Starting in September, Kakao will be revamping KakaoTalk from a messenger-centric platform to a "social + content" platform. The core of this change is a restructuring of the Friends and Open Chat tabs, a strategy aimed at simultaneously increasing user retention time and advertising revenue.
Kakao CEO Jeong Shin-ah announced during the company's second-quarter earnings call on the 7th, "We will evolve KakaoTalk into a platform that encompasses content discovery and relationship-based social features." The Friends tab will be revamped from a friend list-centric platform to a "daily feed." Relationship-based information, such as birthday notifications and photos and videos shared in group chats, will now be visible on a single screen. The profile update feature, currently used by 13.4 million monthly users, will also be enhanced. The goal is to enhance natural communication and user convenience.
The third tab will feature a new "Discovery Area" focused on short-form video. Kakao will promote original content production, introduce a creator studio, and secure exclusive content. Leveraging the strengths of its messenger platform, Kakao will offer a seamless experience for viewing and sharing short-form content directly in chat rooms. It will also introduce PD-type and video advertising products, aiming for double-digit growth in advertising revenue starting in the fourth quarter.
Kakao plans to use this to increase app retention time by 20% and expand content exploration traffic. Currently, the average KakaoTalk user has 410 friends, and 23% update their profiles more than six times a month to share their daily lives.
AI services will also be sequentially launched in the second half of the year. "Kanana," a personalized AI mate, offers conversation, schedule management, and recommendation functions, and will expand into specialized AI mates for areas such as shopping and local communities. Agent AI, in collaboration with OpenAI, will integrate with Kakao ecosystem services to perform complex tasks.
Kakao is focusing its investments on KakaoTalk and AI as growth engines while simultaneously streamlining non-core businesses. Through these efforts, the company aims to re-establish its platform's competitiveness and continue to see quarterly improvements in both sales and profits.
