Naver LINE signed an exclusive contract with Netflix. The contracts hold the LINE Netflix partnership to produce an animation series.
Netflix will produce and distribute Line Friends characters into an original animation series. Titled “Brown & Friends“, the animation includes all eleven original characters of Line Friends.
Further, Netflix will distribute the original animation series in more than 190 countries under its service.
How this partnership benefits both Line and Netflix
Netflix, with more than 158 million paid subscribers will help Line Friends to expand global recognition. Line Friend itself started as sticker characters in messaging application Line.
The characters especially popular in Japan, in which Line is the most popular messaging app. They are also popular in many Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Thailand.
Netflix also sees this prospect positively. The company finds the characters acceptable by a wide range of age and gender.
The original content of the Brown & Friends Netflix will feature Brown & Friends characters. It will consist of various episodes set against the backdrop of everyday life in cities of different ages. Including the Millennial generation around the world.
Brown & Friends, which has been loved by global MZ generation for its unique and friendly charm, is expected to add depth to its original worldview and inject new life into characters through Netflix’s original animation series.
“In the meantime, Line Friends has expanded its popular IP into diversified types of contents such as video, animation, and games that MZ generation is crazy about,” said Vice President Kim Kyung-dong of Line Friends.
Meanwhile, recently Line, under its parent company Naver, stroke a big deal with Softbank Japan. The two companies decided to merge Line with Yahoo Japan.
While Line is the most used messaging app in Japan, Yahoo Japan is also the most popular search engine. Together, many expect both to create another tech dinosaur in the region.