Buzzvil Enters the Global Market with Mobile Lockscreen Advertising

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Buzzvil, a member company of the K-ICT Born2Global Centre provides a mobile lockscreen advertising service. Upon its founding, Buzzvil first considered providing a service through which compensation is provided to people who participate in viral marketing campaigns on social media sites. The two founders named the company "Buzzvil" to signify the "buzz" they would create through this viral marketing platform.

In the preparation stage, however, changes were made to the plan and the current service became the company's main product. Buzzvil CEO John Lee said he got the idea for a lockscreen advertising service from the screen doors on subway station platforms.

Dreaming of the first mobile lockscreen ecosystem

Based on Lee's goal of creating the first mobile lockscreen ecosystem, Buzzvil unveiled BuzzScreen, a business-to-business (B2B) model, following its HoneyScreen product.

BuzzScreen is provided to partner companies as a software development kit (SDK). When a partner company installs the BuzzScreen SDK on their application, the users of the application will be able to use the reward advertising platform on their lockscreens without having to install a separate application. Partner companies receive a share of the marketing profits and use a part of the lockscreen to promote their own products as well, while users can watch advertisements and earn reward points.

In May 2015, Buzzvil partnered with OK Cashbag to provide its BuzzScreen service and expanded its partnerships with telecommunications companies and various other companies that offer loyalty programs. Currently, Buzzvil has over 40 partners in Korea, including OK Cashbag, BC Card, T-Money, KT WhoWho, Lotte L.Point, and 11st.

Taking on the world with HoneyScreen and BuzzScreen

Buzzvil is now expanding its business beyond Korea to the United States, Japan, and other Asian and European countries. To launch its service in the United States, Buzzvil acquired SlideJoy, an American mobile lockscreen advertising company, in November 2016. HoneyScreen is a service that targets mainly Asian users, while SlideJoy is its equivalent for North American and European users.

Currently, Buzzvil has 70 employees and is operating overseas branches in the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. After advancing into the United States in 2014 to conduct research on and develop advertising technology, Buzzvil is now expanding its business in the American market through SlideJoy.

Prior to entering the United States, Buzzvil began operating in Japan in May 2013 with its HoneyScreen application, and released BuzzScreen more recently in the second quarter of 2017. The company is expected to maintain stable growth in Japan, having reached the break-even point with HoneyScreen in the third quarter of 2016. Starting in 2018, Buzzvil's growth is also expected to pick up pace in Taiwan, where the company began operating in 2015.

Doubling growth every year and increasing share of sales overseas

Having doubled its sales every year so far, Buzzvil's sales are expected to grow from KRW 20 billion in 2016 to KWR 35 billion in 2017. This incredible growth is being driven mainly by the dramatic increase in overseas sales rather than domestic sales.

CEO Lee said, "Our growth has doubled every year in Korea. Although we are now only in the early stages of signing partnership agreements with foreign companies, I believe that our incredible growth will continue overseas as well." Lee's goal is to increase the company's share of foreign sales from the current 20 percent to around 40 percent.

It was this goal that drove Buzzvil to plan its B2B service model, BuzzScreen, and register for the global patent. The company also hired foreign developers to create a more global UX design in the development stage and looked for local partners in its overseas advancement stage as well.

For more detailed information on the Buzzvil, visit www.buzzvil.com

ABOUT BUZZVIL

Buzzvil (www.buzzvil.com) is the largest mobile lockscreen advertising platform in the world and the vision of Buzzvil is to optimize the first screen of mobile to better connect users with the world by maximizing value for advertisers and publishers. Buzzvil raised $16 million from global investors in Series A and B rounds and was also awarded the Best Portfolio Company prize by SoftBank Ventures in 2015.

About K-ICT Born2Global Centre

K-ICT Born2Global Centre (www.born2global.com) is a full-cycle service platform for global expansion. Since inception in 2013, Born2Global has been setting the standard for successful startup ecosystem as the main Korean government agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Born2Global has expanded and transformed startups to be engaged, equipped and be connected with the global market.

Contact

Caitlyn Choi
PR, Partner & Brand Marketing Manager of Buzzvil 
caitlyn.choi@buzzvil.com 

Jina Lee
PR Manager of Born2Global 
jlee@born2global.com

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SOURCE K-ICT Born2Global Centre