LINE is the most popular social media platform in Japan followed by Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. When comparing the Monthly Active Users (MAU) of these 5 social media platforms, LINE is obviously the most dominant in the Japanese market in 2019.
LINE’s penetration rate is surprisingly high. Actually, it is higher than the smartphone penetration rate in Japan. This is because there are also many non-smartphone users who access LINE from a computer or tablet device. LINE has 80 million MAU compared to the nation’s 70 million smartphone users.
LINE is also a pioneer of virtual stickers for its messaging app. The virtual stickers are one of LINE’s core services that generates a decent portion of its revenue. Stickers are created by LINE, amateur creators, and companies with each using stickers as one of their marketing tools.