NEW HOPE, Pa.—May 15, 2013—MeetMe, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MEET), the public market leader for social discovery, today announced that it is adding new features to its mobile premium subscription product, MeetMe+. The new release of MeetMe+ adds two new member benefits, as well as two additional “freemium” products that are now available for purchase with MeetMe Credits.

Originally introduced in March 2013, MeetMe+ allows subscribers to see which users have viewed their photos and the photos they viewed, provides for suppression of ads within mobile applications, and gives subscribers bonus virtual currency as well as discounts on virtual currency purchases.

With the enhancements announced today, premium subscribers will also have the option to browse profiles and pictures in stealth mode and discover which users have been asking them anonymous questions by “unmasking” the questions. These features are available as part of a MeetMe+ subscription, as well as through use of the Credits virtual currency by all MeetMe subscribers.

“We are committed to further expanding our mobile monetization,” noted Geoff Cook, Chief Executive Officer. “In the month after the launch of MeetMe+, mobile bookings increased by 81% versus a year ago and 24% versus the Q1 average. We also climbed 32 places from the 83^rd top-grossing app on Android to number 51 among all apps, and we climbed 27 places on iPhone from the 127^th top-grossing app to number 100 among all apps. Today’s announcement strengthens the MeetMe+ product significantly by proving two of the most requested features to subscribers. We expect to release additional upgrades to the MeetMe+ service later this year.”

The pricing for MeetMe+ varies by platform and duration. On Android, the pricing is one year of MeetMe+ at $6.67/month (one payment of $79.99) or one month for $9.99/month. On iOS, the pricing is six months at $6.67/month (one payment of $39.99), three months at $8.33/month (one payment of $24.99), or one month at $9.99.

MeetMe is currently the #1 top-grossing social application in the US Google Play Store, and top 10 among all social applications in the iOS US App Store.

About MeetMe, Inc.
MeetMe® is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Chinese (traditional), Russian and Japanese.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including statements that additional upgrades to the MeetMe+ service are expected later this year, are forward-looking statements.  The words “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include: the risk that our additional upgrades to the MeetMe+ service later this year, will not launch as and when expected.  Further information on our risk factors is contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 and our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 1, 2013.  Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made.  Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

# # #

Contact:
Joe Crivelli
Senior Vice President
Gregory FCA
610-228-2100

NEW HOPE, PA – May 8, 2013 – MeetMe, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MEET), the public market leader in social discovery, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013.

First Quarter 2013 Financial Highlights

• Revenue was $7.8 million, compared to $10.4 million in the first quarter of 2012, or $8.4 million excluding $2.0 million in revenue from an affiliated party, a principal stockholder of the company.
• Revenue attributed to mobile products was $1.9 million in the first quarter of 2013, an increase of 150% as compared to $0.8 million in the first quarter of 2012, with 49% of mobile revenue in the first quarter of 2013 attributed to virtual currency. Mobile average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU) increased 75% from $0.016 to $0.028 during the same period.
• Net Loss was $7.3 million or $0.20 per share, compared with $1.9 million or $0.05 per share in the same period of 2012.  The first quarter 2013 loss includes $3.6 million, or 10 cents per share, of debt and other restructuring charges compared with restructuring charges of $0.3 million or, 1 cent per share, in the same period a year ago.
• Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $1.7 million, or $0.04 per share, compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $1.0 million, or $0.02 per share, for the same period in 2012. (See the important discussion about the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures, and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, below.)
• Cash and Cash Equivalents totaled $4.3 million at March 31, 2013.
• Total Debt fell to $4.3 million at March 31, 2013 from $11.7 million at December 31, 2012, as the company retired $7.0 million of subordinated notes and $1.7 million of related accrued interest during the quarter.

Geoff Cook, CEO of MeetMe, said, “The transition to mobile is accelerating as over 70% of our daily users in the United States and Canada accessed our service via mobile devices in the first quarter. While this transition impacted financial results in the near term, we positioned the company to continue to seize on this trend with the introduction of our premium MeetMe+ service. As a result, we are seeing acceleration of mobile bookings, which were up 81% in April compared to a year ago, and up 24% compared to the first quarter average. On the advertising front, we completed the preliminary launch of our native feed advertising solution in March and we expect to roll out additional networks, including native incented app-install feed ads in May.”

