LINE Corporation Beats Twitters Q3 Revenues

LINE Corporation, which owns the LINE app, has unveiled its earnings for Q3, revealing net revenue from the app business after 30 per cent app store charges of 9.9bn JPY (£62.4m).

Gross revenue for its 39 titles before app store charges was 15.6bn JPY, an increase of 58.3 per cent on the previous quarter. The corporation overall, rumoured to be heading towards an IPO, made 19.1bn JPY (£120m) in Q3, an increase of 48 per cent on Q2. Twitter, which has just opened its IPO, had Q3 total revenues of $168.6 (£104.92) by comparison.

Although the company doesnt compare its Q3 net revenue for the app business to previous quarters, using the same 30 per cent app store charge calculation on Q2s gross revenue result (see image) reveals that last quarter, the company took home a total of £41.6m from LINE. This shows quarter-on-quarter net revenue growth for the LINE app of 33 per cent.

LINE says in-game purchases have grown by 60 per cent during the quarter, while sticker purchases have increased by 20 per cent. Official accounts and sponsored stickers are also contributing to the app’s revenue growth.

The company is most popular in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, with progress being made in India, South America,Turkey and Italy. Its user count currently stands at 280m. The company is also making new releases in Europe and localising its games for different markets in order to build its audience.