Parship
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MeetMe is a social discovery app owned by The Meet Group, which is now a subsidiary of ParshipMeet Group alongside eharmony [4][3]. ProSiebenSat.1 became the sole owner of ParshipMeet in 2025 [7][8]. MeetMe and its sister apps Skout and Tagged earn mainly from live video, where viewers buy credits and send virtual gifts to broadcasters [2]. The group's last public accounts, for 2019, showed revenue of $211.7 million, of which $84.1 million came from video [1].
Since the 2020 takeover, the apps' numbers have disappeared into ProSiebenSat.1's accounts. This profile pulls together the history, the last published figures and what ProSiebenSat.1 still says about the business.
Owner and launch history
The Meet Group began as Quepasa Corporation and became a live video and dating group through a run of mergers and acquisitions.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 1997 | Quepasa Corporation incorporated in Nevada [2] |
| 2004 to 2007 | Tagged (2004), MeetMe, originally myYearbook (2005), and Skout (2007) launch [4] |
| November 2011 | Quepasa merges with Insider Guides, the owner of myYearbook [2] |
| June 2012 | Company renamed MeetMe, Inc. [2] |
| October 2016 | Buys Skout [2] |
| April 2017 | Buys if(we); Tagged and hi5 are among the brands it lists [2] |
| 2017 | Renamed The Meet Group; buys LOVOO in October [2] |
| March 2019 | Buys Initech, owner of GROWLr [2] |
| March 2020 | Agrees to be bought by eharmony's parent for $6.30 a share in cash [1][2] |
| September 2020 | Deal closes at an enterprise value of about $500 million, forming ParshipMeet Group [3] |
| March 2023 | ProSiebenSat.1 says the dating unit is for sale and no longer core [9] |
| March 2025 | ProSiebenSat.1 agrees to buy General Atlantic's minority stake and become sole owner [7][8] |
| March 2026 | Reuters reports ProSiebenSat.1 will keep ParshipMeet for now [10] |
Source: The Meet Group filings and announcements [1][2][3][4], ProSiebenSat.1 [7][8], Global Dating Insights [9] and Reuters [10].
Business model: live video and virtual gifts
The Meet Group's 2019 10-K was plain about how live video makes money: "Monetization of Live is done primarily through virtual gifting" [2]. Viewers buy virtual credits through the Apple App Store or Google Play and send gifts to broadcasters, and broadcasters can earn cash rewards for engaging content and time spent streaming [2]. The 10-K did not publish the share paid to broadcasters [2].
The model shifted fast. Video revenue more than doubled from $39.3 million in 2018 to $84.1 million in 2019, while subscription and other in-app revenue fell from $68.0 million to $61.7 million [1]. Advertising, once a large part of the business, fell from 39.9% of revenue to 31.1% [1].
The Meet Group now also sells Livebox, a platform that lets partner apps add live streaming and share the revenue it generates [4]. That turns its live video technology into a second product alongside its own apps.
Revenue and payers: what is published
| Period | Business | Revenue | Video revenue | Advertising | Adjusted EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | The Meet Group | $178.6m | $39.3m | $71.3m | $32.0m |
| 2019 | The Meet Group | $211.7m | $84.1m | $65.9m | $42.2m |
| 2020 to 2026 | MeetMe, Skout, Tagged, LOVOO | Not published separately | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Q2 2025 | ProSiebenSat.1 Commerce & Dating segment | €320m | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Q2 2026 | ProSiebenSat.1 Commerce & Dating segment | €269m | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Source: The Meet Group 2019 results [1] and ProSiebenSat.1 first half 2026 results [6]. The segment figures are external revenues and include the beauty retailer flaconi as well as dating, so they are not app figures.
ProSiebenSat.1 reported Commerce & Dating revenue of €591 million for the first half of 2026, down 14%, or up 5% after adjusting for currency and portfolio changes [6]. It said the dating and video portfolio was "significantly impacted by consumer restraint in Germany and the US" and that revenue from the video social dating business "developed significantly weaker than in the previous year" [6]. It gave no figure for the decline [6].
Revenue per payer. The Meet Group never published a count of paying members, so revenue per payer cannot be worked out. Instead we can divide revenue by daily active members. In the last quarter of 2019, more than 4.8 million people used its apps on an average day [2]. Dividing 2019 revenue of $211.7 million by 4.8 million gives about $44 a year, or $3.68 a month, per daily active member (our calculation) [1][2]. Because the daily figure is for the fourth quarter only, treat this as a rough guide.
Safety and moderation
Live video and gifting carry particular risks, and The Meet Group has long run a large moderation team. At the end of 2019 it had about 50 member services staff in the US and Germany and about 500 contractors in India reviewing images and content and handling abuse reports [2].
Its safety page now says its safety and moderation team has more than 350 people, more than half of its workforce, and that 50 million images a day are reviewed by machine learning and human moderators [5]. It says all live broadcasts are monitored proactively, members must accept a three-step safety pledge before using the apps, and banned members are kept off using device checks [5]. It also describes an age detection engine used to help identify child predators, and work with partners on member verification and age estimation [5]. The 2019 10-K noted that dating services were "not currently required to verify the age or identity of their members" [2], which no longer holds in the UK. See age assurance and the Online Safety Act.
Recent changes
- Ownership simplified. ParshipMeet was set up jointly by ProSiebenSat.1 and General Atlantic [3]. Under the 2025 deal, ProSiebenSat.1 became sole owner, and General Atlantic keeps a fixed €50 million payment due when ProSiebenSat.1 exits ParshipMeet [7][8].
- Sale on hold. ProSiebenSat.1's chief executive said in 2023 the dating business was for sale [9]. In March 2026 Reuters reported it would keep ParshipMeet for now, with one source citing a depressed valuation as a reason to wait [10]. The same report said MFE, the Berlusconi-backed media group, now owns more than 75% of ProSiebenSat.1 [10].
- Weaker video revenue. ProSiebenSat.1's August 2026 results flagged video social dating as notably weaker than a year earlier [6].
- Management. In 2023 co-chief executive Geoff Cook, The Meet Group's long-time leader, left and Marc Schachtel became chief executive of ParshipMeet [9].
Questions
Who owns MeetMe?
The Meet Group, a subsidiary of ParshipMeet Group. ProSiebenSat.1 became sole owner of ParshipMeet when it bought General Atlantic's minority stake in a deal agreed in March 2025.
How does MeetMe make money?
Mainly from live video. Viewers buy credits through the app stores and send virtual gifts to broadcasters, who can earn cash rewards. In 2019 video was 39.7% of The Meet Group's revenue.
How much revenue does The Meet Group make?
Its last published full year was 2019, when revenue was $211.7 million and adjusted EBITDA $42.2 million. Since the 2020 takeover its numbers sit inside ProSiebenSat.1's accounts and are not published separately.
Is ParshipMeet for sale?
ProSiebenSat.1 said in 2023 the dating unit was for sale. In March 2026 Reuters reported it would keep ParshipMeet for now, with a sale a longer-term goal.
