Enhancing Customer Experience on LINE OA: The Post-VOOM Era

Executive Summary

LINE VOOM’s exit signals a platform feature adjustment. It reflects a broader market trend: the “free, public, non-friend reach” exposure dividend is being rolled back. The intensity varies by market. Thailand will fully terminate VOOM on 2026/9/28. Taiwan and Japan have not shut it down, but they have removed VOOM from primary entry points, disabled search, and reduced short-video creation tools. LINE is reallocating resources from public broadcasting to brands’ own private, relationship-based operations.

For brands, this means the “free mass reach” previously available is diminishing. Future reach will either be paid (ads, message credits) or will revert to owned relationships that can be cultivated.

🎯 IMAG core thesis: What becomes scarce in the post-VOOM era is not “another place to post content,” but turning content interactions into accumulable, segmentable, and convertible first-party (private-domain) assets. Platforms can take back exposure; they cannot take back relationships.

1. Market Signal: VOOM Is Being Rolled Back

VOOM is LINE’s short-video + timeline social layer. It functions similarly to an in-app “activity feed.” Its rollback is not a single-market incident; it represents a cross-market convergence in the same direction.

• 🇹🇭 Thailand: VOOM fully terminated; published content will be deleted; posting from OA to VOOM disabled | Effective: 2026/9/28 | ✅ Full shutdown

• 🇹🇼 Taiwan: Entry moved to Home > Services; search removed; camera effects reduced | Effective: 2026/6/30 (entry) | ❌ Relocated + feature cuts

• 🇯🇵 Japan: VOOM bottom tab removed → Shopping tab; VOOM moved to Home > Services | Effective: 2026/9/30 | ✅ Full shutdown

• 🌍 Other markets: VOOM fully removed (excluding JP/TW/TH/IN/HK) | Effective: 2023/9/7

  
  

Thailand is the only market with a true “full shutdown.” Taiwan and Japan have moved VOOM to second-level entry points and reduced tools. The magnitude differs, but the direction does not.

💡 IMAG observation: The key is not “did VOOM disappear,” but where LINE chooses to invest resources. When a platform starts retracting its free public layer, it signals to brands: sustainable value is not in rented reach—it is in owned relationships.

2. How Brands Previously Relied on VOOM

VOOM’s value to brands can be summarised in three points:

• Free posting with no message-count limits: LINE Official Account documentation positioned VOOM as a publishing method that does not consume message credits. Broadcast messages are charged per message; VOOM posts were not—this was the most direct budget benefit.

• Organic discovery beyond friends: The short-video feed, hashtag search, and discovery placements enabled content to reach non-friends—one of the few organic discovery sources within the LINE ecosystem.

• In-app short-video inventory: A dedicated short-video surface inside the LINE app. (LINE Taiwan claimed “62% of users browse VOOM daily; 77% weekly”—this is LINE’s own marketing figure, not independently audited; cite it as “claimed by LINE.”)

  
  

In short, VOOM’s value = a “free content distribution channel that can reach beyond existing friends.”

3. The Post-VOOM Gap: Four Capabilities Brands Lose

When VOOM is removed or weakened, a LINE OA loses:

1. A free, unlimited posting channel—the only mass-reach method that does not burn message credits. In the post-VOOM era, reaching friends relies more on paid broadcasting or paid ads. (In Thailand, even the “OA → VOOM post” path is disabled.)

2. Organic discovery and exploration beyond friends—discoverability from feed and hashtag search. Even in markets where VOOM “continues,” hashtag search has been removed.

3. An in-app short-video surface—gone in Thailand; buried one level deeper in TW/JP with reduced creation tools.

4. Historical content assets—in Thailand, existing posts not backed up during the 2026/10–12 backup window will be deleted.

   
   

Net effect: brands’ exposure center of gravity shifts from “owned but public & free” toward “owned but private (1:1, CRM)” or “paid (ads).”

💡 IMAG observation: These four capabilities share one trait—they are all borrowed. The platform can give them, and the platform can take them back. What remains is the relationship and data that have already been deposited into the brand’s own CRM. The gap is not a call to find a replacement platform; it is a signal to move the center of gravity to owned assets.

