Partnerships

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble is distributing campus safety kits to college students to help them date more safely on college campuses.

The Austin-based dating app company will distribute hundreds of drink spike prevention products from NightCap, along with safety alarms from She’s Birdie, to students at the University of Texas in Austin as well as 160 other campuses around the country, according to Axios.

The drink spike prevention product looks like a hair scrunchie according to Axios, and can fit over the top of a glass to cover it, leaving room for only a straw. Another selling point is that women can wear them in their hair or around their wrists until they need them, making them easy to carry and use.

Image: eHarmony

eHarmony announced that it is adding an expanded list of genders for its members to choose from, aiming to give them a more inclusive experience. The company worked in partnership with GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Awareness ) to develop the new updates.

Users will now be able to choose from an expanded list of genders, and during the registration process, they will be asked what gender best describes them to best match them with potential dates. Members will also be given more opportunity to talk about and add more detail about their gender when they complete the “personal information” form in the process. Users can also choose to display their gender on their profile, according to GLAAD's website.

Members will be able to list their gender preferences when it comes to matches as well, including whether they are seeking men, women nonbinary, or any combination of these.

Match Group and its partner Garbo, a nonprofit provider of background checks, have parted ways, according to a story that broke in The Wall Street Journal.

Garbo announced in a blog post that it will be shutting down its consumer-facing business as a result of the split. While details were not shared about exactly what happened, Garbo blamed Match Group for both the difference in priorities and the execution of the service on its platform.

Garbo’s service was integrated into Match Group’s Tinder platform and allowed users run background checks on potential dates using just a name and phone number. Garbo would give them a report stating if the person had any public reports issued against them for past violence, arrests, convictions and restraining orders.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock has struck a deal with dating app company Match Group to offer a three-month free subscription of its streaming service to users of the company’s popular dating apps.

The theme of the new campaign is “find someone to get streamy with,” according to the joint announcement.

The companies kicked off the campaign on June 22nd according to The Hollywood Reporter, and the offer will be extended to users of all of Match Group’s apps, including Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, BLK and Plenty of Fish.

According to the announcement, the campaign will include “editorial content” and “experiential events” that are tied to Peacock programming, such as the upcoming Women’s World Cup and Big Ten football games. Match Group app members who participate will be eligible for additional offers and promotions from Peacock for the duration of the campaign, but the 3-month subscription is available now.

Match Group announced that it partnered with research firm Ipsos to conduct a comprehensive study of daters in major markets, and found that overall daters feel positive about online dating.

Sixty-six percent of respondents said that online dating results were “as good or better” than meeting offline according to the study's press release, and 60 percent of respondents said that their online dating efforts have resulted in dates or developed into a relationship.

The report also found that people tend to prefer larger platforms with more people, with the idea that they have more choices when it comes to finding the right person. In fact, online dating is gaining more popularity around the world, with almost half (49 percent) of singles saying they have tried dating apps and websites. India and Turkey lead the way in usage, thanks to changing attitudes about dating, as well as parents using technology to find partners for their children, according to Ipsos.

Match Group, parent company of popular dating app Tinder, is in talks to purchase a strategic stake in Shaadi, an India-based online matchmaking service.

The Economic Times first reported that the two companies were in talks, and that Match Group was looking to buy out Shaadi’s institutional stakeholders, but few details have emerged.

According to Ink 42, this latest development comes after Match Group has refocused its efforts and brought on a new executive team to run Tinder, which last year saw its first quarter of revenue decline since the company went public. Match Group has set its sights on the fast-growing Asian market, especially India and its large under-30 market.