NewsPress Release
April 17, 2018
Kakao Sets Sights on Japan’s JPY 4.45 Trillion Video Streaming Market with piccomaTV
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Kakao Japan, operator of the leading Japanese manga app piccoma, announced today its business results for the past two years and the plan to launch a new video streaming service, “piccomaTV,” this summer.
At the 2nd anniversary of piccoma held at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Kakao Japan’s CEO Kim Jae-yong announced that the company posted JPY 824 million in quarterly revenue, a whopping 446% hike from the comparable period in 2017, and the number of piccoma’s monthly active users hit an all-time high at 2.9 million as of the end of March 2018.
According to the data released on April 11 by global app data provider App Annie, piccoma ranked 8th in terms of combined quarterly revenues from Apple App Store and Google Play for the first three months ended March 31, surpassing the global video streaming platform Netflix. The leading Japanese manga app also topped the popular book app list at App Store as of April 17.
At the event, Kakao Japan also announced that piccomaTV, its new video streaming service, will be launched this summer. The popular Japanese manga app operator plans to develop piccomaTV’s original series based upon tried-and-true manga and will remake popular piccomaTV originals into manga as well.
Kim added, “We see that the Japanese video streaming industry is transitioning from offline to online businesses. There is still a 4.5 trillion won worth offline DVD market, which presents huge business opportunities to us. Moreover, we will differentiate our video streaming service by adopting piccoma’s proven business model.” To win over manga fans in Japan, piccoma introduced its proprietary business model, slicing manga books into chapters to service shorter and cheaper offerings. That pay model has emerged as a role model for the industry, with a growing number of manga publishers and platform operators adopting it.
According to Digital Content Whitepaper 2017 released by Digital Content Association of Japan, the video streaming market in Japan has expanded by about JPY 20 billion annually over the past years, and the broader Japanese video market grew to JPY 4.45 trillion recently.
In a way to help manga artists going global, Kakao Japan plans to take extra steps by holding Global Manga Contest this year where manga authors from Japan, Korea and China can compete against each other.
Kim added, “We are well aware of the fact that the dedication of our partner authors and publishers, and their quality manga, are what made piccoma’s remarkable achievement possible in such a short period of time. With that in mind, we will make much effort to create an ecosystem where piccoma and authors can grow together.”
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About Kakao
Kakao, better known as South Korea's largest mobile messaging app operator, is an integrated mobile lifestyle platform company with services including mobile messaging (Kakao Talk), gaming (Kakao Games), music (Kakao M), e-mail (Daum Mail), search (Daum Search), news (Daum News), and more. With the mission of "Connect Everything", Kakao is dedicated to creating an ecosystem of connectivity where people can stay connected with family and friends by sharing what matters to them. For more, please visit at www.kakaocorp.com.
About piccoma
piccoma is a popular manga platform in Japan that Kakao introduced in April 2016 via its Japanese business unit. Just in two years after the launch, piccoma won over 2.9 million monthly active users as of March 2018 and ranked 8th and surpassed the global video streaming platform Netflix in terms of combined quarterly revenues from Apple App Store and Google Play for the first three month ended in March 31, 2018. The leading Japanese manga app also topped the popular book app list at App Store as of April 16. This summer, Kakao Japan’s new video streaming service piccomaTV will hit the market. For more, please visit piccoma.com and www.kakao.co.jp
Press Contact
Jeff Kim
Communications Manager
jeff.kim@kakaocorp.com
+82-02-6718-2889
At the 2nd anniversary of piccoma held at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Kakao Japan’s CEO Kim Jae-yong announced that the company posted JPY 824 million in quarterly revenue, a whopping 446% hike from the comparable period in 2017, and the number of piccoma’s monthly active users hit an all-time high at 2.9 million as of the end of March 2018.
According to the data released on April 11 by global app data provider App Annie, piccoma ranked 8th in terms of combined quarterly revenues from Apple App Store and Google Play for the first three months ended March 31, surpassing the global video streaming platform Netflix. The leading Japanese manga app also topped the popular book app list at App Store as of April 17.
At the event, Kakao Japan also announced that piccomaTV, its new video streaming service, will be launched this summer. The popular Japanese manga app operator plans to develop piccomaTV’s original series based upon tried-and-true manga and will remake popular piccomaTV originals into manga as well.
Kim added, “We see that the Japanese video streaming industry is transitioning from offline to online businesses. There is still a 4.5 trillion won worth offline DVD market, which presents huge business opportunities to us. Moreover, we will differentiate our video streaming service by adopting piccoma’s proven business model.” To win over manga fans in Japan, piccoma introduced its proprietary business model, slicing manga books into chapters to service shorter and cheaper offerings. That pay model has emerged as a role model for the industry, with a growing number of manga publishers and platform operators adopting it.
According to Digital Content Whitepaper 2017 released by Digital Content Association of Japan, the video streaming market in Japan has expanded by about JPY 20 billion annually over the past years, and the broader Japanese video market grew to JPY 4.45 trillion recently.
In a way to help manga artists going global, Kakao Japan plans to take extra steps by holding Global Manga Contest this year where manga authors from Japan, Korea and China can compete against each other.
Kim added, “We are well aware of the fact that the dedication of our partner authors and publishers, and their quality manga, are what made piccoma’s remarkable achievement possible in such a short period of time. With that in mind, we will make much effort to create an ecosystem where piccoma and authors can grow together.”
###
About Kakao
Kakao, better known as South Korea's largest mobile messaging app operator, is an integrated mobile lifestyle platform company with services including mobile messaging (Kakao Talk), gaming (Kakao Games), music (Kakao M), e-mail (Daum Mail), search (Daum Search), news (Daum News), and more. With the mission of "Connect Everything", Kakao is dedicated to creating an ecosystem of connectivity where people can stay connected with family and friends by sharing what matters to them. For more, please visit at www.kakaocorp.com.
About piccoma
piccoma is a popular manga platform in Japan that Kakao introduced in April 2016 via its Japanese business unit. Just in two years after the launch, piccoma won over 2.9 million monthly active users as of March 2018 and ranked 8th and surpassed the global video streaming platform Netflix in terms of combined quarterly revenues from Apple App Store and Google Play for the first three month ended in March 31, 2018. The leading Japanese manga app also topped the popular book app list at App Store as of April 16. This summer, Kakao Japan’s new video streaming service piccomaTV will hit the market. For more, please visit piccoma.com and www.kakao.co.jp
Press Contact
Jeff Kim
Communications Manager
jeff.kim@kakaocorp.com
+82-02-6718-2889
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