4. The Bigger Trend: From Public Broadcasting → Private, Convertible Operations

VOOM’s rollback is not isolated. Five trend lines point in the same direction:

1. Messaging and private-domain operations are becoming the brand’s primary “home field.” Global business messaging volume is projected to grow from ~2T messages in 2025 to nearly 3T by 2030 (Juniper Research, 2025). Conversational commerce is growing fastest in APAC; in 2025 APAC is ~40% of the global market and the fastest-growing region (Market.us / Mordor, 2025, directional). LINE is the largest private-domain base in the region: global MAU ~194M (2025/3), Japan ~98M, Thailand ~54M, Taiwan ~22M (LY Corporation, 2025). Penetration exceeds 90% in Taiwan and 80% in Thailand.

   
   

2. LINE itself positions OA as a private-domain asset. LINE Taiwan explicitly differentiates: “public traffic delivers immediate value; private traffic delivers long-term value.” (LINE Biz TW, 2025) The platform is guiding brands to treat LINE OA as long-term private-domain operations rather than one-off reach.

   
   

3. The value of first-party data has been quantified. BCG × Google found that brands leveraging first-party data across key marketing steps can achieve up to 2.9× revenue uplift per communication and 1.5× cost efficiency; yet 9 in 10 marketers say first-party data matters, while fewer than one-third can integrate it cross-channel (BCG × Google, Think with Google; base studies 2021–22, still the most widely cited authority). BCG estimates that in APAC alone, first-party data represents ~$200B in value unlock (BCG, APAC).

   
   

Clarifying a common misunderstanding: third-party cookies did not sunset as expected—Google ended Privacy Sandbox in Oct 2025 and cookies continue. However, tighter privacy regulation and platform-rule unpredictability (VOOM is an example) have not reversed. The incentive to shift to owned first-party data remains. Cookies surviving does not mean “rented reach” becomes reliable.

1. Personalization and AI turn first-party data into revenue. McKinsey notes personalization typically drives 10–15% revenue uplift; leaders in personalization generate ~40% more related revenue than average players (McKinsey, Next in Personalization, established benchmark). The gap is also clear: 88% of consumers say real-time personalization increases purchase intent, yet only 44% of brands can deliver it (Twilio, 2025, vendor survey; used alongside McKinsey as reference). Personalization is powered by data—and data comes from interactions.

   
   

2. Online and offline are converging (OMO). In luxury, Bain estimates that ~one-third of personal luxury consumption in 2025 occurs digitally (~$136B), and OMO becomes the default path; McKinsey also observes Japanese luxury customers embracing omnichannel. As luxury growth slows (McKinsey estimates ~1–3% in 2024–27), deepening existing customer relationships (clienteling) becomes more important than pure acquisition—requiring first-party data that connects online interactions back to offline service.

   
   

💡 IMAG observation: These trends are often discussed separately—private domain, first-party data, AI, OMO—as if they are four different things. IMAG’s view: they are four facets of the same thing—turning every brand–consumer interaction into an accumulable, computable, reusable relationship asset. VOOM’s rollback simply makes this urgency more explicit.

5. How Brands Should Rethink Content Operations

After VOOM’s rollback, the most common initial reaction is: “Where can we replace this reach?” This treats the problem as a channel swap.

The more important question is: Have my content interactions become something I can actually own and operate?

• From “how many people did we reach?” → “how many people did we identify and convert into relationships?”

• From “how much content did we publish?” → “how much user interest did we learn from content interactions?”

• From “one-off exposure” → “a cycle that supports segmentation, remarketing, and conversion.”

  
  

This is not asking brands to stop producing content or short videos. It asks them to shift the purpose of content from “winning exposure” to “building relationships and accumulating data.”

6. IMAG Perspective

IMAG defines the post-VOOM era: content upgrades from an exposure tool to an entry point for relationships and data. VOOM delivered a “broad audience.” But if that audience is not identified and deposited into owned data, once the platform retracts the feature, nothing remains. IMAG argues brands should focus on converting broad audiences into identifiable, segmentable, operable brand audiences.

IMAG’s three-layer implementation framework:

1. Content interaction layer — understand user interests and behaviors through content interactions (vehicle: Content Hub).

2. Data deposition layer — connect interactions back to CRM, creating first-party tags and segmentation (SCRM integration).

