Natalie
Type of site
Entertainment news
Available inJapanese
OwnerNatasha, Inc.
URLnatalie.mu
CommercialYes
LaunchedFebruary 1, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-02-01)
Current statusOnline

Natalie (ナタリー, Natarī) is a Japanese entertainment news website that debuted on February 1, 2007. It is operated by Natasha, Inc. The website is named after the song of the same name by Julio Iglesias. Natalie has been providing news for such leading Japanese portals and social networks as Mobage Town, GREE, Livedoor, Excite, Mixi,[1] and Yahoo! Japan. It has also been successful on Twitter, with 1,510,000 followers as of February 2017, being the third-most-followed Japanese media company, after The Mainichi Shimbun and The Asahi Shimbun.[1]

History

Natasha, Inc., a content provider, was founded in December 2005,[2] becoming a limited company in February 2006 and being demutualized in January 2007.[2]

On February 1, 2007, Natasha, Inc. opened its own news website Natalie,[2] named after the song "Nathalie" by Julio Iglesias.[3] It was dedicated exclusively to music news and created with the idea of updating on a daily basis, something that newspapers could not do. The website also offered optional registration, that would allow commenting on news articles and creating a list of up to 30 artists to receive updates about.[2]

Natalie grew fast, opening a manga news sub-site, Comic Natalie (コミックナタリー), on December 25, 2008,[4] and a comedian news sub-site, Owarai Natalie (お笑いナタリー), on August 5, 2009.[4]

It opened a cultural goods shop, Natalie Store (ナタリーストア), on August 1, 2012, a movie news sub-site, Eiga Natalie (映画ナタリー), on March 23, 2015, and a theater news sub-site, Stage Natalie (ステージナタリー), on February 2, 2016. They also opened a snack news sub-site, Oyatsu Natalie (おやつナタリー), on May 18, 2011, but it proved to be short-lived and closed on August 31 of the same year.[5]

Management

Natasha, Inc.
Company typeK.K.
IndustryTelecommunications, Internet, Mass media
FoundedDecember 28, 2005; 18 years ago (2005-12-28)
FounderTakuya Ōyama
Headquarters1-2-4 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan
Key people
Takuya Ōyama, CEO
OwnerKDDI 90%, Takuya Oyama et al. 10%
Number of employees
88
ParentKDDI (since 2014)
Websitenatasha.co.jp

The founder and representative director of Natasha, Inc. is Takuya Ōyama. He is also the editor-in-chief of the music news website.[6] As of 2008, the board director and editor-in-chief of Comic Natalie was Gen Karaki, also a bass player for such artists as Speed, Ram Rider, Haruko Momoi, and Nana Katase.[7]

Since 2014, Natasha is a subsidiary of KDDI.

Critical response

According to the news media outlet IT Media News, while the Natalie music website has much information for hardcore fans, the material is overly detailed and readers only glimpse at its content.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b "「情報が早すぎてキモイ！」 "エンタメ系"ニュースサイト「ナタリー」編集部を直撃！ « 中の人直撃インタビュー « トレンド：@niftyビジネス" (in Japanese). Nifty. December 13, 2010. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d "ナターシャ、音楽情報を軸にしたコミュニティポータル「ナタリー」開設 Venture Now（ベンチャーナウ）News" (in Japanese). Venture Now. February 1, 2007. Archived from the original on March 5, 2007. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  3. ^ "【ITベンチャー社長に聞く！】 ポップカルチャーの通信社を目指す～ナターシャ 大山卓也社長（後編） -INTERNET Watch" (in Japanese). Impress Watch. September 29, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Natasha, Inc. 株式会社ナターシャ" (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  5. ^ おやつナタリー終了のお知らせ (in Japanese). Natalie. August 18, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  6. ^ "Webマガジン幻冬舎 お前の目玉は節穴か season 2 第1回 「ナタリー」編集長、大山卓也インタビュー 前編" (in Japanese). Gentosha. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  7. ^ "Webマガジン幻冬舎 お前の目玉は節穴か season 2 第17回 「コミックナタリー」編集長 唐木元インタビュー 前編 自分にとって切実なものしか取り扱わないって決めたんだよ" (in Japanese). Gentosha. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  8. ^ ファン目線すぎて「きもい」と言われた――ネット時代の音楽ニュース「ナタリー」 (in Japanese). IT Media News. July 1, 2008. Retrieved April 10, 2013.

External links

KDDI
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