Naver webtoon sees global expansion

By Yoon Sung-won

In the early 2000s, Korea’s cartoon industry was staggering due to a surge in the availability of illegal publications.

Sales of comic books plunged as pirate editions of cartoons spread even faster through high speed Internet. Consequently, many comics disappeared from the market.

In 2015, the nation’s cartoon industry could bounce back from the crisis on the back of online and mobile platforms and it is recovering its status as one of the most promising content industries here.

Kim Jun-koo, Naver’s LINE Webtoon division director, said that online and mobile technologies have created entertainment for people, opportunities for talented cartoonists and Internet contents providers. Kim has dedicated the last decade to producing “webtoons,” which refers to cartoons available online.

“It’s been 10 years since I started ‘Naver Webtoon.’ Looking back, cartoons have become a pillar of the nation’s popular culture for all people, not only for fans. At the same time, the webtoon platform gave many amateur cartoonists a chance to present their works to readers and some of them became very popular,” Kim said in an email interview with The Korea Times. “This has generated profits for them and for the service provider. I find my work worthwhile here.”

Kim started his career as a developer in a local startup company in 2002. Since he joined in Naver, which has become the nation’s top web portal service provider, he has worked in business planning and webtoon service division.

Kim attributed the role of local web portal service providers such as now-defunct Yahoo Korea, Paran and Daum to the advancement of local webtoon industry.

“The nation’s webtoon industry has growth thanks to the investment of various web portals in this segment. Now the industry has grown to see several webtoon businesses outside these web portals,” he said.

“We have also worked to diversify income sources of cartoonists. Alongside payment for manuscripts, Naver has introduced paid content models such as previews and an in-content advertisement platform called page profit share.”

In recognition of his contribution and dedication to the growth of local webtoon industry, he received the grand prize at the “Web Award Webtoon” in 2010. This year, he was named as the NextGen Innovators by U.S. economic magazine Forbes.

Under Kim’s leadership, the service receives a daily average of 6.2 million hits and has accumulated a total of 29.2 billion total visits as of June 1, 2014, said Naver.

Kim said he expects that marketing cooperation with Naver’s instant mobile messenger service LINE will create new cartoon market opportunities in overseas countries like Japan.

“Some local webtoon works have already established a strong fan base overseas,” he said. “I also anticipate that foreign Internet users will favor Korea’s webtoon because it is tailor-made for online and mobile platforms. This is comparable to the foreign services that simply post printed cartoons online.

“In terms of a cultural content, however, I think this segment needs more time for growth than other IT services.”

Kim also said he will continue working to build a virtuous circle in the local webtoon industry for young, talented cartoonists at home and abroad.

“We have successfully introduced the Challenge League, where we can discover many talented cartoon content creators, in the local industry and expanded the program globally,” he said. “I hope this will offer opportunities for foreign cartoonists, who have not been familiar with the webtoon platform so far, to find Korean readers and provide them with entertainment.”