Messaging app LINE continued to make strong progress in the first quarter of 2014, with the business achieving record revenue and continuing to build up its user base.
LINE Corporation reported that revenue generated from the messaging app business during the period was JPY14.6 billion ($143.7 million), up 223 per cent year-on-year and 19 per cent compared to the prior quarter.
The company does not reveal profit/loss figures.
LINE has now reached 420 million registered users, adding 20 million users since 1 April. The company said the messaging app has seen user growth in South America, most notably in Chile and Venezuela, following marketing campaigns that included localised stickers and TV advertisements.
Akira Morikawa, LINE Corporation CEO, was recently reported to have said that it is aiming to reach one billion users in 2015, more than doubling its current user base. Morikawa has stated several times that LINE aims to reach at least 500 million registered users by the end of the year.
The fact that LINE reports registered users rather than monthly active users makes comparisons with rival messaging apps difficult. WhatsApp’s most recent monthly active user figure is 500 million, while WeChat/Weixin had 355 million monthly active users at the end of March.
LINE’s localisation efforts also paid off in terms of boosting foreign users and sales. It added more languages to existing game titles, including Thai and traditional Chinese, and launched more localised stickers, with particular success in Italy and France.
The number of companies using official accounts and sponsored stickers within LINE increased, while the Free Coins virtual currency was made available in eight countries.
Morikawa said that with significant change in the mobile messaging sector so far in 2014, LINE was pleased with the continued expansion of its user base, “growing our potential as a platform as well as our profitability”.
LINE’s rise has been bolstered in recent months with the extension of its LINE Call voice offering, enabling low cost calls to mobile phones and landlines both domestically and internationally in Japan, the US, Mexico, Spain, Thailand and the Philippines. The messaging platform previously only offered free voice and video calls between LINE users.
In addition, LINE launched Business Connect, a customisable corporate service that allows business users to send targeted, optimised messages to specific users; and LINE Creators Market, an open platform for the sale of user-produced stickers.
The new services are part of the ‘Beyond LINE’ initiative in which the company is looking to evolve the services it offers users.
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