Operating and Business Highlights

• Monthly active users (MAUs) averaged 4.92 million on the MeetMe platform in the first quarter of 2013, an increase of over 50% compared to 3.23 million average MAUs on the MeetMe platform in the first quarter of 2012. Daily active users (DAUs) averaged 1.19 million on the MeetMe platform, an increase of 16% compared to 1.03 million average DAUs one year ago.
• Average Mobile MAUs on the MeetMe platform increased 53% to 2.36 million from 1.54 million over the same period a year ago. Average Mobile DAUs improved by almost 39% to 774 thousand in the first quarter of 2013 from 558 thousand in the first quarter of 2012.
• The MeetMe platform expanded to thirteen languages by the end of April 2013. 37.5% of MAUs in March 2013 came from outside the United States and Canada, as compared to 15.5% of MAUs coming from outside the United States and Canada in the same period a year ago.
• MeetMe+, the company’s mobile subscription product, was launched across the iPhone and Android platforms.

On May 1, 2013, MeetMe announced that it had closed on a line of credit from Western Technology Investment (WTI), a technology focused venture debt fund based in Silicon Valley, which has backed companies including Facebook, Google, and Juniper Networks among others. The facility has an $8 million total commitment and a three-year term. MeetMe has drawn $5 million under the line, and may draw two additional tranches of $1.5 million each contingent upon achieving certain financial goals. As of April 30, 2013, MeetMe maintained an unrestricted cash balance of approximately $9.1 million.

David Clark, Chief Financial Officer of MeetMe, added, “Over the past several months, we have recapitalized the company with the retirement of $8.7 million of subordinated notes and related accrued interest, and the subsequent closing of a line of credit with Western Technology Investment. These actions are designed to provide us with the capital needed to continue the development of our mobile revenue streams and bring us to cash flow break-even.”

Webcast and Conference Call Details

MeetMe will host a conference call to discuss first quarter 2013 financial results this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET. The conference call can be accessed by dialing toll-free 1-888-846-5003, or toll/international 1-480-629-9856. A webcast will also be available at the following link: http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=104564. A replay of the call will be available for one year at the Investors section of the MeetMe corporate site, http://www.meetmecorp.com, and at 1-877-870-5176 (toll-free) or 1-858-384-5517 (toll/international), replay PIN number: 4617015.

About MeetMe, Inc.

MeetMe® is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Russian, Japanese, Dutch, Turkish and Korean.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements regarding our ability to roll out additional networks, including native incented app-install feed ads in May and our plans regarding launching new products and the effectiveness of these new products.  All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including statements regarding the continued growth in our platform, are forward-looking statements.  The words “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include: our ability to roll out additional networks, including native incented app-install feed ads in May, and our plans regarding launching new products and the effectiveness of these new products.  Further information on our risk factors is contained in our filings with the SEC, including the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 and the Current Report on Form 8-K filed May 1, 2013.  Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made.  Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Regulation G – Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The company uses financial measures which are not calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) in evaluating its financial and operational decision making and as a means to evaluate period-to period comparison. The company uses these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. The company presents these non-GAAP financial measures because it believes them to be an important supplemental measure of performance that is commonly used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry.  We refer you to the reconciliations above.

The company defines Adjusted EBITDA as earnings (or loss) from continuing operations before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and amortization of non-cash stock-based compensation, non-recurring acquisition and restructuring expenses and the goodwill impairment charges. The company excludes stock-based compensation because it is non-cash in nature.

Management uses mobile bookings to evaluate the results of our operations, generate future operating plans and assess the performances of our mobile virtual currency products and subscriptions. The Company defines mobile bookings as the total amount of revenue from the sale of our mobile virtual currency products that would have been recognized in a period if we recognized all revenue immediately at the time of sale. We record the sale of Credits and mobile subscriptions as deferred revenue.  Credits are recognized when spent by the user.  For the MeetMe+ subscription product, revenue is allocated between the elements of the subscriptions, Credits and services, using the relative sales value method.  The service revenue element of the subscription is recognized over the respective life of the subscription and the credit revenue is recognized as revenue when used.

Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income, cash flow from operating activities, as a measure of liquidity or any other financial measure. They may not be indicative of the historical operating results of the company nor is it intended to be predictive of potential future results. Investors should not consider non-GAAP financial measures in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP.

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Contact:
E. Brian Harvey
Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-1162 x266
brianmeetmecom  (brianmeetmecom)  
Follow us on Twitter @meetme and @meetmecorp

“It’s been exciting to watch MeetMe transform over the past year to become a publicly traded, mobile-first social discovery network,” said Maurice Werdegar, COO of WTI. “We are especially pleased to continue a relationship that dates back to 2007 and to provide MeetMe with capital to fund additional growth that supports the management team’s vision to become the social gathering place for the mobile generation.”

“This line of credit further strengthens our balance sheet, providing additional funding for continued expansion and innovation, while strengthening our cash position as we pursue our transition to mobile, and it also allows us to monetize the opportunities MeetMe has as the leader in social discovery,” said Geoff Cook, CEO, MeetMe, Inc.

Earlier this year, the company announced the MeetMe social discovery service is now available in more than a dozen languages. Earlier this month, the company announced its first mobile premium subscription product MeetMe+ as well as native feed advertising in mobile applications.

About MeetMe, Inc.
MeetMe® is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Android in more than a dozen languages.

About Western Technology Investment
Western Technology Investment (WTI) is a Silicon Valley based registered investment advisor which manages venture debt funds which invest globally in a wide range of technology companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to publicly-held companies. Over more than 30 years, WTI has arranged loans in excess of $3 billion to exceptional teams building market leading companies, including Facebook, Google, Brocade Communications, Cerent, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, InvenSense, IronPort Systems, Juniper Networks, Neutral Tandem, Postini, and Youku. Please visit www.westerntech.com for more information.

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Contact:
Robin Shallow
EVP Communications & Public Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-7823
robinmeetmecom  (robinmeetmecom)  
Follow us on Twitter @meetme

Investor Contact:
E. Brian Harvey
Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-1162 x266
brianmeetmecom  (brianmeetmecom)  
Follow our business news on Twitter @meetmecorp

Financial results will be issued in a press release prior to the call, which will be hosted by MeetMe’s Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Cook, and Chief Financial Officer, David Clark.

Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Time: 4:30 p.m. Eastern time (1:30 p.m. Pacific time)
Toll-Free Dial-In Number: 1-888-846-5003
Toll/International: 1-480-629-9856

Webcast Link: http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=104564

Please dial-in 5 to 10 minutes prior to the start time. You will be asked to register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the call, please contact Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations, Brian Harvey at (215) 862-1162 x266.  A replay of the call will be available for one year at the Investors section of MeetMe’s corporate site, http://www.meetmecorp.com, and at 1-877-870-5176 (toll-free) or 1-858-384-5517 (toll/international), replay PIN number: 4617015.

Separately, the Company today announced the filing of a Form 10-K/A with the Securities and Exchange Commission that contains required executive compensation information.

About MeetMe, Inc.
MeetMe® is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in more than a dozen languages.

-###-

Contact:
Robin Shallow
EVP Communications & Public Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-7823
robinmeetmecom  (robinmeetmecom)  
Follow us on Twitter @meetme

Investor Contact:
E. Brian Harvey
Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-1162 x266
brianmeetmecom  (brianmeetmecom)  
Follow our business news on Twitter @meetmecorp

Since 2008, Mr. Rhodes has been Chief Operating Officer and Head of Business Development for Tradewinds Investment Management, a hedge fund management firm. Prior to Tradewinds, he was with BlackRock. In 2007, Mr. Rhodes co-founded the Harvard Business School Alumni Angels investment group, which now has 15 chapters globally. He has been an officer, angel investor, or advisor to CyberEdit.com, RepairPal.com, Grouply.com, and myYearbook. Mr. Rhodes has served on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association and on the Board of Sierra Molecular Corporation, a biotechnology company whose products are distributed by Thermo Fisher. He is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) and earned BA and MBA degrees from Harvard University.

