Japan Mobile Web Case Study
mobagetown
Mobile Media Investors Conference
San Francisco, December 9, 2008
Christopher Billich

I work for a company called

based

somewhere around here

What I will be talking about

1. Japanese Mobile Industry: Basics
2. The Biggest Mobile Service in Japan
3. What that has to do with us

102 million
mobile subscribers

9 in 10 use the
Mobile Web

4 4 in 5 of them on 3G
in 5 of them on 3G

Why that is
istockphoto.com

Operators: benevolent dictators

High-spec handsets

No device fragmentation

Unwalled Gardens

Revenue share
favoring content
owners
istockphoto.com

0 ,- -
$ Messaging is
(almost) free
istockphoto.com

40% of mobile data users
on data flat rate plans
istockphoto.com

Healthy
obsession
with
user
experience

Standardization
istockphoto.com

Some of the things people do
with their phones in Japan

Payment
Shopping Camera
Coupon Books
Navi Manga
SNS
Search
Games
VoD
Music
TV
Radio

(a few people even make phone calls)

But most have better things to do.
Mobile Web Usage Frequency, 16-24 year-old users
“At least daily”: 90%
“More than an hour daily”: 61%
24%
22%
15% 16%
13%
4%
3%
>3 hrs 2-3 hrs 1-2 hrs 30 min-1 hr Daily, <30 min Less than daily I don’t
Source: Infinita, April 2008

Especially if they are young.
Which Medium matters most to you? - by Age Group
TV Mobile PC Other
10-19 25% 42% 22%
20-29 23% 28% 37%
30-39 39% 21% 30%
Source: NTT Advertising, 2007

Mobile Social Networking
Awareness and Usage
No Awareness Awareness only Active Usage
2005 67% 31% 2%
2006 41% 49% 10%
2007 42% 43% 15%
2008 35% 46% 19%
Source: impress R&D, 2005-2008

Mobile Social Networking
Revenue Projection 2005-2011 (US$ million)
Mobile Content (Total) 5,267
+14%
Mobile Advertising (Total)
Mobile SNS 4,624
1,283
+73%
743
+232% 863
260
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Sources: Mobile Content Forum, Dentsu, Infinita

mobagetown
The Basic Idea: Free Games, SNS and Avatars

mobagetown
Business Model
Source: DeNA Co., Ltd.

mobagetown
Mobile Advertising: Coca Cola Campaign
Campaign Date: 05/07-06/07
Launched limited-time Coca Cola-
branded version of social networking site
mobagetown
Accessible only to double-registered
users of mobagetown and Coca Cola
Mobile
Reach top scores on Coca Cola-branded
games to receive branded avatar items
Coca Cola-branded Decomail graphics to
use in mobile emails to friends
“Coke Character” with avatar and blog
Campaign extensively promoted via tie-in
with Coca Cola “The Coke Side of Life”
Source: Nikkei TV campaign

mobagetown
Mobile Advertising: Coca Cola Campaign
Almost 1 million sign-ups for Coca Coca
mobile site
185 million page views
5.6 million page views on Coke character
blog page alone
350,000 users connected with Coca Cola
character as friends
190,000 comments posted to the Coke
character blog
Coca Cola-branded version
of mobagetown (above),
branded games (top right),
branded Decomail (left)
Source: DeNA Co., Ltd.

mobagetown
Mobile Advertising: UNIQLO Campaign
Campaign Date: April 2008
Download coupons for apparel retailer
UNIQLO and redeem for discounts on
relevant items at participating stores
Exclusive avatar items corresponding to
the goods purchased via entering the
unique product ID from price tag on
mobagetown
Branded game, goal: “try on” the outfits
that are being promoted as part of the
campaign by jumping up to catch clothes
flying out of a clothes dryer
Source: DeNA Co., Ltd.

mobagetown
Revenues
60 US$ million Advertising* Affiliates Avatar Items Paid Content
50 0
0
0 1
40 24
20 24
21
30
11
20 17 13
17 12
14
10
10 11 12 13
7
0
FY07 Q2 FY07 Q3 FY07 Q4 FY08 Q1 FY08 Q2
* Includes standard advertising, tie-ups, search advertising, contextual text advertising
Source: DeNA Co., Ltd.

mobagetown
Members and Page Views
2,126 PV/UU
14 Million 18 Billion
16
12
14
10
12
8 10 1,272 PV/UU
6 8
6
4
4
2
2
0 0
Mar 08 Dec 06 Sep 07 Jun 08 Mar 08 Dec 06 Sep 07 Jun 08
Source: DeNA Co., Ltd.

mobagetown
Strategic Evolution: Portal
Source: DeNA Co., Ltd.

mobagetown
Strategic Evolution: Sophisticated Advertising Formats
Formats: Text ads relevant to search area
Compensation model: CPC
Pricing: bidding mechanism
Location-based advertising network
“AdLocal” service provided by Cirius
Technologies, Inc.
Advertisers can specify proximity (during
an address- or map-based search)
Targeting: genre/product category, time
of day, day of the week, area radius (1 to
10 km), weather (e.g. “show my
advertising only if it is raining”)

mobagetown
Strategic Evolution: Premium Games
Existing Games Strategy/Line-up Game Portal Strategy
+
• Core: Casual games
• Offer all games for free to • Offer major licensed game titles
attract customers • Basic play free, premium charges
★ Entry strategy ★ Create earnings from games
Source: DeNA Co., Ltd.

mobagetown
Strategic Evolution: Online Casino
“Insert
MobaGold”
Source: DeNA Co., Ltd.

mobagetown
Strategic Evolution: Mobile Search Engine
“For search, too:
mobagetown.”
“A new
experience in
mobile search.”

mobagetown
Strategic Evolution: Mobile Search Engine
Mobile Advertising Revenues, US$ million
Search
Non-search
494
371
262
167
85
736 789
665
536 576
2007 2008 (est.) 2009 (est.) 2010 (est.) 2011 (est.)
Source: Dentsu, March 2008

Why I am telling you all this

Current time in San Francisco:
11:20 am, Dec 9, 2008

Current time in Tokyo:
04:20 am, Dec 10, 2011

Great Wall of China
Japan

Infinita
Business Activities
1. Research
2. Mobile Strategy Workshops
3. Investment Advisory
4. Business Facilitation

Infinita
Selected Clients

Thank you,
and sorry I could not be there!
billich@infinita.co.jp
www.infinita.co.jp/en
www.slideshare.net/cbillich/slideshows