• 720,000 registered creators around the world enjoy sales topping JPY47.9 billion since launch
• Smartphone app for creating stickers set to debut in mid-2017
TOKYO – May 15, 2017 – The LINE Creators Market – the platform that allows users to create and sell their own LINE stickers – celebrated its third year anniversary on May 8. Since its launch, the LINE Creators Market has enjoyed much success all over the world, with approximately 720,000 registered creators designing more than 400,000 sticker sets and themes.
All told, total sales for the LINE Creators Market have exceeded JPY47.9 billion (about USD421 million), with the average accumulated earnings for the top-10 creators equaling JPY530 million. (Note: Figures approximate, based on varying exchange rates, accounting methods and other policies).
Many of the characters originally launched here have gone on to receive merchandising and publishing deals, and have been used in tie-ups with other corporations, proving that the LINE Creators Market is a platform that nurtures new creations.
Creators Market to release app to increase accessibility
To make the LINE Creators Market more accessible and easier to use for everyone, LINE is planning to release a dedicated LINE Creators Market app in mid-2017 that will enable users to create and sell stickers with just their smartphone. Through this app, users will no longer have to use PCs, dedicated illustration software, pen tablets and other digital devices. Instead, creator registration, photo shooting, picture trimming and painting – along with applying for review and releasing the sticker sets and themes for sale – can all be performed within the app. More details will be provided around the time of the app’s release.
3 years of empowering creators and users around the world
LINE Creators Market is a platform that allows LINE users all over the world to create and sell their own LINE stickers and themes. After passing LINE’s internal review process, creators’ stickers and themes can be sold in the LINE STORE (https://store.line.me) and the LINE in-app Sticker Shop. Approximately 50 percent of revenues go back to the creator (after the 30 percent service charge from the App Store, Google Play or other equivalent app shop is deducted; subject to various withholding taxes, depending on where the creator and purchaser reside).
Since its launch in May 2014, the LINE Creators Market has introduced a variety of initiatives to make sticker creation more accessible and allow greater creative freedom – a variable pricing feature was introduced in December 2015 that allows creators to select from five different sticker price options, animated stickers with a maximum four seconds of playback were added in June 2016, and screening standards were revised in October 2016 to allow photo-based stickers and sets with as few as eight stickers to be sold. Furthermore, in order to further expand the business opportunities available to sticker creators, LINE launched LINE Creators Management in May 2015 to help top-selling creators merchandise and manage the rights of their products. So far the service has provided support for around 20 creators.
With the LINE Creators Market, LINE is looking to ensure a participatory ecosystem where users can become creators, and further expand its global platform as it strives to cement its position as an integral piece of the world's smartphone-based communication infrastructure.