COURTLAND BROOKS INTERNET DATING AGENCY-CONSULTANCY

Who's Speaking Where?

COURTLAND BROOKS - I thought I'd take a look over some of the top large digital conferences to see what dating heavy-hitter C levels and leaders are speaking where.

FUTURE

Web Summit usually has a smattering of top-flight dating C levels. The next Web Summit is on Nov 11-14th in Lisbon and, so far, lists the CEO of Grindr, George Arison. See link.

The Sifted Summit is run by Sifted.eu, a media brand backed by the Financial Times that focuses on the European startup community and is on Oct 2-4 in London. The COO/Co-Founder of Hily & Taimi, Jake Vygnan is listed as a speaker. See link.

PAST

NOAH connects Europe's digital market leaders and listed Marc Schachtel, the CEO of ParshipMeet Group as a speaker for the London event in June. See link.

Veecon is Gary Vaynerchuck's conference, which looks like California's answer to SXSW, and happened Aug 9-11th, in L.A. Tinder's SVP Global Marketing, Stephanie Danzi was on a panel talking about how brands can work with creators/influencers. See link.
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No one from the Internet dating industry was a speaker at Affiliate Summit East in June, and no one is listed for Affiliate Summit West next February. See link.

Also, no one from the online dating industry is speaking at the next Affiliate World, which is in Hungary in September. See link.
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Please let me know if you see any other major C levels and leaders from the dating industry speaking at major conferences at [email protected]

The Top Internet Dating Reporters in 2023, According to Online Personals Watch

COURTLAND BROOKS - Each year we take a look at which reporters have received the most coverage on Online Personals Watch. Here's our rankings for 2023.

1. Anna Iovine, Mashable
Anna Iovine, a long-term member of this top ten list, takes first place this time, with 12 of her articles used on OPW last year. She is an associate editor at Mashable, mostly covering big companies like Bumble, Tinder, and eHarmony.

2-3. Jessica Bursztynsky, Fast Company
Jessica, another well-known name to us, takes the shared 2nd place with 11 of her articles used for our posts. She is a staff writer for Fast Company, also mostly covering big company news.

2-3. Sarah Perez, Tech Crunch
Jessica shares 2nd place with Sarah Perez, the consumer news & apps reporter for Tech Crunch. Sarah regularly appears on our top 10 list and was at the top last year. She mostly covered Match Group and its brands.

4. Lauren Forristal, Tech Crunch 
With 9 articles used on OPW, another Tech Crunch reporter takes 4th place. Lauren stands out by often introducing new brands to the market and new features of well-established and lesser-known apps.

5. Aisha Malik, Tech Crunch 
5th place goes to Aisha Malik, a senior writer for Tech Crunch. We used 3 of her articles, which focused on Match Group and Tinder.

Shared 6.- 10. place
We used 2 articles written by each of these reporters:
Emma Hinchliffe, senior writer for Fortune, 
Amanda Silberling, senior writer for Tech Crunch
Dana Leigh, editor at Techround
Audrey Kemp, reporter for The Drum
Harri Weber, former senior reporter for Tech Crunch, now freelancer
Aditi Shrikant, senior reporter at CNBC
Denny Jacob, reporter at Wall Street Journal
Ivan Mehta, reporter for Tech Crunch

Which Dating Apps Got the Most Press Coverage in 2023?

COURTLAND BROOKS - Last year, we mentioned 185 internet dating industry brands in 677 posts. Match Group and its brands are still dominating this list and Tinder took over the first place from Bumble this time. Here is the full list of companies with the most press coverage for last year.

1. Tinder (85 posts)
Tinder returns to the first place with mentions in 85 posts published on OPW during 2023. The app published another issue of its annual Year in Swipe report in December. It added some new features, for example Prompts, Info Tags, and Quiz and "Are You Sure" in November, Tinder Matchmaker in October, Match Expiration in July, or Incognito Mode in February. In September, Tinder launched a $500-a-month subscription plan called Tinder Select. In September, Taru Kapoor, the head of Tinder India, left after 8 years with the company. In June, the company announced its departure from Russia.

2. Bumble (79 posts)
Bumble takes 2nd place with mentions in 79 posts. Founder and longtime CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd stepped down in November, with Lidiane Jones, former CEO of Slack, announced as her successor. Despite solid Q3 financial results, these news negatively affected the company's share price. Bumble for Friends became a separate app in July, launched in Germany, and won the Google Play Best of 2023 User's Choice award in November. Bumble added features like Review before you send, Recommend to a friend, and speed dating. In August, Bumble crossed the $2B mark in global user spending. Bumble acquired Official, an app designed to strengthen relationships for couples in May.

