The Meet Group, Inc. owns several mobile social networking services including MeetMe, hi5, LOVOO, Growlr, Skout, and Tagged. The company has millions of mobile daily active users. Its mobile apps are available on iOS, and Android in multiple languages. Through these apps, users can stream live video, send gifts, chat, and share photos. The Meet Group derives revenue from in-app purchases, subscriptions, and advertising. The company has offices in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dresden, and Berlin. The Meet Group has transformed its business from being a predominantly advertising model to now generating the majority of revenue from user pay sources, which include subscriptions and in-app purchases for virtual gifts as part of its video live-streaming product. The company also derives revenue from advertising. In the second quarter of 2018, 60% of revenue was derived from user-pay, versus 26% in the second quarter of 2017. Livestreaming video revenue has become an increasingly important component of revenue and growth, and the product has been rolled out to all of the Company's main apps. myYearbook derives its revenue from three sources: advertising, virtual-currency sales, and monthly subscriptions. Advertising makes up two-thirds of its revenue, with the other sources making up the rest. It has an established sales office based in New York City and Los Angeles.
History
Two high school students, Dave and Catherine Cook, created myYearbook during their Spring break of 2005. They persuaded their older brother Geoff, who had founded EssayEdge and ResumeEdge from his Harvard dorm room, to invest in their project. At the launch of the site, Dave was a junior and Catherine was a sophomore; the project was initially activated at Montgomery High School, in suburban New Jersey where they attended. The site was created entirely by workers in India. In 2006, myYearbook raised $4.1 million from U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital. In 2008, it raised $13 million in a Series B round. In 2008, the company partnered with casual game developer Arkadium to bring Flash based games to the site. The games incorporated Lunch Money, the myYearbook virtual currency. Lunch Money earned playing games was usable elsewhere on the site. In April 2009, the site added the Meeboinstant messaging client to the site in order to provide real time chat. In November 2009, myYearbook launched Chatter, a real-time stream that incorporated media sharing and gaming to help bring members together. Games playable inside the stream included Ask Me, Rate Me, and Two Truths and a Lie. These games incorporated mechanics to help myYearbook members meet each other. By April 2010, the site reported the Chatter feature surpassed one million posts per day. In January 2010, myYearbook rolled out a new site design aimed to appeal to an older demographic. myYearbook chose the final site design by crowdsourcing its members. In May 2010, myYearbook launched an iOS and Android mobile app designed to bring the Chatter real time feed to mobile devices. The company ended 2009 with a $20 million run rate. In December 2010, myYearbook partnered with Viximo service to provide better gameplay opportunities for users. In July 2011, myYearbook announced it had agreed to be acquired by Latino social networking site Quepasa. In December 2011, myYearbook launched an iPad app in an attempt to reach the tablet market. In June 2012, the company formed from the combination of myYearbook and Quepasa was renamed MeetMe. This change is because "Yearbook" means more about meeting friends from the past while "MeetMe" would convey the meaning of users making new friends, which is what the website is intended for. In October 2016, MeetMe acquired Skout, a global mobile app for meeting new people, for $55 million. On April 3, 2017, the company acquired if and rebranded it to The Meet Group. In September 2017, Meet Group acquired German dating app In March 2020, it was announced that The Meet Group would be acquired by ProSiebenSat.1 Media.
