Global Digital Learning Platform "Kahoot!" Forms Partnership with Universal Music's Western Music x Education Project "UM English Lab."

Kahoot! (Headquarters: Oslo, Norway / CEO: Eilert Giertsen Hanoa), a global digital learning platform company, announced today that it has formed an official partnership with "UM English Lab.", an educational support platform developed by Universal Music LLC, the Japanese subsidiary of Universal Music Group.

Kahoot! has been strengthening its business foundation in the Japanese market, including announcing the localization of its web platform and mobile app for Japan in 2021, and establishing a new office in Minato-ku, Tokyo in October 2024. With over 100 million cumulative participants and utilized by more than 200,000 teachers in the past year, Kahoot! is rapidly gaining traction in Japanese educational settings.

As Kahoot! becomes an established daily learning tool in many classrooms, this partnership with "UM English Lab.", an educational support platform launched by Universal Music LLC in Japan in March 2025, was realized as a new initiative to further stimulate students' interest in English.

"UM English Lab." is a project that utilizes the company's rich catalog of Western music to provide original supplementary materials for English education to teachers nationwide free of charge. Through this partnership, these engaging music contents will be delivered to Japanese educational settings via Kahoot!, which is already widely used by many teachers, as more interactive and participatory learning materials in a game-like format. By listening to global hit songs and challenging questions related to lyrics on Kahoot! using smartphones or tablets, students can foster proactive learning and naturally improve their English skills and cross-cultural understanding while having fun.

Under the GIGA School Concept 2.0, promoting ICT utilization and reducing the burden of material preparation for teachers are crucial issues. Kahoot! serves as a powerful ally in daily lesson planning. Through this partnership, Kahoot! content utilizing UM English Lab.'s specialized knowledge and high-quality Western music content will be pre-provided on the platform. This eliminates the need for teachers to create materials from scratch, a task that traditionally consumed much of their time. Instead, they can simply select content according to their objectives and use it in class. As a result, this significantly reduces the burden of material preparation while enabling the provision of higher-quality learning experiences.

Comment from Brent Mori, Growth Director for Japan and Korea at Kahoot!

"Kahoot!'s mission is 'To make learning awesome!'. As the Kahoot! Japan team, we are extremely pleased to collaborate with Universal Music's wonderful Western music content, which leads the world. Music is the best hook to capture children's hearts and stimulate their motivation to learn. We are confident that with UM English Lab.'s high-quality content deployed on Kahoot!, Japanese classrooms will become even more vibrant and interactive spaces. We also believe that by providing ready-to-use digital teaching materials, we can significantly contribute to reducing the burden of lesson preparation for busy Japanese teachers."

Comment from Shingo Terashima, Manager, Western Music Marketing Strategy Department, Universal Music

"UM English Lab. was launched to help teachers create lessons where students feel 'English is fun!' by exposing them to 'current' English and different cultures through Western music. We are very excited that by partnering with Kahoot!, which is widely popular in Japanese educational settings, our music content will reach students as a more participatory, game-like learning experience. We will maximize the power of Western music through the Kahoot! platform, from fostering non-cognitive skills like critical thinking and expression to improving the four English language skills, and provide a new form of English learning."

About UM English Lab x Kahoot! Content

Diverse interactive Kahoot! content utilizing songs and music videos from globally renowned artists will be provided, enabling students to intuitively learn grammar, listening, and pronunciation. UM English Lab Kahoot! content is available for free from the UM English Lab Kahoot! profile page (here).