“We are pleased to have Spencer join the MeetMe Board of Directors,” said Geoff Cook, Chief Executive Officer. “Spencer was an early angel investor in myYearbook, played a critical role in securing that company’s venture capital, and facilitated a portion of the required financing at the time of the merger of Quepasa and myYearbook. As a long-term investor, he is already familiar with our company, and brings considerable experience evaluating social media and mobile companies.”

From 2006 to late 2011, Mr. Rhodes was an angel investor, Board observer, and advisor for myYearbook, which merged with Quepasa Corporation in November 2011 and subsequently rebranded to MeetMe.

Mr. Rhodes replaces Rick Lewis, who informed the Board of his intent to step down earlier this month.

About MeetMe, Inc.
MeetMe® is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in more than a dozen languages.

-###-

Contact:
Robin Shallow
EVP Communications & Public Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-7823
robinmeetmecom  (robinmeetmecom)  
Follow us on Twitter @meetme

Investor Contact:
E. Brian Harvey
Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-1162 x266
brianmeetmecom  (brianmeetmecom)  
Follow our business news on Twitter @meetmecorp

Hooked founder and CEO Prita Uppal (Image credit: Hooked)

What if mobile ads for games and other apps weren’t quite as random as the standard dating service and fantasy game fare, but actually showed some effort in reaching you, the individual user? An app discovery platform, Hooked, has been trying to do that in the chaotic marketplace of Android app stores. Now it’s looking to add some accountability to those ads by integrating its recommendations into ads for mobile apps and browsers.

Hooked already operates an app in Google GOOG -0.96% Play that suggests apps to users culled from the dozens of app stores available over the Android operating system. The company uses machine-learning algorithms to suggest apps with the highest potential relevance to users up to an exact percentage. Whereas randomly promoted apps in mobile ads are lucky to get a 3% response rate, Hooked claims a 24% conversion rate among those apps suggested to its users.

That high success rate—good for developers and suggesting fewer ad eyesores for the users—is part of why Hooked is announcing social network MeetMe MEET +2.53% as its first partner for recommendation ads. MeetMe is a mostly mobile-based social platform that aims to connect people within games and apps. Working with Hooked gives the company more ways to connect users in social games by channeling users into applications they’ll like and keeping them connected through specially-developed social features like tallies of how many friends have installed a suggested game and how many minutes they spend playing it.

According to Hooked CEO Prita Uppal, Hooked’s recommendations will take up one quarter of the top screen on MeetMe when the integration goes live on May 1. With future partners, Hooked plans to co-brand; the company will also make money by offering sponsored recommendations that Uppal compares to sponsored posts within the Facebook FB +2.68% Newsfeed, only better. Sponsored content is a hot-button issue right now across media publishers and advertising—Uppal maintains that the company will clearly label such app referrals while making sure they still meet a high likelihood of appealing to the user. Overdoing the proportions there or upsetting users, Uppal says, wouldn’t make sense for Hooked or its ad partners.

Hooked, which Uppal founded in San Francisco, positions itself as good for the developer community as it cuts out middlemen who often take a cut from app creators in exchange for often-bogus user installs. Despite a low install rate from such engagements, such manipulating of user numbers can push apps higher on popularity-based lists, improving their chances of getting noticed by actual potential users.

“When developers market their games on mobile with big buys, you spend all this money for a user who isn’t going to open the app,” says Uppal. “We are providing an opportunity for developers to buy quality installs with an engaged audience.”