3. Match Group (65 posts)
Match Group ended up 3rd with mentions in 65 posts, often related to its brands. Despite reporting the highest ever quarterly total revenue in its Q3 report in November, its shares went significantly down. In August, Garbo, the background check provider, ended its relationship with Match Group. In July, Linda Kim was promoted to CEO of Hyperconnect, and Sam Ahn moved to Asia's Chief Innovation Officer for Match Group). Malgosia Green was named CEO of Match Group Asia in April. In June, Match Group dropped its patent infringement lawsuit against Muzz. The company introduced the gay dating app Archer in June and Even, a dating app for single parents, in May. Hawaya, the dating app for Muslims, was shut down in January. Match Group laid off 8% of its workforce in February.

4. Grindr (39 posts)
Grindr scored mentions in 39 posts last year. The company lost half of its staff after trying to force a return to office and is still working on rebuilding the team. They added several key execs: Zac Katz as Head of Global Affairs, Tristan Pineiro as VP of Brand and Communications, Solmaz Shariat Torbaghan as Director of AI and Machine Learning, and Tolu Adeofe as Director of Investor Relations. Grindr reported solid Q3 results with revenue growth of 39%. AI chatbots were added to the app in December.

5. Hinge (31 posts)
Hinge was mentioned in 31 posts. Hinge hired Tamika Young as VP of Global Communications and launched a $1M social impact fund in December. In February, the new $49.99/month subscription plan called HingeX was launched.

6. Muzz (14 posts)
Muzz was mentioned in 14 posts, partly covering the legal battle with Match Group. Muzz hosted matchmaking events globally and raised $400k to support Syrian refugees.

7. PlentyofFish (13 posts)
PlentyofFish was mentioned in 13 posts. POF underwent a significant rebrand last year. The brand launched the Share My Date feature in April. A class action claiming age and gender discrimination was filed against PlentyofFish in March.

8. eHarmony (12 posts)
eHarmony scored 12 mentions in 2023. It introduced a new look in November. A lawsuit for alleged misleading membership claims was filed against eHarmony in Australia in September. eHarmony launched new features for LGBTQ users in August.

9. OkCupid (10 posts)
OkCupid got 10 mentions on OPW last year, including experimenting with ChatGPT-generated questions in February.

10. Spark Networks, CoffeeMeetsBagel, Match.com, and FITFCK
Each of these 4 companies got 8 mentions in 2023, with FITFCK being the only relatively new brand on this list.

Why Nobody Likes Dating Now

AMERICAN SURVEY CENTER - Bumble's Whitney Wolfe Herd explained "There is a world where your dating concierge could go and date for you with other dating concierge[s] . . . and then you don't have to talk to 600 people," she said. It sounds utterly dystopian. AI chatbots chatting up other bots to forge connections for their human counterparts. Singles are pessimistic about dating life. Dating apps are accused of being part of the problem. There's a rising distrust between men and women: less patience and more risk aversion. Young women today expect young men to contribute in ways their fathers never did. Marriage is less of an immediate goal for many young people, and parenthood is more of an open question. A recent Pew poll found that young men are more interested in becoming parents than young women. A growing share of single young singles are deciding that romantic relationships or marriage might simply not be worth it.

by Daniel A. Cox
See full article at American Survey Center

Mark Brooks: The only way AI concierges would really work is if they were given inordinate access to users' other apps, comms, and behavioral data, to properly assess their character. Then, it could get quite interesting. Bumble, as a trusted brand, could be one of the few dating companies that could be granted enough access to be able to make this kind of feature fly. I don't buy that people really don't want romantic relationships. Homo

Why Did Garbo Fail? Unraveling Its Unmet Potential With Match Group & Tinder

REALME - Dating apps are facing trust issues due to many fake profiles and a 800% increase in scams. Match Group incorporated Garbo in an attempt to enhance user safety, but despite its substantial user base and noble goals, it failed to deliver. Here's why Garbo failed and how RealMe could potentially fill the gaps left by Garbo.

User Experience Dilemma: Despite having 2.5M users, Garbo provided a fractured experience, forcing users to leave the primary dating platform, impacting user retention and Match's credibility.
Information Dependency: Garbo didn't work well because it needed users to know a lot about their potential matches early on, which is hard during the beginning of online interactions.
Absence of User Verification: Garbo didn't check if users were real, which is important for correct background checks.

