by
Nitesh Patel
| Aug 22, 2014
LINE is one of the more well-known social networking apps around the world. The Japanese messaging service first launched in 2011 and has since expanded beyond being just a messaging service and into being a full entertainment platform. Gaming has proven to be a key growth factor for LINE which surpassed the 400 million user mark in April 2014. However, if it wants to continue to grow it will need to create buzz in other ways than gaming – Enter its recent promo opportunity with Ariana Grande.
How exactly does the promotion of Ariana Grande and her new album (My Everything) help LINE secure new users?
Grande has a significant following - 17.6 million Twitter followers and 21 million Facebook page likes - and by allowing LINE to have an exclusive early release of her new album it creates an opportunity for LINE to capture those fans who previously have not used the service.
Based on Grande’s position on some of the top music charts (Billboard chart, Spotify, etc.), this is a strategic move for LINE. Spotify’s top chart, in particular, proves that early access to Grande’s new album is a selling point to new users. Problem – Grande’s single from her new album – has been highly successfully on Spotify’s top charts in the US and Globally. The graphic below showcases how popular Problem has been on Spotify’s top 50 streaming list.
Exhibit 2: Spotify’s Weekly Ranking of ‘Problem’ – Globally and in the U.S.
Is the promotion of Ariana Grande’s new album going to help grow popularity?
Among iPhone users it started the second half of 2014 lagging behind in popularity. In fact, it didn’t rank in the top 100 of free apps until the week ending August 15. While LINE has not directly linked the Grande promo with last week’s jump in popularity among iPhone and Google Play users in the U.S., it certainly looks like the promo played a part in the recent success. The exhibit below showcases the instances where LINE reached the top 100 on a weekly basis during the second half of 2014 to this point. Major popularity increases on occurred on the iPhone and Google Play lists in the U.S. after the promo started.
AppTRAX Exhibit: LINE’s Top 100 Rankings – 2H 2014
*RED cells represents a top 10 rank, ORANGE ranks 11-25, YELLOW ranks 26-50, GREEN ranks 51-75, BLUE ranks 76-100, and blank cells represent weeks LINE went un-ranked in the top 100.
- LINE’s 2H 2014 highlights, according to AppTRAX:
- LINE has made at least one appearance inside the top 100 of apps across 4 different platforms
- LINE has made at least one appearance inside the top 100 of apps in 9 different countries
- LINE has been highly successful on Windows
- Japan has been LINE’s top market – it peaked at 1 and never ranked worse than 11
- Mexico has been LINE’s second best market – also never ranked worse than 11th