Clareto Monsorate, Dubai

A new app, LINE LIVE, is taking the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by storm.

The app is the latest social media platform where young people will be able to express their opinions, host their own live shows, engage with fans, share information and more.

Launched in Japan in 2013, LINE LIVE expanded its business to the MENA region at the beginning of last year and has been growing fast ever since.

It serves as the top destination for live broadcasting from creators in the Arab world.

Currently more than 5,000 creators all over the region are streaming live every day via the app daily.

It has 800,000 monthly users, with Saudis the most prolific, followed by Egyptians and Iraqis.

Naz Alshuwairekh, who is a LINE LIVE ambassador with a following of 7 million on Youtube, said: “As a full-time creator, I have always been looking for new platforms or content creation opportunities, since there are uncertainties including irregular income and reputation risk to sticking strong to only one platform.

“Then, this is where live streaming steps in as millennials find live contents entertaining and perceive it as a new way to consume contents.

“Yes, other well-known services such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram provide live streaming, but it is not their core feature. A stand-alone live streaming service is optimized to increase engagement and to create a stronger and more personal relationship with your target audience.

“However, among many stand-alone live streaming services, I decided to stay with LINE LIVE for its respect and openness towards Arab culture, which is a fundamental element for building a strong community with users.

“LINE LIVE also focuses on long term partnership rather than focusing on getting a series of quick wins. This is what sets LINE LIVE apart from other services and proves that it is community driven.”

Jina Jeehyun Cho, marketing and operation lead at LINE LIVE Gulf, said: “We have better technology. Also, we have a monitoring team and an artificial intelligence driven team, so if we feel that the content is inappropriate we deal with it accordingly.

“LINE LIVE is the fastest growing live streaming platform and many of the creators from other platforms, whether YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat, are joining us. They choose us as a live streaming platform because the live content is more for the millennials, or the next generation, for daily consumption,” Cho said.

Neven Wanli, LINE LIVE partner creator, added: “We have all experienced the discouragement and frustration from the lack of having personal connections at least once in our lives.

“However, LINE LIVE opens its door to everyone and it was the first in the live streaming industry to create this automatic rewarding program, which enables streamers to monitor their performance real time, ensures transparency, and as a plus, provides statistics of the individual’s performance trend.”