Brief Overview

  • Bumble announced a new social series to answer dating questions and provide advice for Gen Z and millennials, a move shared with Marketing Dive.
  • "Bee Line" will air monthly on YouTube and be promoted on Instagram and TikTok. Consumers can submit questions via prompts on these platforms. Comedian and influencerJake Shanewill host the first episode.
  • In addition to the show, the dating app will launch two branded phone booth activations in New York City and Los Angeles. The series launches asbranded contentand creator-led media are increasingly popular, especially among brands looking to connect with young, digitally active audiences.

Deep Dive

Bumble is trying to help young consumers solve dating woes while working to rebuild its user base. Currently, the app'spaying user countcontinues to decline, dropping 23.1% in Q1 2026. "Bee Line" aims to address the nuances and uncertainties of modern dating, as Gen Zdating frequencyis lower than older generations, mainly due to reduced overall social activity.

"Bee Line" will premiere on June 16 and will rotate guest hosts, with the specific lineup not yet announced. The host will answer questions about love and relationships from a cubicle in the "Bee Line" office, while sharing personal stories and offering advice. Consumers can submit questions via social media and the hotline 844-HI-BEE-LINE. Crowdsourced questions will help foster social media engagement between users and the brand. Additionally, on June 12, users can call from one of two branded phone booths, one located 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 common strategy for brands to reach young consumers and integrate into culture. "Bee Line" is not Bumble's first social series. In 2022, the app launched "Luv2SeeIt", a YouTube series focused on Black dating. Romantic relationships are a common theme for brand series, even for marketers outside the dating space. Mediterranean fast-casual chain Cava released the second season of its dating show "Bowlmates" in December.

This content series is part of a larger initiative by Bumble Inc. (the app's parent company) to encourage young people to build more dating confidence, a key priority in the company's revitalization efforts. Bumble Inc. founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said in theearnings reportthat the company is focused on developing a "higher quality" user base and plans to launch a redesigned, AI-enabled app later this year.

"The next chapter will offer more intuitive, personalized ways to connect, helping members move to offline dates with more confidence and speed," Wolfe Herd said in the earnings report.

Bumble Inc.'s total Q1 revenue fell 14.1% from $247.1 million in 2025 to $212.4 million in 2026. Bumble app revenue decreased 14.4% year-over-year, from $201.8 million to $172.7 million. The company's total paying users (including dating app Badoo) fell 21.1% year-over-year, from 4 million to 3.2 million.