3. Relationship operation layer — use data across the journey to deliver the right content / invitation / service to the right people (vehicles: RSVP system, membership system).

   
   

LINE provides the engine; IMAG provides relationship strategy and system implementation. IMAG does not build “another place to post content”; it designs a private-domain path of Reach → Identify → Operate → Convert. This is also the true role of Content Hub / Friend Studio in the post-VOOM era—not a VOOM replacement, but a solution to turn content interactions into private-domain assets.

Luxury Examples: How Brands Run In-Depth Content Inside Their Own LINE OA

This is not theoretical—luxury brands already operate owned content inside LINE.

• Gucci runs official LINE accounts in Japan (official account @gucci_jp, ~4.27M friends) and Taiwan. Using Taiwan Gucci as an example: it built a content center inside its own LINE OA—a persistent, browsable space that aggregates new arrivals, membership benefits, wallpaper collections, saved content, etc. This differs from “broadcast” messages. Broadcast pushes one-way and disperses after viewing; a content center is a place users actively browse, save, and collect. The key is that behaviors like which products users browse, click, save, or which content they engage with become first-party interest signals that broadcast alone cannot capture.

  
  

• Dior Beauty Taiwan is another verifiable case: it ran an interactive “foundation consultation class” inside LINE OA—users answer a few questions and receive personalized recommendations. Those preferences are connected back to the brand’s CRM/CDP as zero-party data (LINE official case study; account ~2.3M friends; operated since 2014). This demonstrates a closed loop of content interaction → first-party data → personalization.

  
  

How the VOOM Advantage Is Carried Over—and What Is Upgraded—When Moved to an Owned Space:

• Who you reach: VOOM feed = broad but anonymous; brand-owned space = identified “who it is” upon login.

• Content interaction: VOOM feed = disperses after viewing; brand-owned space = each interaction can be recorded.

• Data ownership: VOOM feed = platform-owned; brand-owned space = brand-owned (first-party).

• Remarketing: VOOM feed = nearly impossible; brand-owned space = segmentation + personalization enabled.

  
  

With the same “content display” function, moving into an owned space turns one-off exposure into an accumulable relationship-and-data asset.

IMAG’s Answer: Content Hub. IMAG’s Content Hub (Friend Studio) is built inside the brand’s own LINE OA, enabling personalized, in-depth content experiences within the owned account. In the post-VOOM era, it also brings a critical advantage: it can be surfaced in LINE’s frequently used entry points, restoring some of the “being seen” lost when VOOM was rolled back—on top of deeper private-domain operations.

What Data This Format Can Capture/Improve:

• Product level: new arrivals browsed/clicked/saved → product-interest tags.

• Content level: which stories are read and for how long; reactions → content-preference segmentation.

• Relationship level: individual interactions + membership identity (what they saw, what they booked, which tier they belong to) → journey stage & clienteling materials.

  
  

Feeding these back enables RFM tiering, tag segmentation, personalized broadcasts, and high-touch offline services.

Technically, this is not a vision. LINE Developers documentation states that an in-OA content application can achieve identity via userId, CRM membership binding, first-party data collection via Profile+, and personalized message triggers based on behavior—the technical foundation for “turning anonymous exposure into named data.”

VOOM’s value—using content to reach people—does not disappear; it simply moves into a better container: from an anonymous public feed to an owned space where identities can be recognized, data can be retained, and LINE can still surface it for discovery. This is the direction behind IMAG’s Content Hub—and the direction brands should take in the post-VOOM era.

7. Next Steps for Brands (Self-check)

Brands can assess post-VOOM readiness with a few questions:

• Are LINE OA content interactions connected back to CRM—or do they disappear after publishing?

• Can we identify who is interested in what content—or do we only have aggregate exposure numbers?

• If another platform retracts another free feature tomorrow, how much of our audience and data do we truly own?

  
  

The answers determine whether a brand is passively patching holes or proactively turning interactions into assets.

About IMAG

IMAG is a specialist in private-domain strategy and data integration, helping brands build long-term relationships with consumers in owned channels and design complete user journeys — with deep expertise in using data to cultivate brand relationships at every step of the consumer journey. Book a consultation with us.

IMAG Website: www.imag.global｜Contact Us: info@imagtw.com

Author: Gilbert Fang, Deputy General Manager, IMAG Marketing