Which Dating Sites Received The Best And Worst PR In 2015?

COURTLAND BROOKS - Feb 23 - Here's our overview of the best and worst press coverage of 2015. Which Internet and mobile dating companies did the best and the worst?

THE BEST INTERNET DATING PRESS COVERAGE:

1. TINDER: 117 posts on OPW (in 2015 and January 2016)
   Tinder is the winner this year. They appeared in the news on a daily basis and although they also got some negative coverage, their positive press hits outnumbered them. Here's a couple of poz examples:|
   - India launch
   - Super Like feature
   - Tinder Plus
   - Sean Rad back as CEO
   Negative news included several lawsuits, some bad interviews with Sean Rad, a small round of layoffs, and articles that stated more than a third of Tinder users were married and their response.
   
   
2. MATCH.COM (MATCH GROUP): - 70 posts
   Match had a really a big year. First, it was the dating site's 20th anniversary. In April, they bought Eureka, a Japanese developer of dating apps. In June they acquired POF. IAC then spun off, Match Group, which brings together their Internet dating businesses plus two educational platforms, Tutor.com and The Princeton Review. The newly formed Match Group filed for an IPO in October. Finally, at the end of last year, some changes in the leadership of the company were announced.
   
   
3. eHARMONY: 30 posts
   eHarmony big news last year was the announcement of their move into jobs matching with Elevated Careers.  They had steady press coverage, mostly positive. Some of their news includes their launching of a Spanish version, the move to Los Angeles, and a smartwatch app.
   
   
4. GRINDR: 28 posts
   Grindr announced that it was looking for a buyer in May, and then found a Chinese buyer who bought a 60% stake in the company in January 2016. They had a steady stream of press coverage over 2015 that was mostly positive. They had some negative press hits, claiming, that dating apps like Grindr and Tinder are responsible for spreading STDs. Grindr responded by partnering with Gilead for more educational awareness.
   
   
5. POF: 24 posts
   When it comes to news coverage, POF has had a couple of weak years. The big news in July was their acquisition to the newly formed Match Group. This news was followed by a number of interviews with POF's founder Markus Frind. Prior to this, their major news were mostly negative though - they shut down eVow and Fastlife in the first half of 2015.
   
   
6. OKCUPID: 22 posts
   OkCupid always makes it to this list. Interviews with Sam Yagan are responsible for a good portion of their press mentions, but here is a selection of their "own" news - their algorithm was for sale apparently. People can pay in bitcoins on OkCupid. They launched an Apple Watch app and an "Identity" project, and lately they added a feature for the polyamorous.
   
   
7. HAPPN: 20 posts
   Happn did well during last year and it's press coverage corresponds to it's results. They grew from 2M users in February to 10M members in January 2016. They launched in San Francisco, London, Budapest, Canada. And let's not forget the $14M they raised in October.
   
   
8. BUMBLE: 20 posts
   Launched in November 2014 and got a lot of positive press coverage, a good portion of it thanks to it's founder Whitney Wolfe. Here's one example, a Vanity Fair interview. Mostly the app is presented as "female friendly" with an emphasis on safety. Lately, they also launched an Android app.
   
   
9. THE GRADE (SNAP INTERACTIVE): 19 posts
   The app launched in November 2014 and appeared in the news quite regularly and positively. It grew quickly and surpassed 15M swipes in June, and has the full attention of Snap's founder Cliff Lerner now.
   
   
10. HINGE - 16 posts on OPW
    The app launched in 2012, but according to OPW, this was the best year for it when it comes to press, they scored the highest number of press hits ever and their coverage was positive. Some of the biggest news: they launched in several new locations - London, Canada, India, and began expiring matches after 24 hours in November, but abandoned this feature after two months. We spotted several interviews with the CEO. Here's one of them.

THE WORST INTERNET DATING COVERAGE:

1. ASHLEY MADISON: 53 posts
   Although last year started quite well for them - they were profitable, re-opened in South Korea, and announced an IPO - in July the bad news started. The site was hacked, members data was leaked online, and lawsuits followed. Then more bad news followed: most of the female users were actually bots, Noel Biderman left and the planned IPO was probably just a PR stunt. Despite it all it seems that AshleyMadison is recovering from the hack. AshleyMadison is quite used to negative publicity but 2015 was an exceptionally horrendous year and without a doubt they were the company with the worst press coverage of all.
   
   2. ZOOSK - 20 posts
   Zoosk appears on the negative side of this overview mostly because of the press coverage about the company not doing so well. They started the year with layoffs, abandoned the IPO plans in May and started 2016 with another round of layoffs. Let's see what the rest of 2016 brings for them.