General News

Match Group’s dating app Match will offer a hand-picked matchmaking service to app users for $4.99 per week, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The company hired and trained 50 dating coaches who will be selecting two matches per week for participating users. However, the Journal notes that the matchmakers will be choosing matches from the same dating pool that the algorithm already provides, and will filter choices based on members’ answers to four basic questions, such as what a person would change about their dating life and what kind of person they gravitate towards.

The new service is being touted as a human matchmaking offering, aiming to disrupt the traditional matchmaking industry where experts charge thousands of dollars to hand pick potential matches for their clients and to better prepare them for dating. Match is offering a bit of human curation for far less money (but without all the handholding), which could have an impact.

Dating apps like Tinder, Plenty of Fish and others under the Match Group umbrella are pushing users to call their Senators to pass the Violence Against Women Act. The Act lapsed in 2019 and has not been reauthorized since.

While the bill has already passed the House with a Democratic majority plus 29 Republicans joining to pass it, so far it has languished in the Senate. Match Group decided to take matters into their own hands and push for passage of the bill to protect users of their apps, especially as the company continues to put more safety measures in place to protect users against harassment and violence.

According to The Hill, the bill would provide funding to state and local governments to address domestic abuse, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking which has become even more of a problem with the increased use of dating apps. It would also narrow a loophole to prevent partners and boyfriends convicted of domestic violence or abuse from buying or owning guns. (Currently only spouses and former spouses are prevented from buying a gun if convicted.) A number of Republicans have opposed the bill because they see it as an infringement on gun rights. 

Jaime Freedman - VP of Content Creation

Image: Tinder

Dating app Tinder is focusing its attention on content creation, including virtual experiences, and has named a former NBC-Universal executive to head up its efforts.

According to an exclusive published in Variety, Jaime Freedman will take over as Vice President of Content Creation, following the company’s successful launch of Swipe Night, an in-app series that allows users to view and interact as they watch. Season two just premiered in early November, and Tinder will air new episodes each Sunday. 

Tinder’s goal with expanding its content offerings is to create more virtual experiences. All new content will be added to its Explore section, where currently users can watch the limited series, participate in virtual speed dating rounds, or search and message other users by interest. Tinder has also been testing Single Town, an avatar-based virtual experience where users can meet up at “bars” or other virtual settings and interact in real time over the app. The company intends to add this experience to its Explore section, too.

Bumble announced that it is exploring how to employ the metaverse and Web 3.0 into a relaunch of its Bumble BFF platform. It also added language badges as a new feature to help users connect. 

The move towards interactive experiences seems to be where dating apps are headed, driven by younger Gen Z daters who prefer game-like experiences to swiping. Tinder recently announced that it was testing an avatar-based virtual experience called Single Town where users could meet each other in real time on different online spaces, like “bars” before agreeing to meet in person.

The rising popularity of cryptocurrency is also a factor, as Bumble has indicated it intends to create a crypto goods economy to monetize the new platform, as has Tinder.

Dating app Bumble had a rough third quarter, with total paying users down 2 percent from the second quarter. It was the first time the company saw a decline in its user base since going public in February of this year.

According to Reuters, total paying users fell to 2.9 million as the pandemic surge prompted new lockdowns in hard-hit countries. The company says the pandemic surge caused an overall drop in consumer spending on dating apps and in-app purchases. This news spooked investors and sent Bumble’s stock tumbling 9 percent, a 32 percent total decline since its IPO.

The company owns popular dating app Badoo which was hit especially hard due to its popularity in markets affected by the Covid surges. Badoo accounts for about a quarter of the company’s total revenue according to Barron’s.

Dating app conglomerate Match Group has lowered their expected earnings for Q4, according to an earnings call with investors. The company said the adjusted forecast resulted from decreased revenue in Asian markets due to the pandemic. Shares declined 6 percent with the news.

According to Reuters, Match Group adjusted fourth quarter earnings revenue between $810 and $820 million, below analysts’ forecast of $838.5 million per Refinitiv. The company expects revenue for 2021 to be around $3 billion.

In the third quarter, revenue rose 25 percent, but still missed expectations. Match Group added 16.3 million paid users and revenue per person rose 8 percent. Their quarterly earnings came out to $.53 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $.60 per share, and has dropped from earnings of $.55 per share a year ago.