Cupid Will Trial New Subscription Plan in US

Cupid plan to trial a new subscription model when they launch Uniform Dating in the US this summer.

Group Finance Director Niall Stirling told Alliance News that the Edinburgh-based company will attempt a pay-as-you-go model for the brand.

Cupid just launched Uniform Dating in Australia, and released over-50s brand lovebeginsat.com in the US.

Speaking to Alliance News, Stirling said:

“One of the things we will be doing in the US is building a new platform that allows users to use different subscription models.

“If it works over there, then we will look to bring that flexibility into some other markets as well.”

In their annual review of 2013, the dating company reported a loss of £7.9m, compared with a profit of £9.2m in 2012.

A few weeks ago, Cupid said their earnings before tax and revenue all indicated progress in 2014.

They said the EBITDA loss was better than expected, at £3m, and that revenue for the first half of 2014 would be £7m, slightly lower than expected. 

Stirling told Alliance News that Uniform Dating in the US and Australia would be one of their main focuses this year.

In June, chief executive Phil Gripton also said they would move towards producing social apps for younger demographics:

“The dating market continues to report growth and our strategy of focussing on niches remains a strong option. There is however increasing pressure from the advance of a new breed of more intuitive, mobile, social dating applications.

“We continue to develop our core offering and will address this development in our on-going strategy. As planned we have started to invest in our data adtech proposition and will continue with that as our plans progress to initial revenues in H2.”

This move includes a partnership with Sprylogics, who own Poynt, to allow their users to plan and book events in-app.