How a game’s recommendation looks within the Hooked app (Image credit: Hooked)

How a game’s recommendation looks within the Hooked app (Image credit: Hooked)

“Hooked: the Best Android Games,” Uppal’s Android app, tracks 25 million games across over 200 Android app stores. It’s proven popular with users, with 5 million downloads in less than one year and 170,000 daily active users today along with a 4.4/5 star rating out of more than 21,000 reviews on Google Play. Uppal is particularly proud of the recognition the app has gotten from Google itself, which has promoted the app twice in its Google Play store: “Other people in [Silicon] Valley have joked that it’d be easier to win the lottery.”

Hooked sees a lot more opportunity in cozying up to other powers that be. Uppal hopes that Hooked’s ability to help reduce app clutter on Android can translate to partnerships with smartphone manufacturers like Samsung and wireless carriers like Verizon in promotions or as a pre-loaded app. Another potential business for the company would be to sell analytics on overlaps between app’s user bases to tell developers who to target with the marketing for later app releases.

As it branches out within the app community, Hooked will also protect itself from depending on the popularity of its own app. It’s a win-win for apps like MeetMe that need to connect people with each other and new content. And since it can’t block cringe-inducing ads for apps like Tinder from taking over our phones, at least Hook will be serving us app ads we might actually try.

Read Story

MeetMe is now available in a total of 13 language options, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Chinese (Traditional), Russian and Japanese language versions that became available in the third and fourth quarters of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013.

“We are pleased to have achieved the goal we set last year of launching the MeetMe service into more than a dozen languages covering the largest smartphone markets in the world,” said Geoff Cook, CEO, MeetMe, Inc.  “We are now focused on expanding our mobile footprint to our addressable market of 1.5 billion people aged 18 to 30.”

About MeetMe, Inc.
MeetMe® is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Russian, Japanese, Dutch, Turkish and Korean.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements regarding launching new languages on Android and iOS devices.  All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including statements regarding our expansion.  The words “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include: the risk that unanticipated events affect the internationalization of our mobile products, issues that affect the functionality of our mobile application with popular mobile operating systems and issues the affect the launch of new languages on mobile operating systems.  Further information on our risk factors is contained in our filings with the SEC, including the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012.  Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made.  Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

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Contact:
Robin Shallow
EVP Communications & Public Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-7823
robinmeetmecom  (robinmeetmecom)  
Follow us on Twitter @meetme

Investor Contact:
E. Brian Harvey
Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-1162 x266
brianmeetmecom  (brianmeetmecom)  
Follow our business news on Twitter @meetmecorp

NEW HOPE, PA – April 1, 2013 – MeetMe, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MEET), the public market leader for social discovery, announced today the launch of advertising in the Live Feed feature of its mobile applications.

“We are excited to launch new native feed advertising units with Flurry,” commented Geoff Cook, Chief Executive Officer of MeetMe, Inc. “Our location-based Live Feed is the backbone of our service, receiving over two million posts per day. By weaving advertising into the fabric of the app and giving it an organic look-and-feel, we believe we can increase our mobile monetization. The smaller mobile screen demands advertising units that are contextual and social and play to the strength of the mobile device. Last week we launched our mobile subscription service MeetMe+ to monetize our most loyal and engaged users. By launching Feed Advertising, we look to further monetize the vast majority of our audience through their attention to our content. We are committed to furthering our leadership as one of the top-grossing social apps on iPhone and Android.”

Following this launch with Flurry of non-incented mobile app-install ads, the company intends to launch incented mobile app install ads in Q2.

“Beyond consistently ranking among the top grossing Social apps in the App Store and on Google Play, MeetMe has more fundamentally built a very large, fast growing audience of addicted, loyal users,” said Peter Farago, Flurry vice president of marketing. “Adding relevant, contextual mobile advertising in this scenario promises to not only increase revenue for the property, but also provide advertisers access to valuable audience. We are excited to work with MeetMe to bring our thousands of advertisers to the MeetMe platform.”

“We are excited to launch these new mobile ad units as we’ve seen recent industry success with this type of native advertising,” said Bill Alena, Chief Revenue Officer, MeetMe, Inc. “We are actively working toward the combination of partners, ad units, and advertisers that resonate with our users and maximize our revenue.”

