![]() ![]() (Webtoon Entertainment is already a producer in Korea through Studio N, which produced Sweet Home, Bloodhounds and See You In My 19th Life). Now North America and Europe are starting to take notice. Following the Wattpad acquisition in 2021, Naver established Wattpad Webtoon Studios to focus on licensing and producing webtoon and webnovel content internationally. The rest of Asia is already tapping into webtoon IP – last year’s China box office hit Moon Man was based on Korean artist Cho Seok’s 2016 webtoon Moon You, and Thailand’s GMMTV is currently adapting Maenggi Ki’s My ID Is Gangnam Beauty, one of many webtoon adaptations across Southeast Asia.Īnd despite the strength of its own manga and anime industries, Japan is also delving into Korean webtoon IP – Crunchyroll is working with Naver’s Webtoon platform on animated series based on several properties, including Tower Of God, Noblesse and God Of High School. With such huge global fanbases, licensing stories from both Korean and international creators for adaptations outside of Korea is an obvious next step for both Naver and Kakao. Popular webtoons from U.S.-based creators on Kakao’s Tapas platform include The Beginning After The End, written by TurtleMe, which has been exported to six local-language platforms, including Korea, Japan and France. Webtoon’s English-language platform is home to the hit Lore Olympus webtoon from New Zealand’s Rachel Smythe, which is being adapted as an animated series by The Jim Henson Company and Wattpad Webtoon Studios, as well as UK writer Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper, adapted as a live-action series by Netflix and See-Saw Films. It also has local-language webtoon platforms under the Kakao brand in Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia.Īs the two big players expand, they’re seeing growth in, not just readers, but also popular creators who are coming from outside South Korea. Kakao has built out its global presence through the acquisition of three US-based platforms – Tapas (webtoons), Radish (novels) and Wuxiaworld (fantasy fiction) – and also operates the Piccoma webtoon platform in Japan and France. It is also partners with Japan’s Softbank in a long-established Japanese platform known as Line Manga. Naver’s Webtoon, which acquired Toronto-based online literature platform in 2021, now has local-language platforms in the US, Latin America, France, Germany, Thailand, Indonesia and China. But the domestic market can’t keep growing for ever and both Naver and Kakao are investing heavily in international growth. KOCCA also estimates that the Korean webtoon market grew fourfold to $1.23BN between 20, monetizing through a combination of micro-payments, advertising, merchandising and licensing rights for film and TV adaptations. Our global audience is mostly Gen Z and the stories and themes that appeal to them are often more important than specific cultural elements.” But what is more important are the generational aspects. “You get constant feedback and comments – like why did you kill off this character so early? And it’s part of the creator economy so it’s easier for new talent to break in.”Ĭhoi also explains that webtoons can be easier to adapt than traditional Japanese manga, as it’s a relatively new format that is not locked into a decades-old publishing ecosystem: “IP in the manga world can be more complex, as it has a longer history and is based on physical comic books, whereas webtoons are newer and digital, so it’s all a bit more fluid.”Ĭharlie Park, head of global business at Kakao Entertainment’s Story Division, explains why Korean webtoons are starting to travel: “Many have universal story-telling values so are not exclusively reflecting Korean culture. “It’s become a very interactive format because it was developed for digital natives,” says Carol Choi, Disney’s head of Original Content Strategy, APAC, when asked what differentiates webtoons from manga. Itaewon Class, Kakao webtoon & Netflix series Kakao Entertainment Corp / NetflixĪdaptations from webtoons on Kakao’s platform include Netflix’s Itaewon Class, The Uncanny Counter and Business Proposal, AppleTV+’s Dr Brain and Disney+’s upcoming adaptation of Moving, created by Kang Full, one of the format’s pioneers. ![]()
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