·User growth rate particularly high among males in 30s-50s

·LINE NEWS and LINE TODAY cumulative MAU exceeds 150 million

 

TOKYO – April 20, 2017 – LINE Corporation announced today that its Japan-only LINE NEWS service has exceeded 59 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of March 2017. This total includes monthly active users of the News Tab and other news pages in the LINE messaging app, as well as users of the dedicated LINE NEWS app, the LINE NEWS web page, and news accounts provided via the LINE Account Media Platform.

 

The ability to receive push-delivered news within the LINE app that users use every day, as well as catch up with the day’s biggest news in a more visual presentation using pictures and simple titles, has helped fuel LINE NEWS’ strong reception by the Japanese public. Furthermore, the introduction of the News Tab in February 2017 and greater focus on news distribution within the main LINE messaging app, with its vast user base of over 66 million MAUs, has also been a major influence in helping LINE NEWS’ MAU total grow to 59 million (an increase of 13 million since December 2016). 

 

See here for the announcement of the News Tab (Japanese only): https://linecorp.com/ja/pr/news/ja/2017/1662

 

In the three months between January (one month prior to the release of the News Tab) and March, LINE NEWS saw the most significant user growth amongst males in their 50s, followed by males in their 40s, and males in their 30s. Younger age groups, who were already using the service at high rates, saw an uptick in their MAU totals, but the most significant expansion was among men 30 and above. 

 

Similarly, since the addition of the News Tab in Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia in February, the MAU total for LINE TODAY (a similar LINE messaging app-based news distribution service provided in these three markets) has risen to 91 million users as of March 2017 (up 31 million since December 2016).

 

As a result, the combined MAU total for LINE NEWS and LINE TODAY has now surpassed 150 million.

 

LINE is aiming to make LINE NEWS the biggest smartphone news service in Japan, and will continue to drive ahead with various new initiatives. 

 

References

LINE NEWS screenshots

 

 

News Tab in the LINE messaging app

 

 

LINE NEWS Overview

LINE NEWS offers several ways for users to get the news—in addition to the LINE NEWS smartphone app, LINE has also rolled out LINE NEWS DIGEST, which distributes news digests three times a day via the LINE NEWS official account (LINE ID: ＠linenews), LINE NEWS Magazine, which serves as a magazine for the smartphone era, and the LINE Account Media Platform, which currently lets 172 media partners distribute news digests or information edited and organized in their unique perspective. Most recently, the News Tab was added to the LINE messaging app in February 2017 in conjunction with LINE’s efforts to achieve its “Smart Portal” strategy.

 

Official Account

Account Name: LINE NEWS

LINE ID: @linenews

 

Smartphone App

App name: LINE NEWS

Supported devices: Android, iPhone

Supported languages: Japanese

Supported region: Japan

Service launch: July 18, 2013

Cost: Free

Developer and operator: LINE Corporation

Official website: https://news.line.me

 

App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/line-news-line-gong-shinyusuapuri/id669458941?mt=8

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.naver.linenews.android

(App available in Japanese stores only)

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