COURTLAND BROOKS - Mar 2 - We published 956 posts during last year on OPWS.news, featuring 257 dating industry brands. Here is who got the most press coverage on OPW.news.
- Tinder (137)
- Match Group (96)
- Bumble (93)
- The Meet Group (58)
- Grindr (46)
- Hinge (40)
- OkCupid (39)
- PlentyOfFish (28)
- Match.com (27)
- Blued (18)
1. TINDER (137 posts in 2020)
Tinder got a new CEO in July. The app launched it's video chat feature globally in October. It maintained the position of the top grossing dating app throughout the last year. As with every year, the app introduced a number of new features, among them Passions and Orientation. SwipeNight launched globally in September. Global Mode was launched in May. In March, Tinder made it's Passport feature temporarily free. These are just a few of the news on Tinder covered by the press last year.
2. MATCH GROUP (96 posts)
Match Group's biggest news came in July, when the company completed the separation from it's parent IAC. They moved to a new home too. Match also bet on video in current situation.
3. BUMBLE (93 posts)
Bumble's biggest news of the year was the December announcement of an IPO. In July, the app reached 100M users. In June, Bumble and Match Group announced, they settled all litigation between the two companies. In October, Bumble hired a new CFO and Chief Brand Officer. It entered in a number of interesting partnerships, among them with Uber Eats or National Domestic Violence Hotline. A number of interviews with Bumble's CEO appeared in the press again.
4. THE MEET GROUP (58 posts)
The Meet Group was sold to NuCom (a part of ProsiebenSat1) and along with other dating assets created the ParshipMeetGroup. The company partnered with PlentyofFish for livestreaming, launched video on Growlr and Tagged, face verification, Blind Date and Second Date on Skout, MeetMe, Tagged and POF. It announced partnership with UrSafe in July and launched monetization on it's gay dating app Growlr in June.
5. GRINDR (46 posts)
Grindr also got a lot of press coverage last year, but not always positive news. It was accused of being vulnerable to sexual predators, being too lenient with racist users, security flaws. It was hit by a class action lawsuit for selling user data, blocked in Pakistan, to name just a few. On a positive note, Grindr removed ethnicity filters, launched a desktop version of the app. The biggest news of the year was the sale of Grindr from Kunlun to San Vicente Acquisition, which was finalized in March.
6. HINGE (40 posts)
Hinge grew significantly during 2020 and it was announced that it is now profitable. The app rolled out some new features, in-app video calls and launched Hinge Labs. It partnered with Headspace and Chipotle. A number of interviews with Hinge's CEO appeared in the press and we featured some of them on OPW.news as well.
7. OKCUPID (39 posts)
Besides doing numerous numerous surveys (and publishing their results), OkCupid rolled out a redesign this week that introduced a new matching system in August. The company donated $1M worth advertising space to civil right organizations. It grew significantly and entered new international markets. On a negative note, OkCupid was accused of sharing user's personal data with advertising and analytics "partners".
8. PLENTYOFFISH (28 posts)
POF partnered with The Meet Group for free livestreaming feature in March and also NextDate virtual events. In October, POF partnered with self-care app Shine. They also contributed to multiple charity causes. In February, POF announced the industry's first Member Advisory Council. This interview with the COO Kate Manolis is also worth reading.
9. MATCH.COM (27 posts)
Match published it's annual Singles in America study in October, launched the "Dates", video dating feature called "Vibe Check", or security feature called "Date Check-in". Match made a $30k donation to the Dinner Bell Foundation in April. We read several interesting interviews with CEO Hessam Hosseini. Match was also recently hit by a lawsuit seeking $10M in penalties for misleading customers.
10. BLUED (18 posts)
Blued's parent company BlueCity filed for IPO in July. Blued also made two acquisitions during last year, lesbian dating app LESDO in August and gay social networking app Finka in November. A "Community" feature was introduced in September. Also the CEO and founder of Blued scored a number of interviews during last year.
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