Naver Webtoon tops 67 mn monthly active users in Aug

Naver Webtoon, the online comic platform of South Korea’s portal giant Naver Corp., topped 67 million monthly active users worldwide last month as webtoons rode high on the global craze for Korean pop culture.

The webtoon provider added 2 million new users in a single month, setting it well on track to meet its annual goal of 70 million users this year, the company said Tuesday.

Revenue has increased with the rise of global viewership. In August, it raked in 80 billion won ($67.3 milion) from paying readers, up from 70 billion won three months ago. This makes the company well poised to reach its target of 800 billion won for 2020.

Naver Webtoon first ventured into Japan in 2013 with the launch of Line Manga. In 2014, it made its webtoon services global by introducing versions in English and Taiwanese.

Korean webtoon contents are striking a chord with the global audience. “The Secret of Angel,” a popular webtoon series in Korea, became a smash hit in the U.S., Japan, Thailand and France. Another local title “The Boxer” is also rapidly gaining fans in Thailand and the U.S.

[Source: Naver Corp.]

The rising number of non-Korean creators has made the platform more diverse. “Lore Olympus,” a romance webcomic created by Rachel Smythe, was first published in the U.S. before it went on to dominate charts in France, Spain and Latin America. It has just recently started serializing in Korea.

Webtoons based on popular webnovels are becoming an assured hit. “The Remarried Empress” quickly landed in the top five list among Thai and Taiwanese viewers. “Omniscient Reader,” which gained fame in Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan, was made available for the English-speaking audience last month.

Top-rated webtoons are now crossing over into film. The animated film adaptation of the webtoon “Noblesse” is set for global release in October, following the success of its predecessors “Tower of God” and “The God of High School.”

“The popularity of Naver Webtoon has now gone far beyond Asia, stretching to the Americas and Europe,” said Kim Joon-ku, chief executive of Naver Webtoon. “Having created a vibrant global community of creators, we will now focus on grooming webtoons into a key cultural content underpinning the global entertainment industry.”

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