Match Group

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.”

Image: Heartbeat Blog

Dating apps are getting serious about user safety. Following last month’s announcement that new safety features are coming to Tinder, another major dating platform owned by Match Group is adding safety features of its own. Match.com’s latest release is Date Check-In, a communication tool that allows users to keep selected friends and family members informed while they’re on a date.

Going on a date with someone you met online can be intimidating — not just because any first date comes with its fair share of nerves, but also because of the potential to wind up entangled with a con artist, creep or other unsavory character. With Date Check-In, Match users can easily send out an SOS if they feel unsafe. The feature lets users designate three emergency contacts who will receive an automated notification in case of emergency.

Image: @wongmjane

Dating app Tinder is testing more new features, one of which was briefly disclosed in an earnings call earlier this year by Match Group.

The new features are described as “conversation starters” to help initiate messaging between users and to keep them more engaged. One of the features is a conversational prompt, which encourages users to respond to a question or finish a sentence so that their matches get a better idea of who they are. The second feature allows users to post photos, looping videos and other content that can only be seen by their existing matches, according to Tech Crunch. This is also intended to strike up conversations in a more personal, unique way.

After a tumultuous year that involved an FTC lawsuit, a split from parent company IAC and the departure of CEO Mandy Ginsberg, Match Group has published its fourth quarter and full year financial results for 2019. Total revenue for the company exceeded $2 billion for the first time.

For the third quarter 2019, Match Group shared the following highlights:

• Total Revenue grew 20 percent over the prior year quarter to $547 million
• Average Subscribers increased 19 percent to 9.8 million, up from 8.2 million in the prior year quarter, and ARPU increased 1 cent to $0.59
• Operating income was $180 million, an increase of 19 percent over the prior year quarter
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 22 percent over the prior year quarter to $215 million

Match Group reported annual earnings for 2019, and its star dating app Tinder came out on top with almost $1.2 billion in revenue for the year.

Tinder had on average 5.9 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2019, 36 percent more than the previous year according to The Verge. At the same time, Reuters reported in early February that Match Group missed its fourth quarter revenue estimates as subscriber growth on Tinder fell to its lowest since the fourth quarter of 2018, perhaps an early sign of market saturation. 

Match Group announced the roll out of new filter features for its star dating app Tinder, following suit with Bumble, who rolled out similar features late last year.

The filter features include both free and paid options, according to Tech Crunch, but Match Group did not disclose many details, other than comparing the features to Tinder U, which filters matches solely to other nearby college students. 

Match Group aims “to make the utility of Tinder better and more efficient,” according to CEO Mandy Ginsberg, who just announced she’ll be leaving the company after fourteen years at the end of February.