new apps to watch in their latest dating app round up, including some noteworthy ones that are following post-pandemic dating needs:

Dating app Bumble has been urging states to pass bills similar to the one it initiated in Texas, which makes it illegal for people to send unsolicited nude photos electronically. In mid-April, Virginia passed such a bill into law.

According to the new law, any adult sending an unsolicited “intimate image” electronically to another adult could be fined up to $500. The law defines intimate image as a “photo, film, video, recording, digital picture or other visual reproduction of a person 18 years of age or older who is in a state of undress so as to expose the human male or female genitals.”  

USA Today spoke with Bumble about how company's head of public policy for the Americas, Payton Iheme, reached out to Virginia Senator Jennifer McClellan for help with the legislation, since the company had success a few years ago passing a similar bill in Texas. The Virginia Senate had voted down another lewd photos bill two years before that carried criminal penalties, but since the new bill introduced civil penalties only, lawmakers felt more comfortable passing it into law.

Image: Tinder

Tinder announced the launch of its new feature Festival Mode, designed to bring singles together through their mutual love of live music.

The dating app company partnered with Live Nation, as well as event producers AEG Presents and Superstruct Entertainment to offer users who plan to attend festivals this year the opportunity to connect with other attendees over the app, so they can meet up. Participants can match with others as early as a month before the event, and the app will feature over 20 of the biggest festivals across the globe, including The Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Stagecoach and EDC Las Vegas, as well as Lollapalooza Paris, Falls Festival in Australia, Sonar in Spain and All Points East in the UK. 

The feature will also include a “Festival Goers” space for those who don’t see their event listed or simply want to be part of “festival culture,” according to Tinder’s press release. Festival Mode will be part of the Explore section of the app.

Seventy percent of American singles felt that dating got harder during the pandemic, according to the latest research from Pew.

In 2019, before the pandemic took hold, about two thirds of singles said that dating was hard, compared to the new Pew study which took place February 2022, where roughly seven in ten singles said it was hard. 

This finding comes on the heels of the most profitable couple of years for the dating app industry, as people locked down at home and turned to dating apps for connection. Subscriptions and revenue rose for many dating app companies, but daters seem to be left wanting more.