Naver Band Expands Overseas, Surpasses 5 Million Monthly Active Users in the US

Naver announced on the 9th that its community service Band surpassed 5 million monthly active users (MAU) in the United States as of October.

Naver launched Band in 2012. In 2014, it established a local subsidiary in the U.S. and entered the global market. Since 2020, the MAU has more than doubled, showing rapid growth.

The usability driving Band's growth is after-school activities. In the U.S., after-school activities such as sports, cheerleading, and dance are common, so various users including students, parents, and coaches effectively use Band, a group-type social media, to communicate. As the number of users increases, Band's usability is expanding into various fields such as religion, companies, hobbies, families, scouts, and non-profit organizations.

Naver focused on developing features optimized for the local market. U.S. users use convenience features necessary for group management from an administrator's perspective, such as announcements, schedule management, and file attachments, at a significantly higher rate compared to Korea. Reflecting these characteristics, usability was enhanced to enable efficient group management. Considering the common culture of sending invitations and confirming attendance (RSVP) using calendars, RSVP response options were diversified, and a feature allowing users to register companions besides themselves was added. Additionally, a guardian feature was added to monitor students' activity records, receiving positive feedback from parent users.

Existing users also recommended Band to those around them, creating an environment for new users to join. Band formed partnerships with well-known sports organizations in the U.S. and supported their customers to directly use Band. It participated in various conferences and seminars attended by U.S. coaches and directors to introduce Band users' experiences and cases.

Kim Joo-kwan, head of Naver Community CIC, said, "The reason Naver Band succeeded in the global market is the know-how gained from operating various large-scale community services such as blogs, cafes, and Knowledge iN for 20 years." He added, "Going forward, based on Naver's community service expertise and technological capabilities, we will closely analyze the global market and optimize for regional and cultural characteristics to secure local users."