2024-05-19 00:11:18
Piccoma has 50% share of the Japanese comics app market… Annual transaction quantity exceeds 100 billion yen
Line Manga can also be a field workplace hit, with MAUs reaching 100 million and single work exceeding 1 billion yen in transaction quantity.
Evidently Korean webtoons won’t be immediately affected by the Line incident… Oblique results are a priority
Korean platforms working in Japan are additionally paying shut consideration to the Japanese authorities’s strain on Naver to promote its stake in Line Yahoo.
It is because there may be an evaluation that this incident is greater than only a theft of ‘Line Messenger’ and is extra of a protecting position to guard Japan’s platform and IT business as a complete. Particularly, the webtoon business reminiscent of Kakao Piccoma and Line Manga, that are increasing their affect within the Japanese market, are additionally very nervous.
In keeping with associated industries on the 18th, there’s a rising risk that the negotiations between Naver and Japan’s Softbank to promote shares in Line Yahoo’s holding firm ‘A Holdings’ shall be extended. There are speculations that the tug-of-war between the 2 sides will proceed because the President’s Workplace not too long ago said that the report submitted by Line Yahoo to Japan’s Ministry of Inside Affairs and Communications doesn’t embrace info associated to the sale of Naver shares.
The Line Yahoo incident isn’t just a dispute between firms, however even the governments of each nations are exhibiting indicators of involvement. Some argue that the Line Yahoo incident would be the start line for Japan’s deepening protectionism in digital and content material providers.
At present, about 100 million individuals in Japan use the ‘Line’ messenger. Native public opinion is that the federal government’s intervention is inevitable, as it’s influencing the whole society, together with information, finance, buying, and content material, based mostly on the messenger platform.
The private info leak of Line Yahoo that occurred final 12 months served as an excuse for the Ministry of Inside Affairs and Communications’ ‘capital evaluate’ administrative steering, however it’s stated that they had been finally cautious of the truth that their residents’ knowledge was being focused on the Line platform, that’s, on Korean servers. This, mixed with the anti-Korean sentiment in Japan, is taken into account to be the background for using an uncommon administrative technique known as ‘share extortion’ to drive out Korean firms.
‘Line’ is the one Korean platform service that has turn out to be an unprecedented success within the Japanese market. There’s a view that the Japanese authorities, which was feeling a way of disaster as Ok-contents reminiscent of Ok-Korean Wave, Ok-webtoons, and Ok-games had been quickly penetrating the market in Japan, which was as soon as so barren that it was known as the ‘graveyard of Korean merchandise’, drew its sword towards Line Yahoo as a pilot. can also be being raised.
Because the Line Yahoo incident arose, the webtoon business, which had chosen Japan as its high strategic market, is probably the most anxious. Naver and Kakao, Korea’s main platform firms, are actively making inroads into the Japanese market, a ‘comics powerhouse’, in relation to webtoons, one of many platform’s core companies. Each firms are performing higher than anticipated in Japan.
It has been reported that Kakao Piccoma, Kakao’s world content material subsidiary, has determined to utterly withdraw from the European webtoon marketplace for the primary time in three years. The business predicts that Kakao Pickoma will give attention to the Japanese market as an alternative of Europe.
Kakao Piccoma, which concurrently providers Japanese-style comics ‘Manga’ and Korean-style ‘Webtoons’, is continuous its run at success within the Japanese comics platform market. From July 2020 to current, it has ranked first within the world digital comics platform, and final 12 months, its annual transaction quantity in Japan exceeded 100 billion yen (roughly 870 billion gained). It was reported that in January and February of this 12 months, a single platform accounted for about 50% of the Japanese comics app market share.
Along with Piccoma, Naver Webtoon’s Japanese service ‘Line Manga’ can also be gaining recognition within the Japanese market. Since its launch in 2013, it has achieved success by recording 100 million month-to-month energetic customers (MAU) and exceeding 200 million cumulative downloads. Final 12 months, Line Manga was chosen because the ‘Finest App of the 12 months’ on Google Play in Japan.
Taking a look at particular person content material, Line Manga’s webtoon ‘Admission Mercenary’ surpassed 400 million views in whole, and final 12 months’s transaction quantity exceeded 1 billion yen (roughly 8.7 billion gained), setting the file for the best single work ever. As well as, works reminiscent of ‘Empress Remarriage’ and ‘Plundering Bride’ had been produced one after one other with a month-to-month transaction quantity of greater than 100 million yen (roughly 900 million gained).
As Line Manga is an affiliate of Naver, it has been elevating consciousness by way of advertising linked to Line Messenger when it first launched its service in Japan. It’s inevitable that they are going to react extra sensitively to this Line incident than to Kakao Piccoma.
Nonetheless, the prevailing prediction within the business is that though Line Manga is expounded to Naver and Line Yahoo, it won’t be immediately affected by the aftermath of this incident.
Line Manga is below Webtoon Leisure, which oversees Naver’s webtoon enterprise. Webtoon Leisure owns a 70% stake in Line Digital Frontier, the operator of Line Manga. And Naver owns 71.2% and Line Yahoo owns 28.7% of Webtoon Leisure. The reason is that the chance issue won’t be massive as Naver holds the place of the biggest shareholder by way of governance construction.
After all, because the Line incident remains to be ongoing and it’s unknown how far the repercussions will develop, Kakao Piccoma and Line Manga can not utterly calm down. Though our authorities has drawn a line relating to the Line incident, saying, ‘It isn’t one thing that can escalate right into a diplomatic battle between Korea and Japan,’ oblique results might proceed. Particularly, within the case of Line Manga and Webtoon Leisure, there are issues that the enterprise ecosystem could also be shaken within the aftermath of the sale of Line Yahoo’s shares, and that company worth evaluation and future company listings could also be adversely affected.
In the meantime, different IT firms which have entered the Japanese market, together with software program (SW), info safety, and cloud, are additionally anxious concerning the path by which the current Line Yahoo incident will unfold. If the scenario continues for a very long time, there are issues that the Korea-Japan startup change, which has simply begun with the current opening of ‘Ok-Startup Middle Tokyo’, shall be disrupted.
An official within the IT business stated, “We have now been working laborious to develop the Japanese marketplace for a number of years, and we’re carefully watching the influence this Yahoo Line incident may have on our gross sales.” He added, “If it turns into an emotional battle between Korea and Japan, it is going to undoubtedly have a damaging influence available on the market.” stated.
[서울=뉴시스]
2024-05-19 00:11:18