The Meet Group

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.

Dating apps happily boast about their sign-up rates or the number of marriages they’ve created, but they’re understandably reluctant to release less flattering figures. How many users actually stick with an app once they’ve created a profile? How many let their account lapse, or delete the app altogether? Which apps are most quickly abandoned?

In pursuit of more juicy data, mobile data company Ogury sampled more than six million mobile user profiles from its network to take a deep dive into usage habits around the world. They focused on users in the US, UK, France, Italy, and Spain who had used dating apps within the six months between January and June 2017. To present the most balanced findings, they were were careful to maintain an identical male to female ratio in each region.

Ogury’s results reveal a landscape that may surprise online dating’s biggest advocates. One chart in the report shows that dating app longevity leaves something to be desired, with most app uninstalls occuring within the first day of usage. Zoosk users, at 44.1%, are most likely to uninstall in less than 24 hours, followed by Grindr at 33.6% and Tinder at 32.9%.

Spring is off to a big start for MeetMe. The social discovery service recently announced the beta launch of a live video feature in its popular applications, followed a few days later by a completed acquisition and a rebrand to The Meet Group.

MeetMe introduced Live to the world on March 30. Live is a one-to-many video feature that allows users to broadcast themselves, watch other users’ broadcasts, and chat in real time. The feature is now available to MeetMe’s beta community, with plans to roll out to more users in the coming weeks.

After the completion of the initial rollout, MeetMe intends to launch new freemium products within the video streams to help monetize the feature and encourage broadcasters to produce high-quality content. The company also expects to bring the feature to its Skout mobile applications later in the year.

Cast your mind back to 2004. The year was a big one for the blossoming industry known as social media. Facebook debuted and went on to become the world’s largest social networking platform. Tagged and Hi5 also launched in 2004, and though they remained relatively under the radar, both earned significant revenue through games and paid features.

Tagged purchased Hi5 in 2011. After renaming the parent company ‘If(we)’ and changing its focus to social app development, revenue began to drop. Plans for an IPO were also dropped. Now, six years later, social discovery platform MeetMe has acquired If(we) for $60 million in cash.

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.