A newsstand in Tokyo. Photo credit: Ingmar Zahorsky.
Line, the blockbuster messaging app, is already one of the most popular places for Japanese users to consume news. The Line News service, baked into the Line app itself, claimed 12 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of May. That number could increase thanks to new partnerships announced today that will add 24 popular online, print and TV news outlets.
From the Asahi and Mainichi newspapers – the country’s second- and third- largest dailies by subscriber base – to media giants like the BBC and AFP, Line users will be able to receive their fill of local and international news without leaving the app.
Line will apparently share 50 percent of advertising revenue with these new content partners.
Breaking the news
While Line hasn’t been terribly successful as an all-encompassing “lifestyle platform” – apart from games – the new deal is likely to grab the attention of homegrown news apps SmartNews and Gunosy.
The revamped offerings in Line News.
Back in December 2014, Gunosy was reporting roughly 3 million MAUs across Japan. The startup has since gone public. SmartNews, on the other hand, was seeing 4 million MAUs in Japan and 5 million internationally in September.
Both of those figures have probably increased, but it’s unlikely that either is reaching the 12 million that Line claims. It’s also impossible to verify Line’s claim, since Line News exists within the Line app itself – which sees 212 million MAUs globally. Dentsu says Line has 40 million MAUs in Japan specifically, as of this month, so 12 million for Line News isn’t hard to believe.
For users in Japan, the Line News service is already showing the new update. Upon launch, users can choose which of the 24 new media outlets to follow, divided by categories (world news, tabloids, business, etc.). Users can read the news at their leisure or elect to receive digests up to three times a day.
There’s no word if Line’s beefed up news service will be coming to other markets in Asia. We’ve reached out to Line and will update this post if they reply.
See: Startups are winning Japan’s news app war. A VC explains how
Editing by Steven Millward
(And yes, we’re serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
