[Japan] LINE NEWS Launches New Video Program “VISION”

2019.06.27 LINE NEWS

• A place for creators to unleash their creative expression

• Participating top creators include Masahiko Sato, Kundo Koyama and Gakuto Akashi

• Encourages new forms of video expression for smartphones

 

TOKYO – June 27, 2019 – LINE Corporation (“LINE”) announces that it has launched VISION on June 26. VISION is a new video project on LINE NEWS, a news service operated by LINE.

 

Pursuing innovative news forms for the mobile era, LINE NEWS hits 65 million monthly active users (MAU) with over 10 billion page views (PV) as of the end of May 2019. Delivering over 7,000 pieces of personalized contents daily to 65 million users, LINE NEWS, together with its more than 900 media partners, continue to expand as one of the largest contents platforms in Japan.

*As of the end of April 2019

 

Last year, LINE NEWS began the LINE NEWS Experimental Project to explore new ways of providing mobile-first content and address challenges in creating such contents. LINE NEWS announces the launch of VISION as part of the LINE NEWS Experimental Project.

 

VISION is a new place for creators to unleash their professional and creative talents for new mobile video productions

VISION is a vertical-form video content that are posted in the News Tab on the LINE app. It aims to develop new forms of video expressions dedicated to the mobile device and provide a place for creators to unleash their creative expression. Today’s internet is flooded with video contents created and published by general users. While the internet allows individuals to broadcast their own content, LINE NEWS sees limitations in such user-generated contents. VISION was created in hopes to bring together active professional creators—videographers, models, and directors—to collaborate with each other’s creativity and lead the way to develop a new form of internet/mobile video content. 

 

VISION offers vertical, short-form, and exclusive* videos contents. What is unique about VISION content is that the videos consist of program/series and each title owns a LINE Official account. While each short video is a complete episode and optimized to watch on mobile devices, VISION programs are offered in series to give a sense of continuity. The LINE Official Account connects internet video content to users who previously simply “watch and leave.” The new video forms and the LINE Official Account can help to build long-term user engagement and develop video contents dedicated to and only available on the LINE platform.

*Published videos are LINE NEWS exclusive content and will not be available on other channels or media.

 

Participating top creators include Masahiko Sato, Kundo Koyama and Gakuto Akashi 

VISION aims to create new video expressions by encouraging creator (videographer) to react with another creator (model). Much of today’s video content on the internet has the videographer as the subject, however VISION separates the creators to encourage a wide variety of combinations and transform video expressions created from the mutual chemistry between creators into content.

 

Masahiko Sato, Kundo Koyama and Gakuto Akashi will also participate in the project, and in the future, VISION intends to invite participation from the public through recruitment of creators and creations and to provide support.

 

 

Participating creators

From top left

 

Masahiko Sato

Professor

Tokyo University of the Arts

“PythagoraSwitch” 

 

Jin Kurihara

Producer

NIPPON TV

“SHARK TANK”

 

Kundo Koyama

Broadcast writer, scenario writer

“Departures”

 

Yugo Nakamura

Interface Designer

“Design Ah! “

 

Gakuto Akashi

ONE MEDIA Inc. CEO

 

 

Officially launched at noon June 26, VISION brings titles inspired by the synthesis of creators

 

Through VISION, a new initiative under the LINE NEWS Experimental Project, LINE NEWS will continue to explore various modes of providing content as a leading media provider for smartphone-based news.

 

LINE will also work to continually introduce a wide variety of offerings to provide valuable information touch-points to both businesses and users, and to expand the potential of their diverse uses as communications infrastructure.