Kakao

Kakao uses a platform ecosystem model. It aggregates consumer attention through messaging, portal, maps, gaming and content products, then monetises that audience through advertising, transaction fees, digital content purchases and financial services. It also sells access to its proprietary inventory and first-party audience through self-serve ad tools for businesses, while adjacent subsidiaries and platforms generate additional revenue from payments, banking, content licensing, subscriptions and in-app spending.

Kakao is a South Korean internet platform company built around KakaoTalk, a mass-market messaging app that functions as the entry point to a wider ecosystem of consumer and business services. Based on the supplied product data, the company operates social and messaging products, a self-serve advertising platform, a web portal and publisher property through Daum, payments and fintech services, gaming, digital comics, entertainment IP and mapping utilities. Its audience side is primarily consumers, while its paying customers also include advertisers, merchants, small businesses, marketers and selected media or creator partners.