About MeetMe, Inc.
MeetMe® is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Chinese (traditional), Russian and Japanese.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including statements that we can increase our mobile monetization by weaving advertising into the app, that we intend to launch incented mobile app install ads in Q2, that we have more fundamentally built a very large, fast growing audience of addicted, loyal users, are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include: the risk that our new advertising measures will not increase our web monetization and that our mobile app install adds will not launch as and when expected. Further information on our risk factors is contained in our filings with the SEC, including the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

-###-

Contact:
Robin Shallow
EVP Communications & Public Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-7823
robinmeetmecom
Follow us on Twitter @meetme

Investor Contact:
E. Brian Harvey
Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-1162 x266
brianmeetmecom
Follow our business news on Twitter @meetmecorp

“With today’s launch of mobile subscriptions, we are excited to broaden and diversify our mobile revenue streams beyond virtual currency and advertising,” noted Geoff Cook, Chief Executive Officer.  “We believe the new subscription service will provide a lot of value to users, especially by enabling them, for the first time, to see who has been viewing their photos and which photos they are viewing.”

“People are naturally curious,” continued Cook. “They want to know who is interested in them. We have seen first-hand that displaying profile viewers is very popular, but the profile itself is a relic of a web-first mindset, as our mobile users engage around photos more and more and less around traditional ‘profiles.’ We believe unlocking photo viewers is the mobile evolution of the ‘profile viewer’ concept, and as such, will help MeetMe+ become a mainstay of our mobile monetization strategy.”

MeetMe+ contains four key premium benefits. In addition to the ability to see which other users have viewed their photos and which photos they have viewed, MeetMe+ also includes the suppression of ads within mobile applications, monthly bonus virtual currency, and discounts on virtual currency purchases. Additionally, non-subscribers will be able to spend virtual currency to take a “sneak peek” at photo viewers rather than subscribing for unlimited access.

The pricing for MeetMe+ varies by platform and duration. On Android, the pricing is 1 year of MeetMe+ at $6.67/month (one payment of $79.99) or 1 month for $9.99/month. On iOS, the pricing is 6 months at $6.67/month (one payment of $39.99), 3 months at $8.33/month (one payment of $24.99), or 1 month at $9.99.

MeetMe currently ranks as the #1 top-grossing app in the Social category of the Google Play Store and in the Top 10 of the top-grossing apps in the Social Networking category of the iTunes App Store.

Additional premium features are expected to launch in Q2 and Q3, both as included benefits for MeetMe+ subscribers and as one-off purchases for non-subscribers, to maintain and broaden demand for MeetMe’s paid services throughout the year.

About MeetMe, Inc.MeetMe® is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Chinese (traditional), Russian and Japanese.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including statements that the new subscription service will provide value to users and that additional premium features are expected to launch, are forward-looking statements.  The words “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include: the risk that our new subscription service will not provide value to users, including by enabling them, for the first time, to see who has been viewing their photos and which photos they are viewing, that our additional premium features will not launch as and when expected and that our additional premium features will not maintain or broaden demand for MeetMe’s paid services throughout the year.  Further information on our risk factors is contained in our filings with the SEC, including the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012.  Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made.  Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

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Contact:
Robin Shallow
EVP Communications & Public Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-7823
robinmeetmecom
Follow us on Twitter @meetme

Investor Contact:
E. Brian Harvey
Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations
MeetMe, Inc.
(215) 862-1162 x266
brianmeetmecom
Follow our business news on Twitter @meetmecorp

MeetMe

Prior to helping start myYearbook, Geoff Cook, 34, founded EssayEdge and ResumeEdge while a student at Harvard University in 1997 and sold it to The Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters) in 2002.

MeetMe also announced its 4th quarter and full year 2012 results last week (see transcript of earnings conference call). Pro forma (non-GAAP) results comparing the annual revenue of myYearbook and Quepasa combined increased grew 31% to $46.7 million for 2012 over 2011, although 4th quarter revenue grew only 23% over the prior year’s 4th quarter. Net loss for the year was $10.3 million, but a non-GAAP measure MeetMe uses, Adjusted EBITDA, was positive $3.9 million for the year, an improvement from a loss of $1.3 million in the prior year. Cash and cash equivalents at year end were about $5 million, down from $8.3 million a year ago.

