Japanese Messaging App Line Opens Up to Advertisers

 





Line, the Japanese messaging app with more than 450 million users, has a message for the ad world: We're open for business.
The service, which is reportedly considering an IPO, announced a partnership Monday with Salesforce.com that would let advertisers target users via the service. Marketers have already had the ability to reach consumers on Line, but Salesforce now lets them include the messaging app in a dashboard with a suite of apps. The upshot: Line and possibly other messaging services may become just another channel for marketers, along with Facebook, Twitter and search.
For marketers, the new dashboard will look like this:

Image: Salesforce

RJ Talyor, VP-mobile products for Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud, says Line users will likely only see marketing messages if they opted in for engagement with a brand. Such messages might include coupons or other enticements. Line's service is free to users, but the company charges marketers to use the platform. Details weren't available, but the charges start a $0.01 per message. Salesforce didn't reveal which marketers it is working with at this point. Talyor says the integration with a marketing dashboard like Salesforce's is an "industry first."

See also: Snapchat Steps Up Its Game With Sophisticated New Messaging Features

As Facebook demonstrated with its $19 billion impending purchase of WhatsApp, many see messaging as the hottest emerging sector in digital media. For advertisers, though, it has been impenetrable. WhatsApp's founders, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, have vociferously opposed advertising on the platform and have vowed to keep it ad-free. Snapchat, however, has tested the waters for advertising with its Snapchat Stories, which provides a more hospitable environment for ad messages since "snaps" stick around for 24 hours, making communication less labor-intensive. On Monday, PayPal President David Marcus also joined Facebook's Messenger unit, a signal that the company may be looking to monetize that app.
An addition challenge or opportunity for marketers on Line is that users tend to employ emoticons and stickers rather than text. Instead of saying "Let's go for a beer," for instance, you might message a picture of a cartoon character holding a mug of ale. The visual format contrasts with WhatsApp, which is primarily a vehicle for texts, pics and videos.

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