Join us Dec. 1-3 in New Orleans for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit
Messenger app Kik is hedging its future on the cryptocurrency token it built, Kin.
The Canada-based company is trying to become a way for brands to connect with its young users by offering them cryptocurrencies as incentives. (Over half its user base is reportedly aged 13 to 24.) As media companies struggle to monetize based on ad revenue alone, Kik is betting that crypto can fill the gap.
“We tried to monetize through interactive ads, but there’s a [Facebook-Google] duopoly of two companies generating the most revenue from ads. It’s very hard to compete,” said Kin’s vp of product Alex Frenkel. “Kik now doesn’t have to compete with those duopolies anymore, and we can monetize on creating value for users.”
For Kik, the path to monetization includes making money from brands that promote surveys, incentives for content sharing or other activities on the platform, and from the undisclosed amount of Kin that Kik currently holds.
More in Marketing
The chance to win the holiday marketing season has already come and gone, per Traackr’s holiday report
The influencer marketing platform tracked the top brands according to VIT, Traackr’s proprietary metric for visibility, impact and trust.
The EU’s Digital Omnibus offers relief for ad tech, but hands more power to Big Tech and AI agents
What it means for GDPR, ad tech and the online media industry as a whole.
Future of Marketing Briefing: Bold call – the legacy influencer agency doesn’t fit the new market
The influencer shops that once drew investor enthusiasm are now ceding ground to tools that promise scale, predictability and a cleaner margin story.