Editor's note: This article comes from the WeChat public account "三文娱乐" (ID: hi3wyu), author: Yiyi, and 36 Krypton is published with authorization.
Affected by the epidemic, Line Friendsstore’s revenue in the first quarter of 2020 dropped 43.4% year-on-year to 193 million yuan (2.909 billion yen).
But this doesn’t seem to have had much of an impact on Line’s revenue.
’s financial report shows that Line’s first quarter revenue was 3.913 billion yuan (58.968 billion yen), achieving a year-on-year growth of 6.6%. From the perspective of revenue structure, Line’s revenue mainly consists of three parts: communications, content and advertising. Line’s biggest revenue still comes from the gaming part of its advertising business and content provision.
’s communication business revenue mainly comes from the sales of stickers and emoticons.
Line's emoticon pack business originated in 2011. At that time, emoticons were just a fusion of cartoons and emoji symbols to provide Japanese mobile phone users with a richer and more interesting emotional communication channel. It is worth noting that once this service is launched, it is not a completely free service, but provides users with paid download content.
In 2013, Line launched the emoticon store, about a year later than Kakao officially launched Kakao Friends. Up to now, both Line Frends and Kakao Friends have turned the online emoticon business into a big business that continues to generate revenue. (Review: Turning emoticons into big business, Kakao Friends sold 841 million yuan a year)
In 2019, Kakao Friends sales exceeded 841 million yuan, and LineFriends’ revenue was approximately 1.27 billion yuan (19.189 billion yen) .
LineFriends Online Income Crisis and Self-Rescue
Line Friends originated from the communication tool Line and officially operated independently as its subsidiary on January 30, 2015.
Prior to this, the emoticon pack business had already brought good income to Line. After the Line emoticon store was launched in 2013, the sticker emoticons launched adopted a paid download model. The cute stickers and expressions have attracted many users to buy them. In 2013, they contributed nearly 710 million yuan (10.8 billion yen) in revenue to the company’s communication business. In 2015, the revenue from this business was approximately 532 million yuan (8.035 billion yen). .
Relying on Line's huge and growing number of users, Line Friends has also maintained good business revenue.
’s current annual revenue of 1.27 billion yuan does not only come from paid downloads of online emoticons.
LineFriends has always treated emoticon packs as IP in operation and monetization:
online, emoticon packs earn income through paid downloads, and also make emoticon characters into animated series;
offline, high popularity online Develop derivatives based on emoticon characters for offline sales.
In addition, Line also provides physical commercialization services for third-party emoticon makers.
Currently, Line has more than 10,000 stickers and audio emoticons. In the Line Store, users can not only easily purchase stickers, but also purchase various props for LINE games. Line encourages users to create stickers spontaneously through the LineFriends Creator platform, and sell the works to users using Line around the world through the platform, and can also get 50% of the revenue (after deducting the 30% fees charged by Apple, Google, etc.).
However, the development of Line’s emoticon business was not smooth sailing. Expanding offline business based on emoticon characters was also the way to survive at that time. Since
was launched in 2013, the number of Line sticker emoticons used has been growing rapidly from Q1 2013 to Q3 2015. However, after entering the fourth quarter of 2015, the growth in the use of emoticons slowed down, falling by 20% quarter-on-quarter. That growth has continued to decline for several quarters since.
At this time, Line began to enter the "Emoji Pack Making Money 2.0 Plan" - continue to expand into overseas markets and launch emoticon packs in more regions around the world; further explore the commercial value of emoticon packs as IP by opening offline stores.
