Korean webtoon giants turn comics into videos to capture short-form generation

A promotional image for Cuts, a short-form animation service provided by Naver Webtoon / Courtesy of Naver Webtoon

Korean webtoon platforms Naver Webtoon and Kakao Webtoon are racing to reshape digital comics into a new hybrid form of entertainment by merging traditional scrolling panels with dynamic video content.

As short-form video continues to dominate online platforms across generations, especially young users, the country’s two biggest webtoon players see an opportunity to extend their reach and boost audience engagement beyond the conventional reading experience.

“The webtoon industry is increasingly recognizing the importance of providing content that aligns with the consumption habits of users, especially the younger generation, who prefer shorter content,” an official from the local webtoon industry said. “It appears that leading players in the industry are making this move to meet this demand.”

Webtoon Entertainment, a parent company of Naver Webtoon which oversees the platform’s global business, recently introduced a new feature called Video Episodes on its English-language service.

Rather than the familiar vertical scroll, readers using Video Episodes service can watch chapters transformed into five-minute video adaptations, complete with moving images, sound effects, background music and voice acting, the company said.

The service, currently in pilot mode, is being rolled out on 14 original English-language titles such as popular fantasy-comedy “Vampire Family” with 20 free episodes available per series.

By enabling users to switch between reading and viewing, Webtoon Entertainment believes the dual-mode format will broaden accessibility and appeal to more viewers. The Video Episodes feature will be expanded to more titles and languages.

On Monday, Naver also launched the Cuts service in Korea, a short animation platform designed to meet the growing demand for short-form content consumers.

This service, launched as a strategy to expand the reading experience into a viewing experience, similar to Video Episodes, summarizes or animates existing webtoons into short videos approximately one to three minutes long.

Naver Webtoon is currently recruiting Cuts creators and plans to expand the ecosystem where webtoons and short-form videos coexist by providing grants to creators who produce excellent bite-sized content.

"We aim to provide various support to creators, ranging from content creation to securing a fandom,” said Kim Hyun-woo, the content lead for the company's Cuts service.

Seen is an example of Helix Shorts, an artificial intelligence-powered service that automatically summarizes webtoons into short-form videos, applied to webtoon "I'm a Fake Saint but the Gods are Obsessed" (tentative English title) on Kakao Entertainment's webtoon and novel platform, Kakao Page. Courtesy of Kakao Entertainment

Kakao Entertainment, operator of rival platform Kakao Webtoon, has taken a slightly different route by harnessing artificial intelligence to automate short-form adaptations.

Earlier this year, the company introduced Helix Shorts, a new technology that automatically creates bite-sized video summaries of webtoons.

The artificial intelligence-powered service analyzes panels, dialogue and character expressions to condense key storylines into engaging clips. It then enhances the videos with narration, captions, background music and cinematic effects like zooms and transitions.

The automatically generated videos are featured on Kakao Page, the company's webtoon and online novel platform, to help users quickly understand a series' tone and plot before they dive into reading.

The industry official said these changes are occuring because younger people prefer quick and visually stimulating content on platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

“The webtoon companies are making changes to stay close with younger generation. Combining short videos with popular webtoons could create a powerful mix, helping both new readers and existing fans grow,” the official explained.