The RealMe Solution
Integrated User Experience: By partnering with apps like Say Allo, The RealMe offers an uninterrupted, in-app experience, maintaining user engagement.
Simplified Search Process: A simple click on any profile initiates the search, with no need for users to know extensive info about their matches.
Comprehensive Background Checks: RealMe's extensive scan across 389 data sources offers a complete background check.
User Verification: The distinctive badge on profiles verified by The RealMe ensures genuine interactions and significantly reduces the risk of encountering fake users.
Ease of Integration: The service can be easily integrated into existing platforms.

Garbo's endeavor with Match Group showed there is a substantial demand for trust-building tools in online dating. However, the lack of a seamless user experience and comprehensive services hindered its success. The Real Me addresses these limitations, offering a more inclusive and robust solution. 

See full article at RealMe

Dating Apps Put a Hefty Price Tag on Finding Love

Appeared in the Aug 28, 2023, print edition as 'Apps Put a Higher Price on Love'

WALL STREET JOURNAL - Match Group recently added a plan to Hinge at $50/mo, up from $35, and is examining interest in a plan for Tinder at ~$500/mo. Bumble is considering a tier above its $60/mo plan. Grindr plans to add more premium offerings. Companies are betting on premium tiers to boost growth, even if adoption is limited to a fraction of users who are more intentional daters.

Match has made up ground, with revenue per payer rising in the past two quarters. Bumble reported paying users rose 20% to 3.6 million in its most recent quarter from a year earlier.

Match which will roll out a superpremium tier on Tinder in the fall. "If you actually take a small fraction of our payers at higher price points, you actually get a number that's in the tens of millions of dollars on an annual basis," CEO Bernard Kim said.

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd sees premium services delivering new opportunities. "We see that there's a lot of runway to expand there."

Even if uptake is slow, there is precedent behind the move to raise prices. Mark Brooks, CEO of Courtland Brooks, which helps online dating companies grow, said that other brands, such as eHarmony and Tawkify, have for years priced their premium services above what Tinder, Hinge and Bumble charged. The stakes are high in showing users that paying is worth it, Brooks said. Otherwise, they could defect to competing platforms. "They've got to actually really deliver on it, because they'll get crucified if they don't," said Brooks.

The League, another app in Match's suite of offerings, has a $1,000 weekly subscription.

by Denny Jacob
See full article at Wall Street Journal

The Essence of Teamwork

MARK BROOKS - I watched this video today and found it very inspirational on the topic of teamwork.

Our Next Industry Leading Events

COURTLAND BROOKS - We have two kinds of events. Online, and offline.

Our online event is LTR (see www.LTR.us) and is open to IDEA members. LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and is for leaders of dating companies. It's free to join if you are a full-time leader at an online dating company.

Our offline event is IDEA Summit (see www.IDEASummit.org), and these are for a small number of dating company CXOs to meet. These are by-invite-only, so we can balance the groups for optimal learning and sharing.

These events are free, as is IDEA (see www.IDEA.gp) membership. To join IDEA and start getting invites to our events, please email [email protected].

Our next event dates are...

• Wed 12th July - LTR
• Tue 8th Aug - Smitten & Courtland Brooks IDEA Summit in Iceland
• Wed 6th Sep - LTR
• Thu 28th Sep - Evercore ISI & Courtland Brooks IDEA Summit in New York

The Top Internet Dating Reporters in 2022, According to Online Personals Watch

COURTLAND BROOKS - Each year we take a look at which reporters have received the most coverage on Online Personals Watch. Here's our rankings for 2022.

1. Sarah Perez, Tech Crunch
Sarah Perez secured the top spot in this ranking with 14 published posts. Her coverage primarily focuses on major companies such as Match Group, Tinder, Bumble, and Facebook Dating.

2. Lauren Forristal, Tech Crunch
Lauren Forristal, a reporter who joined Tech Crunch in April 2022, makes her debut on the list. We have included 8 of her articles published between Aug and Dec. She specializes in writing about new features introduced by both major and smaller dating apps.

3. Anna Iovine, Mashable 
Anna Iovine continues to feature on this list for multiple years. As a culture reporter for Mashable, she contributed 5 articles last year. Her coverage primarily revolves around Bumble and Tinder, along with a piece highlighting defunct apps and sites.

4.-10. We included 3 articles from various reporters, including:

Natasha Lomas, Tech Crunch 
Natasha Lomas is a long-term reporter for Tech Crunch. She covered the Match Group complaint against the Google Play store.

Rachel Thompson, Mashable 
Rachel Thompson, a senior culture reporter for Mashable, regularly reports on internet dating news, including Bumble and Tinder.

