Chances are you've heard of Bumble (BMBL) -- it has a reputation in the dating app world as the "ladies message first" dating app. After becoming immensely popular, the company extended its possibilities into the social and professional networking world. With Bumble's BFF friend-finding and Bumble Bizz's professional networking services, meeting people after moving to a new city or starting in a new career field is as simple as finding a date has become. Bumble is even stirring up buzz overseas thanks to its acquisition of Fruitz, a dating app popular in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, and Canada.
The company has done a great job establishing itself as a more empowering dating app than other hookup and dating sites thanks to its femme-friendly messaging rules. Bumble participates in its fair share of community support. In April, the company partnered with Bloom to provide trauma support for sexual assault survivors free of charge.
The company also has been known to employ various ways to innovate in the online dating scene, including Pride events and even a card game. The company also hosts Bumble IRL, "in real life" events for single people to meet one another (they used to be called "mixers" in the pre-internet days).
'Ted Lasso' Comes to Bumble
Bumble will once again be modernizing a dating concept from a bygone era thanks to the Apple+ (AAPL) smash hit series "Ted Lasso." The show about a comically optimistic American football coach who moves to England to manage a soccer team has captured the hearts of viewers in its two seasons, winning 11 Emmys.
In the world of "Ted Lasso", the team's owner uses a dating app called Bantr and she accidentally falls in love with a player on her team. The entertaining and romantic story that follows touches on a time in the early aughts of online dating when faceless strangers connected in AOL chat rooms before meeting face-to-face. That's because Bantr doesn't allow its users to upload photos of themselves.
Apple+ and Bumble are teaming up to bring Bantr to its audience with a weekly live event called Bantr Live. Bumble users can participate for free by RSVPing to the event. They'll be notified with the event begins, and will be randomly paired with other users. The partners will DM for three minutes, after which they'll choose if they want to keep talking or not. If both swipers say "yes", the chat will move to Date Mode and they'll be able to see each other's profiles.
The show's branding will be seen during the event, likely in preparation for the release of a third season of the show. Participants will also be given a free two-month subscription to Apple TV+ in case they want to binge "Ted Lasso" again.
Dating Apps Get Romantic
This collaboration is a great way for Bumble to test a new feature. The premise is already in practice on a lesser-known message-based dating service for queer women known as Lex.
According to Bumble's Global VP of Partnerships Olivia Yu, "the premise of Bantr is a dating experience many of our members have expressed interest in over the years. Bantr Live enables our community to connect with someone unexpected and learn more about a person before seeing them. We look forward to people on Bumble having fun with Bantr Live and connecting and dating in a new and exciting way."
The event will launch on Oct. 13 at 7:00 p.m. CST, and will be available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia through the end of 2022.