So, now we review the development trajectory of Line’s emoticon business, and we can summarize seven points:
official stickers are online, free trial and paid download/free content, more cute content requires payment;
official sticker business is available After successful cases, Line Creators Market was launched to build a platform UGC business and share the revenue with third-party emoticon authors 50/50;
Line explored more ways to commercialize emoticon packs and began to cooperate with brands and product parties to sell emoticon packs to those who have needs. Partners who do publicity charge a fee;
Line operates the official emoticon character IP - promoting animations and comics based on the emoticon character;
further expands the influence of the official emoticon character IP through animation and comics, and then promotes physical products and opens offline stores;
Create an IP open platform - through Creators Management, help third-party emoticon IP providers to do physical commercialization authorization;
Line Friends theme park opened to explore more cross-border commercial monetization based on emoticon IP.
So, the Line Friends revenue we see now includes revenue from paid downloads, physical store sales and other businesses.
Line’s official sticker business has been constantly exploring new business models and operating proven business models as a platform. This is the biggest factor that has enabled LineFriends’ annual revenue to grow to 1.27 billion yuan in the past ten years.
Today, Line has 84 million monthly active users in Japan, a year-on-year increase of 4 million; monthly active users in major countries and regions (Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, China) have reached 165 million, a year-on-year increase of 1 million. In terms of geographical distribution, users in Japan account for 71% and overseas users account for 29%.
Line is a communication tool born in adversity. The 2011 March 11 East Japan Earthquake killed 19,533 people across Japan, and 2,585 people are still missing. Line was officially launched in June of the same year. As the epidemic sweeps the world, Line once again faces the challenge.
On April 14, 2020, Line launched the "Cute Lie Otter_The Opportunity of the Story" sticker to promote "otaku culture". The "BROWN Infection Prevention Seal" launched on the 16th of the same month was themed on epidemic prevention measures. Promote frequent hand washing, exercise more, wearing masks, etc.
Line said that under special circumstances, it is hoped that through these soft and cute expressions, people can have fun chatting with interesting stickers and heal the depressed mood of not being able to go out. As an instant messaging software, Line has healing and cute elements in its genes, which is a natural fit with its emoji business.
From emoticons to IPs, cross-border marketing of Line emoticon characters deserves attention
From a sticker emoticon to a globally popular character IP, cross-border marketing is indispensable behind this.
Line Friends originated from the emoticon pack of the mobile communication tool Line, and consists of 11 initial members including the well-known Brown Bear, Coni Rabbit, Mantou Man, and Sally Duck. With business expansion, Line Friends has developed into an independent brand, mainly operating character IP, and its business includes games, animation, theme parks, coffee shops, etc. The original members also changed their names to BROWNFRIENDS.
In October 2017, Line Friends joined hands with the popular idol group and BTS , and the members of BTS personally participated in the design to launch the new character BT21.
Line Friends combines idol culture with character culture and has swept the entire Line user circle, especially among Millennial users. BT21 is also the first character launched through "Line Friends Creator" and fully created by a non-Line team. As soon as
BT21's emoticon pack was put on the shelves, more than 28 million people downloaded it, and once BT21's official Twitter was opened, it attracted more than 1,900 people. In April 2019, BT21 released 9 videos through SNS, introducing the character's relatives, friends and competitors, as well as the family's past and future, and instantly gained high popularity. The corresponding video received an average of over 1 million views on the day it was launched on Youtube.
In December 2018, BT21 collaborated with ZEPETO to launch BT21 theme pendants and clothing. In less than a month of the event, more than 1 million users decorated their 3D virtual images with BT21 themes. As soon as the product was put on the shelves, it quickly spread on SNS, with more than 35,000 related topics appearing. At the same time, BT21 has achieved a 2-fold increase in ZEPETO’s revenue.
In January 2019, according to a survey conducted by the Korea Tourism Organization on 22,272 tourists from 137 countries, among the "Korean attractions that want to follow in the footsteps of BTS", the Line Friends store in Itaewon received 11.8% of the votes. No. 4.
As the popularity of BT21 has grown, the Line Friends store has also increased its horsepower to produce related products. However, this has aroused dissatisfaction among fans of the original member BROWNFriends, and even led many fans to create comics to satirize the official behavior of focusing on one thing and the other.