Jessica Bursztynsky, Fast Company
Jessica Bursztynsky has been a staff writer for Fast Company since July 2022 and a former tech reporter for CNBC. Her articles focused on Match Group news and matchmaking.

Laura Forman, Wall Street Journal
Laura Forman, a tech columnist for the Wall Street Journal, has been featured for the second year on our list. Her articles covered Hinge and investor news.

Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune Magazine
Emma Hinchliffe, a Senior Writer for Fortune Magazine, is a fresh addition to our list. She explored topics related to Tinder and Bumble.

Erin Carson, CNet
Erin Carson, a former Senior Writer for CNet who currently teaches journalism at Belmont University, is a new name on our list. Her coverage last year focused on news surrounding Tinder, Bumble, and OkCupid, providing informative insights into these dating apps.

Sarah Mahoney, freelancer
Sarah Mahoney, a freelancer and regular contributor to Media Post, is another new addition to our list. Her articles, published in Media Post, covered news related to OkCupid, Tinder, and Match Group

Which Dating Apps Got the Most Press Coverage Last Year?

COURTLAND BROOKS - Last year, we mentioned 177 internet dating industry brands in 887 posts. Although Match Group and its brands are clearly still dominating this list, Bumble takes first place again. Here is the full list of companies with the most press coverage for last year.

1. Bumble Dominates Headlines with 76 Mentions
Bumble got the highest number of mentions on OPW in 2022. Here are some of Bumble's news we covered last year. While Whitney Wolfe Herd remains the CEO of the company, she hired Drena Kusari to be the Bumble app's GM in December. Bumble continued its growth. They briefly brought a fictive dating app Bantr to life in October. They also started testing a speed dating feature which was launched at the beginning of this year. In Sep, Bumble surpassed 1OOM in lifetime downloads and also launched Audio Prompts In Aug, a revamped version of BFF launched. In June, several Bumble execs were hit by a lawsuit over lackluster offering. In Apr, Bumble launched an IRL program that would allow singles to get out and meet at free events. Probably the biggest news in 2022 was the acquisition of French dating app Fruitz, closed in Feb.

2. Tinder Celebrates 10 Years with 73 Mentions
Tinder turned 10 last year. Its growth slowed down. However, it still launched multiple new features during last year - Relationship Goals in Dec, Tinder UNI in the UK in Oct, School of Swipe in Aug, Festival mode in May, or background checks in Mar. Tinder lost CEO Renate Nyborg after less than a year with the company in Aug, Melissa Hobley moved from OkCupid to the role of Tinder CMO.

3. Match Group in the Spotlight with 67 Mentions
Match acquired The League in July, launched Stir in Mar, and shut down Ship in Nov. CEO Shar Dubey left the company in May, replaced by the former President of Zynga Bernard Kim. Garbo started to offer free background checks on all Match Group apps in Aug. Barry Diller sold all his Match Group shares in Sep. As every year, Match Group was involved in several lawsuits, the most press coverage got the ones against Muzmatch and Google.

4. Hinge Had 31 Mentions
Hinge launched in Germany in Sep. The app added some new features in 2022, like video verification in Oct, Video Prompts in Sep, or Self-care Prompts in May. Hinge hired a new CMO in Jan.

5. Grindr Makes Waves with 29 Mentions
Grindr's biggest news of 2022 was the IPO. To help with the IPO, the company hired a new CEO in Sep. Grindr was banned in China in Feb. The app also added a few new features last year: Albums, a new way to share private content, in Mar or an AI system for content moderation in partnership with Spectrum Labs.

6. OkCupid's Featured in 18 Mentions
OkCupid launched Cupid's Picks in May and published a number of studies like the one about the Global state of digital dating in Dec.

7. Match.com Highlights Single Shaming and Background Checks
Match was mostly mentioned as a part of Match Group. It launched background checks in cooperation with Garbo in July or published a study about "single shaming" in Apr.

8.-9. Muzz (formerly Muzmatch) and POF, each with 11 posts
Most of Muzmatch's press coverage in 2022 were mentions of the trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Match Group, which Muzmatch lost and was forced to change its name to Muzz. POF added a new CMO to its team in June and introduced a dating card game as a new feature.

10. Spark Networks and Blued, both with 10 posts
Most of Spark Networks' news was financial results announcements, but the company named a new CEO in Dec and a new CPO in Mar. Blued was bought by Newborn Town last year and its Founder stepped down from the CEO and Chairman role in Aug.

Please note: The number of posts does not reflect the total number of press mentions. We curate the most relevant press mentions for our audience, which primarily consists of CEOs in the online dating industry.