Kakao changed by making money with Kakao Talk… Full-scale start-up of partial payment

Kakao is busy searching for new food through Kakao Talk (hereinafter referred to as Kakao Talk), the’national messenger’. It is an analysis that KakaoTalk is reborn as a’money earning platform’ based on 37 million users accumulated over the past 10 years. With the success of Biz Board, the’advertisement board within KakaoTalk’, other services are predicting to be paid one after another.

KakaoTalk-based profit products that appear in a row

Kakao started displaying advertisements in KakaoTalk in October 2019. It is the first since the launch of KakaoTalk in 2010. It is a product called’Bizboard’ in which a banner advertisement is exposed at the top of the conversation list window in KakaoTalk. It’s a performance structure where you get paid every time you click. You get 10 won per click or 4,000 won per 1000 clicks. Biz Board also set up a place in the shop (#) tab in KakaoTalk last November.

Bizboard continues to advance advertiser targeting. Artificial intelligence (AI) learns the activity data of other platforms in Kakao, such as the history of bizboard inflow, the talk channel subscribed to in KakaoTalk, and Daum webtoon or Kakao T, and exposes customized advertisements that are different for each individual. An official from Kakao explained that “we are improving the accuracy with de-identified data under conditions of obtaining consent to provide personal information.”

Biz Board has recently become a net income source with an average daily sales of 1 billion won. At the end of last year, it is known that it secured more than 15,000 advertisers. An industry insider said, “The launch of Biz Board is a signal that KakaoTalk has moved from a free messenger to earning money.”

Kakao, who gained confidence from the settlement of advertising products, is expanding its paid model by subscription. Kakao released an emoticon subscription service that can be used on KakaoTalk this month. About 150,000 emoticons can be used for 4,900 won per month. The’talk drawer’, which is operated as a pilot service, was also converted to a subscription product. It is a service that stores and manages various photos and videos uploaded in the KakaoTalk chat room in a personal cloud.

It is also trying to monetize content within KakaoTalk. This month, Kakao has converted some contents of Kakao TV, an online video service (OTT) within KakaoTalk, to a fee. There is a one-week free viewing period after the release, but after that, you will have to pay 500 won to watch it again. There is also a service that allows you to preview the next episode at a certain fee.

Kakao changed by making money with KakaoTalk

Kakao’s monetization trend is leading Kakao to improve its corporate structure. ‘TalkBiz’, which means income generated from KakaoTalk, has increased from 127.8 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 284 billion won in the third quarter of last year. Kakao’s overall operating profit surged from 4.2 billion won (operating margin of 0.6%) in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 120.2 billion won (10.9%) in the third quarter of last year.

Kakao is already making money from other services other than Kakao Talk, such as Kakao T, Daum, and Melon. However, it is analyzed that the full-scale monetization of KakaoTalk had the greatest impact on earnings improvement. Kim Dong-hee, a researcher at Meritz Securities Securities, said, “Kakao’s monetization strategy, including Biz Board, made a big contribution in increasing Kakao’s sales and operating profit. .

Some point out that it is necessary to cope with the antipathy of existing users due to the increase in paid services. An information technology (IT) industry official said, “No matter how many people messengers go out to earn money, users may leave.” “With AI algorithms that precisely implement personalized services, we need to create value equivalent to paying.” said.

Reporter Mingi Koo [email protected]