Kardashian-Jenner Sisters Shut Down Their Subscription Apps - Variety

The Kardashian-Jenner multimedia brand has millions of social-media followers — but evidently not enough of them are willing to shell out three bucks per month to get the inside dope directly from the clan’s sisters.

This week Kim Kardashian West, Khloé Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian and Kylie Jenner announced that they will stop updating their three-year-old apps and websites in 2019. The coordinated move came after another sister, Kendall Jenner, shut down her app and site last year.

The Kardashian-Jenners’ digital properties, launched in 2015, were developed and managed by Whalerock Industries, the production house headed by CEO Lloyd Braun. Reps for the company didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“We’ve had an incredible experience connecting with all of you through our apps these past few years but have made the difficult decision to no longer continue updating in 2019,” Kardashian West wrote in a Dec. 19 message on her website, which was identical to notices posted by Kylie and Khloé. “We truly hope you’ve enjoyed this journey as much as we have, and we look forward to what’s ahead.”

The subscription model may have failed given that the celebs already share copiously on social media, including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Kourtney Kardashian alluded to this with a slightly different spin on her shutdown announcement, which included an additional call for fans to “follow me on Instagram to stay updated.”

The sisters’ biggest platform is Instagram, where Kourtney currently has about 71 million followers, bested by Kim Kardashian (122.8 million) and Kylie (122.1 million). Kendall has 100 million and Khloé has nearly 84 million.

The Kardashian-Jenner apps were free but offered additional content to subscribers who paid $2.99 per month. Kardashian West’s app, for example, has been billed as providing an “exclusive selection of free and premium paid content. The experience includes exclusive livestreams, beauty tutorials, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, personal journals, fashion content and much more.”

West Hollywood-based Whalerock had big ambitions for its digital-media group through its pacts with the Kardashian-Jenners, as well as Ellen DeGeneres, Howard Stern and Tyler, the Creator. But with the shutdown of the remaining four Kardashian-Jenner apps, the only Whalerock-published apps still available are emoji/sticker apps Kim Kardashian’s Kimoji ($2.99), DJ Khaled’s Moji Talk ($1.99) and Lakers Showtime Stickers (free).

Separately, still available from Glu Mobile are role-playing/story games “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” — which generated estimated revenue of $8 million in Q2 — and “Kendall and Kylie.”

Pictured above: Kim Kardashian West (left), Khloé Kardashian

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