KT Millie's library said on the 29th that more than 50 corporate clients signed up for its business-to-business (B2B) service this year.
Millie's library entered the B2B business starting with Samsung Electronics in Nov. 2022. Including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Electronics, the Gangwon-do Office of Education, and the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute, about 210 corporations and institutions have adopted Millie's library B2B service, and monthly users have topped 100,000.
This year, more than 50 corporations and institutions newly adopted Millie's library, expanding the scale of client companies. In particular, adoption cases are continuing mainly among public institutions, local governments, and the financial sector.
Among public institutions and local governments, a total of 16 entities, including the Gangwon-do Office of Education and the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office, newly adopted the service. Based on a stable budget execution structure, adoption is spreading, and in the public sphere, reading welfare is taking root as an institutional trend.
In finance as well, five new corporations in the finance and insurance sectors, including IM Bank and Hana Securities, were added this year. A Millie's library official said, "Finance is often cited as a sector where it is difficult to introduce digital services due to industry characteristics, but as demand for digital welfare has recently increased, demand is growing for services that can meet requirements such as security and an account management system."
Partnership businesses centered on telecom companies and media outlets are also growing more than 50% each year. Telecom partnerships, amid steady subscriber growth, have recorded a cumulative growth rate of 135% over the past two years. As bundled telecom plans spread, e-books appear to have taken their place as one pillar of lifestyle subscription packages along with music and online video services (OTT).
Newspapers and academic journals grew 85% from a year earlier, with a cumulative two-year growth rate of 134%. Media outlets and academic journals are combining Millie's library subscriptions with their own subscription products so readers can consume news and books at the same time. This change stems from rising demand to use books together with news and academic information.
Park Jeong-hyeon, head of the subscription business division at KT Millie's library, said, "There has always been corporate demand to use reading for employee education and welfare, and Millie's library provides reading experiences in various formats, from e-books to audiobooks and chatbots," and added, "We will continue to work closely with a wide range of corporations, institutions, and partnership partners to spread a reading culture and build an environment where people can enjoy books in everyday life."