If Kik can become this default gateway for all sorts of things-apps, games, ecommerce, etc.-we can charge for those services directly. Messaging is their starting point for connecting to the world, and that’s where we see our opportunity.ĮMarketer: How are you monetizing the app now, and what business model is the most attractive in the long term?īest: We see the platform and ecosystem as our long-term revenue plan. They don’t have legacy preferences from the age of the desktop internet, and they won’t necessarily develop them because the phone is their internet. They’re first connection to the internet is through a mobile device and they haven’t defined their behaviors yet. There’s one US demographic group-teenagers-that have the mobile-first ingredient. But when you have a ton of people coming online for the first time who don’t necessarily have that loyalty to desktop, a messaging app can and become the de facto home experience for those mobile-first users. It’s hard to get somebody to switch from Amazon to a messaging app to shop if they’re already a loyal Amazon customer. You need a large group of mobile-first internet users who do not have an established way that they already do online transactions. It’s analogous to how search became the gateway to the desktop internet.ĮMarketer: Why do you think a platform like WeChat hasn’t developed yet in the US?īest: The necessary ingredient for that type of success is to have a ton of people coming online for the first time on their smartphone. They’ve become this gateway to the mobile internet. You can refinance your mortgage on WeChat. But they’ve built a platform on top of that and now you go to WeChat for all kinds of different products and services, including real-world commercial stuff. WeChat started out as the best way to text your friends, and it became dominant in the market. They don’t have legacy preferences from the age of the desktop internet.”īest: What it means is chat apps becoming a gateway for services beyond just talking to your friends. “There’s one US demographic group-teenagers-that have the mobile-first ingredient. On the active user front, we don’t disclose our number of monthly active users but there is one number that we do share, which is that 40% of US teenagers are active on Kik.ĮMarketer: Kik received a substantial investment from Tencent, the owners of China’s popular WeChat messaging app, and I’ve seen you quoted in the press saying that this investment could help Kik become the “WeChat of the West.” What does that mean to you? What’s your vision? Seventy-two percent of our users are in the US and they’re predominantly younger, between the ages of 13 and 23.
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Chris Best, co-founder and chief technology officer of chat app Kik Interactive, spoke with eMarketer’s Cathy Boyle about how teens are coming online for the first time through mobile phones and how that will change their relationship with brands and their attitudes as consumers.ĮMarketer: Tell me about Kik and your user base.Ĭhris Best: Kik has 240 million registered users, which is a global number, and accounts for people who download the app and set up an account.
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