Coronavirus Being a Labour of Love
Hey, you should meet Match Group! It owns Tinder, OkCupid, and PlentyOfFish, and it lost almost half its stock market value in March. Fortunately, April has been a different story. The wing-company is recovering well, with 94% of the Invstr community having fallen back in love with the stock, according to our Big Data on the inside!
Match revealed on Friday that app usage had actually held steady since quarantine, not falling as many investors had assumed. The appeal of internet dating was thought to be to scout potential suitors and then arrange to meet in-person, but perhaps the business isn’t that simple. With real dates out of the question, virtual activities and video chats are filling the white space and ensuring there’s no love lost.
This matters for investors both in and out of the dating scene. The most talk of late has been about our new quarantined life, and which routines could outlive the virus and become permanent.
For example, some executives now plan to renegade on long-distance business trips; video conferencing is far cheaper. The same goes for think tanks, and companies like Match Group are hailing digital-first dates as the new normal!
If people can find a romantic connection before taking the daunting step of meeting an internet stranger, instead of after, that will benefit the entire dating sector. It will help tear down stigmas, and more people will give online dating a shot.
It might be a struggle for some apps to moderate video chats, and it could be a race to develop infrastructure at scale. The missteps in growing an online dating app can often cause heartbreak. This is a sensitive business. However, it’s surely a thrilling one for investors.
Match Group is preparing to look its best for an earnings report this week. Don’t ghost it!