Collaborating with idols allowed Line Friends to see the secret to rapid success. In 2018, it officially cooperated with the popular Chinese idol Wang Yuan to launch ROY6, which quickly gained high popularity in China. No matter where Wang Yuan goes, ROY6 will accompany him, leaving a deep impression on the fans and having a good publicity effect.
On Double Eleven in 2018, LineFriends officially launched in Chongqing. On the opening day, more than 1,000 people lined up. As soon as the news came out that Wang Yuan would arrive at the store in person on the 18th, it attracted more than 10,000 fans. However, because the number of people exceeded expectations, the trip was eventually canceled to prevent an accident.
At Wang Yuan’s concert in November of the same year, 5,500 fans wore ROY headbands to support him. The ROY6-themed song "WILL YOU" topped the list on QQ Music as soon as it was released. This wave of craze did not stop in Chongqing, China, but spread to Times Square in New York, USA. The news that
Roy6 has entered Line Friends was promoted through the big screen in Times Square, successfully attracting the attention of Wang Yuan's fans at home and abroad.
Maximizing business realization depends on offline
After Line Friends officially operated independently as a subsidiary, it took 5 years to open a total of 160 offline stores and 12 online stores in 19 countries and regions around the world.
At the Line Friends Shinjuku store, which opened in Tokyo, Japan, in March 2018, before the door even opened, the queue of fans waiting to enter the store had already reached the Omotesando subway station 1,000 meters away. On the opening day, it received more than 6,000 consumers, and 15,000 people entered the store throughout the day. A total of more than 1.5 million people were attracted to the store one year after its opening, and sales that year increased by 215% compared to the same period. To this day, many customers still visit the Shinjuku store.
Line Friends, which opened at the LA Hollywood store in the United States in June 2019, ushered in a long queue of 1,000 people before the door even opened. On the first weekend of opening, it welcomed 18,000 local consumers and tourists. Line Friends' sales in North America are growing at an alarming rate, with an increase of 215% in 2018 and 429% in 2019.
Line Friends opened in Gangnam, Seoul in August 2019. Fans braved the sweltering heat and lined up in a long line from the entrance of the store to the Gangnam subway station 300 meters away. On the opening day, more than 8,300 consumers were welcomed. Some fans even came to Seoul from all over Korea the day before in order to be the first to visit the new store.
In April 2019, Shanghai Oriental Pearl changed the color of its lighting for the first time for a specific character - Sally Duck. As the Pearl of the Orient at night, the entire building glows with yellow light to support the “I’m Sally” themed exhibition taking place inside. The move was also to celebrate Sally Duck's birthday. During the opening week, 60,000 people from all over the world gathered to visit. The 4.6-meter-tall Sally Duck standing next to the exhibition hall has also become a holy place for Internet celebrities to check in.
Line Friends related people also said that Line Friends, as the vanguard of "role diplomacy", has successfully gained high popularity in China. On Double Eleven in 2015, Line Friends ranked first in the sales of infant toy products, and on Double Eleven in 2017, sales reached 26.5 million yuan (4.6 billion won).
The popularity of offline stores also extends to online.In order to meet the needs of more consumers, on September 19, 2019, Line Friends used its character IP to launch "LINE Friends Creator", an online communication platform for making "your own fashion items" to the world. On the day of launch, it welcomed more than 250,000 users.
A person from Line Friends revealed that 30% of the users who visit Line Friends stores are Chinese and 70% are foreigners. This also depends on whether the store is located in a well-known tourist destination such as Times Square in New York, Hollywood in Los Angeles, and Itaewon in South Korea.
Previously, the Boulevard store, which had recorded monthly sales of 5.76 million won (1 billion won) in South Korea, was finally closed on September 30, 2019 due to the gradual decrease in tourists and the damage to the entire business district.
*The currency units in the text are all "RMB". According to May 16th, 1 Korean won = 0.005761 yuan; 1 Japanese yen = 0.06635 to convert