Cook, in a telephone interview with Philly Tech News, says one of the challenges MeetMe faces is monetizing its rapidly growing mobile traffic at at least the same rate as its web-based traffic, a challenge Facebook also faces on a larger scale. Mobile now accounts for 60% of MeetMe’s daily audience. While Mobile accounted for only 5.8% of MeetMe platform revenue in Q4 2011, it now accounts for 22%. Despite this rapid growth, in Q4 2012 revenue was $0.13 for each daily active user on the web, compared to just over $0.03 for each mobile DAU. While overall traffic continues to show growth (MeetMe daily active users, DAU, increased 14% over the Q3 average to 1.261 million, although the absolute number of page views has dropped during the mobile transition), obviously this wide gap between mobile and web monetization could impact future revenue growth. As Cook said in last week’s earnings conference call, “in the near term, the challenges associated with the shift of our users to mobile will affect operating results, until the monetization of mobile expands sufficiently.”

Monetization of mobile users will require different approaches, Cook says. The first initiative is a premium subscription service, MeetMe Plus, the first stage of which will be introduced in late March. While the mobile platform has proven less amenable to traditional web advertising due to the small screen size and other factors, Mobile may be easier to monetize in terms of subscriptions because it has a built in payment platform (virtually every MeetMe iPhone user has a credit card on file with Apple), making the purchasing process much easier. The first phase of MeetMe Plus will contain four key benefits for subscribers: the suppression of ads within mobile applications; bonus virtual currency every month; discounts on any subsequent virtual currency purchases; and the ability to see which other users have viewed their photos and which photos they viewed. Additional MeetMe Plus features will be rolled out over the course of the year.

The second mobile monetization effort is centered on native advertising, Cook said, through which relevant native content ads will be inserted directly into a MeetMe user’s mobile live feed. The first phase of this initative will begin in late March, in sync with the MeetMe Plus launch, working with a single partner initially.

Another area of expansion for MeetMe in terms of broadening its addressable market has been through adding additional languages to the platform. Late in Q4, MeetMe launched in French, Italian and German, and early this year added Russian, Japanese and traditional Chinese. Although these newer additions are still at an early stage of development, MeetME’s MAUs (Monthly Average Users) from outside the US and Canada has grown from 16.7% in June 2012 to 44% in December.

MeetMe’s focus is on what it calls “social discovery”, or helping people meet new friends. Although it competes with broader competitors such as Facebook to some extent, it has a distinct set of competitors within the social discovery niche, such as Tagged and Badoo, according to Cook. MeetMe’s demographics in terms of age have changed somewhat. Where it was originally aimed more at the high school audience, as its core user based has grown older and MeetMe has broadened its marketing appeal the median user age has increased from about 18 to 20, Cook says, and MeetMe’s current target market is users in the 20 to 30 year old age group.

MeetMe currently has over 150 employees, about 130 of whom are located in New Hope. Most of the rest are in New York. The company has been strengthening its senior management team. David Clark will be joining MeetMe as Chief Financial Officer on April 2nd from NutriSystem, where he has served as CFO since 2007. Co-founder Catherine Cook continues to serve as MeetMe’s VP Brand Strategy.

MeetMe’s primary data center operations are based at an Equinox facility in New Jersey, although the company does use Amazon Web Services’ EC2 for some functions.

Quepasa acquired myYearbook for $100 million in 2011, which included $18 million in cash and $82 million in Quepasa stock. Publicly traded Quepasae changed its listed name to MeetMe and ticker symbol (NYSEAMEX: MEET) last year. In addition to reaching the Latino market, the Quepasa acquisition made it possible for myYearbook to become part of a publicly listed company without doing an IPO. First Round Capital was an early investor in myYearbook (the story was that FRC’s Chris Fralic lived not too far down the road and stopped in one day), to be joined by US Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners. MeetMe currently has a share price of $2.54, and a market cap of $94 million.

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