Dive Brief:
- Bumble announced a new social series to answer Gen Z and millennial dating questions and provide advice, according to information shared with Marketing Dive.
- “Bee Line” will air monthly on YouTube and be promoted across Instagram and TikTok. Consumers are able to submit questions via prompts on the platforms. Comedian and influencer Jake Shane will serve as the host for the first episode.
- In addition to the show, the dating app is rolling out two branded phone booth activations in New York City and Los Angeles. The series comes as branded content and creator-led media becomes more popular, especially among brands looking to connect with younger and digitally-engaged audiences.
Dive Insight:
Bumble is looking to help young consumers with their dating woes as the app looks to rebuild its user base at a time when the number of paying users continues to slip, having dropped 23.1% in Q1 of 2026. “Bee Line” is meant to tackle the nuances and uncertainties of modern dating as Gen Z continues to date less frequently than older generations, largely due to a drop in socialization overall.
“Bee Line” debuts June 16 and will feature a rotating cast of talent still to be announced. The host will answer questions on love and relationships from a cubicle inside the Bee Line office, as well as tell personal stories and offer advice. Consumers will be able to submit questions via social media and a hotline, 844-HI-BEE-LINE. The crowdsourced questions will help to generate social media interaction between users and the brand. Alternatively, on June 12, they can call in from one of two branded phone booths, one near From Lucie bakery in New York City and the other at The Penmar restaurant in Los Angeles.
Branded content and social media series have become a go-to strategy for brands looking to both reach young consumers and imbed themselves into culture. “Bee Line” isn’t Bumble’s first social series. In 2022, the app launched “Luv2SeeIt,” a YouTube series centered around Black dating. Romantic relationships are a common topic for branded series, even for marketers outside of the dating scene. Cava, a Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain, released the second season of its dating show “Bowlmates” series in December.
The content series is part of a larger push by the app’s parent company, Bumble Inc., to encourage young people to have more dating confidence, a key priority in the company’s rebound efforts. Bumble Inc.’s founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd indicated in an earnings report that the company was focused on developing a “higher-quality” user base, with plans to launch a reworked, AI-enabled app later in the year.
“This next chapter will deliver a more intuitive, personalized way to connect and help members move more confidently and quickly to in-person dates,” said Wolfe Herd in the earnings report.
Bumble Inc.’s total Q1 revenue fell from $247.1 million in 2025 to $212.4 million in 2026, a 14.1% drop. Bumble App revenue dropped 14.4% YoY, from $201.8 million to $172.7 million. The company’s total paying user base, which includes the dating app Badoo, declined 21.1% YoY, dropping from 4 million users to 3.2 million.
