The question is how sticky that will be?,” says Benedict Evans, a mobile and digital media consultant based in London.Ī plethora of messaging apps, including the likes of Viber and Kik Interactive, are seeking to capitalise the appeal of free SMS services - especially in emerging markets.īut expanding overseas is tricky. “A lot of Line’s growth has been driven by marketing. Spurring them on is the belief that now is their chance to build an international brand, and that if they play their cards right, they can become serious threats to more established social networks such as Facebook Inc FB.O and its instant messaging service.īoth apps have added ‘stickers’ or large cartoon-like emoticons, games and a raft of other features to draw users in, but the jury is still out on whether they’ve reeled in long-term active users and just how far their advertising dollars will stretch. Line, owned by Korean company Naver Corp 035420.KS, declines to say how much it spends but has relied heavily on celebrities in TV ads in many markets. WeChat, a unit of Tencent Holdings Ltd 0700.HK, has budgeted up to $200 million for marketing overseas this year including the Messi ads. rival WhatsApp eschews advertising altogether and has instead relied on word of mouth to become the dominant chat app in many Western countries. The big bucks strategy stands in stark contrast to other messaging apps, or even apps in general, which spend little on marketing. The icon of a free communication app "Line" is pictured on an Apple Inc's iPhone in this photo illustration in Tokyo August 14, 2012.
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