CEO of Vungle, Zain Jaffer. Pic: Vungle

Vungle announces partnership with Korea’s Kakao messaging app

By | 11 October, 2016

PERFORMANCE marketing platform Vungle has partnered with South Korean messaging app Kakao to boost the app’s new in-game advertisement service, Kakao Game Ad+ Service.

Kakao Talk, the top messenger app in its home country, is more popular than Facebook of Twitter there with 40 million active users. According to Reuters, it’s even used by South Korean government officials instead of emails.

Their partnership with San Francisco-based Vungle will boost Kakao’s engagement with customers who are most likely to install the app by developing new video ads and interactive end cards to get more conversions, as well as identifying new and accurate publishers.

SEE ALSO: Vungle’s Zain Jaffer and Catherine Mylinh on China’s love affair with in-app video ads

Kakao users who watch in-app videos will receive rewards within the app – an incentive that has been proven to get more people engaged and will boost the acquisition of high lifetime value (LTV) customers.

In 2014, Kakao acquired the Netherlands-based Daum Games Europe – which published the hugely popular massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Black Desert Online. Daum Games Europe was subsequently rebranded as Kakao Games Europe in July this year.

According to the company’s second quarter earnings report, global sales of Black Desert Online boosted revenue from their games faction to KRW78.3 billion (over US$70 million), marking an 11 percent quarter-on-quarter growth.

Kate Park, manager of the Game Business Team at Kakao, said in a statement: “We’re always exploring new revenue opportunities for our game partners. By working with Vungle to create mobile game-customized advertisement platforms, we’re providing our partners a premium way to grow their businesses.”

Zain Jaffer, CEO of Vungle, added: “In-app advertising presents a huge opportunity for mobile apps today, and we’re thrilled to partner with Kakao to support its new endeavor.

“We look forward to helping Kakao drive high-value installs – users who are more engaged and likely to spend with the publisher – and optimize those ads and creatives to ultimately grow their revenue.”



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