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Most Popular Websites in Japan 2018
Nielsen announced the most popular websites and mobile apps in Japan on December 25, 2018. Its report, “Tops of 2018: Digital in Japan“, includes the data from Nielsen Digital Content Ratings and Nielsen Mobile NetView.
Overview:
- Yahoo! Japan is ranked number one followed by Google overall in the top web services category.
- Both services cover 54% of the total population.
- Instagram increased users by 39% from 2017 which put the app in Top 10.
- LINE remains as the most popular mobile app in Japan with 55 million users.
The overall usage results in 2018 reveal that Yahoo! Japan is number one reaching over 67.43 million users. Google came very close with 67.42 million users in Japan. The number three, YouTube, covers half of the population. All of the services in the top three are used every month by half of the population.
Nine out of the top ten services accessible through smartphones increased their number of users from the year prior with the top four maintaining their ranks from 2017. Both Google and Yahoo! Japan exceeded 60 million users. Instagram, previously out of the top 10, ranked number nine in 2018, boasting the highest growth rate of 39% among the other services.
Most of the ranked smartphone apps increased their users. Eight of the top 10 apps experienced a double-digit increase. However, there were no significant changes from the 2017 results. The top app for six years in a row, LINE, has shown steady growth in 2018 exceeding over 55 million users.
Top 10 Web Services by Visitors in Japan 2018
| Rank | Website name | Monthly Unique visitors | Average population coverage |
| 1 | Yahoo! Japan | 67.4 million | 54% |
| 2 | 67.4 million | 54% | |
| 3 | YouTube | 62.7 million | 50% |
| 4 | LINE | 59.7 million | 48% |
| 5 | Rakuten | 50.0 million | 40% |
| 6 | 50.0 million | 40% | |
| 7 | Amazon | 46.9 million | 38% |
| 8 | 43.6 million | 35% | |
| 9 | 34.3 million | 28% | |
| 10 | Wikipedia | 31.7 million | 25% |
*names in bold – Japanese Website Services
Now, Yahoo! Japan and Google share a similar number of users. Eight of the ten services are originally created outside of Japan.
Top 10 Web Services Accessed by Smartphone Visitors in 2018
| Rank | Website name | Monthly Unique visitors | YoY growth rate |
| 1 | 65.6 million | 8% | |
| 2 | Yahoo! Japan | 60.3 million | 7% |
| 3 | LINE | 58.1 million | 11% |
| 4 | YouTube | 53.3 million | 14% |
| 5 | 46.1 million | 18% | |
| 6 | Rakuten | 45.6 million | 4% |
| 7 | Amazon | 39.1 million | 11% |
| 8 | 39.0 million | 11% | |
| 9 | 31.0 million | 39% | |
| 10 | Ameba | 25.5 million | 0% |
*names in bold – Japanese Website Services
Most of the services showed over 10% of growth in users from smartphones, while some of the services such as Rakuten and Ameba struggle to generate high growth rate.
Top 10 Mobile Apps by Use in Japan
| Rank | Website name | Monthly Unique visitors | YoY growth rate |
| 1 | LINE | 55.2 million | 11% |
| 2 | Google Maps | 39.3 million | 19% |
| 3 | YouTube | 38.4 million | 22% |
| 4 | Google App | 34.6 million | 16% |
| 5 | Gmail | 33.0 million | 17% |
| 6 | Google Play | 31.3 million | 6% |
| 7 | 28.7 million | 14% | |
| 8 | Yahoo! Japan | 26.7 million | 23% |
| 9 | 23.0 million | 6% | |
| 10 | McDonald’s Japan | 20.0 million | 18% |
*names in bold – Japanese Website services
LINE remains the winner of the most popular smartphone app. Approximately 55 million people use it monthly. Yahoo! Japan app has been popular for several years, it has achieved the highest growth rate of 23% among the list.
Summary:
Most of the services achieved steady growth. The population coverage rate has also increased, though most of the services have been used for several years.
Although there are many Japanese websites running in Japan, the majority of Japanese internet users tend to prefer overseas-made services such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
On the other hand, as for mobile apps, LINE achieved the top share in Japan while three Japan-made video websites ranked in the most popular video site ranking. We believe LINE attracts many young Japanese users by appealing to their metropolitan lifestyle.
Noteworthy: most of the services are US “brands”.
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