WeChat, Line messaging apps strike ad gold

Marketing on mobile messaging apps has yet to take root in the U.S. and Europe in a big way, but it is already in full swing in Asia, The Wall Street Journal reports. The operators of Line and WeChat are enabling marketers to tap into platforms that provide hundreds of millions of users with a variety of customized services beyond messaging, including hailing taxis, streaming music, ordering food and making payments. WeChat, which is owned by Chinese social-network giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., has more than 762 million monthly active users world-wide, mainly in China. Line Corp. boasts some 218 million monthly users, two-thirds of whom are from Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.