Skout

If you’ve ever wanted to star in your own personal dating game, you’re in luck. The Meet Group has announced the launch of NextDate, a livestreaming dating game that lets users of MeetMe and Skout take on the role of a contestant in a speed dating show.

The patent-pending dating game offers a modern twist on a familiar format. As in a classic television dating competition, the user interacts with potential matches while being watched by an audience — except the user gets to choose who their matches are and, instead of a live studio audience, the game is watched in real-time via livestream. The Meet Group’s gamified take on speed dating allows streamers to add comments, use a rating system called the Love-o-meter, and take their romantic chances with any contestant who is currently playing NextDate.

MeetMe Battles

The Meet Group, a portfolio of brands in the mobile social networking and entertainment space, is rolling out a new feature called Battles on its MeetMe and Skout apps.

“Battles brings an exciting competitive dynamic to Live, and we are thrilled to bring this new feature to our users,” said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group. “We believe that the addition of Battles will contribute to our growing video revenue run-rate, which exceeded $62 million annualized, based on the month of November, up from the $55 million number we reported in October. Momentum in video revenue has continued into December, and this past weekend we achieved the highest video revenue day in our history.”

Battles is The Meet Group’s latest bid to harness the power of streaming video. The feature brings together two livestreamers and their audiences for a live showdown. The competitors can challenge each other in a variety of categories ranging from music, to dance, to comedy and more. Each battle lasts only a few minutes. The winner is the streamer who earns the most diamonds by receiving gifts from viewers during the battle.

MeetMe Live Video Streaming

In the pass year The Meet Group has doubled down and put the focus on live video steaming for their social entertainment apps including MeetMe, Skout, Tagged, and LOVOO. Live video streaming from real members keeps everyone engaged and has increased their mobile daily active users significantly. With the introduction of Live streaming last year and with the final roll out for all apps in August of this year with LOVOO (there most trafficked app), The Meet Group has been able to diversify revenue mix consisting of in-app purchases, subscription, and 3rd party advertising.

It’s good news all around for MeetMe. The social discovery service, founded in 2005 to connect users on mobile devices, has posted better-than-anticipated financial results for the second quarter of 2016. The company also announced plans to acquire Skout, a leading global mobile network for meeting new people.

Wall Street’s initial projections predicted $15.27 million in revenue for MeetMe. Instead, revenue exceeded expectations, climbing 48% from last year and clocking in at $16.4 million. Mobile revenue rose 82% to $15.1 million year-over-year. Mobile represented more than 92% of MeetMe’s total revenue in the second quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 109% year-over-year to $6.0 million, reflecting a 37% adjusted EBITDA margin. Non-GAAP net income reached $4.8 million, a 103% increase over Q2 of last year.

You’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine. You know that a sense of humor is one of the most hotly sought-after traits in a partner. So what, exactly, can laughter do for you?

In honor of National Humor Month, which kicked off on April 1, mobile app Skout conducted a survey of over 3,000 users and found that when it comes to love and friendship, laughter reigns supreme.

It began with a sampling of Skouters’ profile pictures. The company found that users who share images of themselves laughing receive 404% more favorites and make 324% more connections than the average Skouter. Those are already compelling numbers, but Skout dug deeper.

Users were asked to share their experiences with humor in a variety of situations. The survey found that:

• We are our own biggest fans. Seventy-five percent of respondents think they’re funny. Of the many forms comedy can take, those with a witty sense of humor are most likely to crack themselves up.
• Laughter is a social experience. Ninety-four percent of people surveyed said they enjoy making other people laugh. People who say their style of humor is slapstick are most likely to enjoy spreading the yuks around.
• We’re drawn to the class clown. Practical jokers and people who say “bathroom humor” is their style are most likely to have more - five or more, to be precise - close friends. Those with a sarcastic or self-deprecating sense of humor are least likely to have a similarly sized group of BFFs.
• We don’t all love the other kind of clown. Charming to some, frightening to others - 30% of people surveyed said they’re afraid of clowns. The likelihood of coulrophobia increase if you have a sarcastic sense of humor.
• Chicks don’t dig chick flicks. Only 18% of women said they prefer romantic films. The winning genre was comedy, with 26% of the vote, followed by action-adventure (23%) and horror (21%). Comedy came in second for men (21%), behind action-adventure (43%).
• Comedians congregate on the coasts. New Yorkers and San Franciscans are most confident (83%) that they are funny (why so serious, Midwest?).
• Head south for humor. Houstonians are most generous with their funny quips. One hundred percent of the city’s residents surveyed said they enjoy making others laugh. Angelenos and Atlantans shared a similar joy in inspiring giggles (98%).

Skout’s findings fall right in line with other studies that have found laughter to be highly attractive to online daters. One by Zoosk found that including ‘LOL’ in a message increased response rates by 25%. Another by Match revealed that a ‘LOL’ or a ‘Haha’ boosts your odds of scoring a date by a gargantuan 255% and your chances of hitting the sack by 39%.

Time to brush up on your witty one-liners.

Were you wondering who is most likely to reach out to you over social media or an online dating app? Social network and dating app Skout has combed its database to discover the types of people who appear to be the most social, at least online.

Not surprisingly, tall men are not only desirable, but also more sociable. According to Skout's data, the number of online friendships men have increases with their height. Short men (under 5’6”) have, on average, online connections with 11 people. Men of average height (between 5’10” and 6’) have, on average, online connections with 16 people, whereas tall men (over 6’3”) have an average of 17 online connections. (Note: Skout defines an online connection as a conversation initiated by one Skouter who receives at least one response from the other person. There could be additional conversations with the same person, but it would still be included as one connection.)

Women trend the opposite when it comes to height. Short women – under 4’11” – average online connections with 33 people, whereas tall women (over 6’) average online connections with less than half -  only 14 people. So ladies, if you are petite – you are in demand online!

An interesting finding that runs contrary to online dating stereotypes is that women who describe themselves as “curvy” or have “more to love” tend to be more socially active than their thin counterparts (28 connections on average, compared to 20 respectively). So if you’re thinking about dismissing or hiding your curves in your online dating profile, it is worth your while instead to show them off, reach out to people, and make more connections.

Bigger men however don’t fare so well. Men who say they are “athletic” and “muscular” are the most popular -  averaging connections with 19 people, whereas men who say they are “large,” “solid” or have “more to love” average online connections with only 14 people.

Age plays a role in most daters’ sociability, too. On average, 18-20 year-old who are just starting out in the dating game are very sociable online, with an average of 14 connections per person for women and 7 for men. People start coupling up or feeling jaded by the time they hit their twenties and into their thirties, with fewer connections than ever. By the time people reach their forties, they have picked up the pace again, and tend to have the highest number of connections – 16 on average per person for women and 8 for men.

The study was compiled over a six-month period with over one million Skout users in the U.S.