South Korea Webtoons Market Report and Forecast 2024-2032

South Korea Webtoons Market Outlook

The South Korea webtoons market size reached a value of approximately USD 1.54 billion in 2023. The South Korea webtoon industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.2% between 2024 and 2032, reaching a value of USD 6.92 billions by 2032.

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Key Trends in the South Korea Webtoons Market

Digital Comic firms Joining Hands with Entertainment Companies to Expand Their Outreach

A growing number of IT and gaming firms in South Korea are using K-pop singers, who have garnered recognition worldwide, in order to boost their international sales and establish a stronger presence in new markets. Due to their widespread following, K-pop artists like BTS are desirable assets for businesses looking to expand their global services and sales. Naver, the country's largest portal operator, partnered with Big Hit Entertainment in 2019.

The webtoon called "Save me" used the photos of the members of global sensation BTS, popularly known as Bangtan Sonyeondan, to create the characters of their webtoon. Since then, Hybe has been launching webtoons with their other artists, such as Lesserafim and TXT, among others. The collaboration paved the way for the K-pop industry to expand its reach in the international market. Hence, aided in the growth of webtoon market.

COVID-19 Augmented the Installation Rate of Webtoons and other Digital Comic Apps in South Korea

The Webtoon market experienced sudden growth, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological developments are the pillars of the entertainment industry, and the webtoon market is majorly driven by technological advancements. The excellent internet and smartphone penetration, rising disposable incomes, and improved living standards in the country have a major influence on the webtoon market as well as society. The stay-at-home, social distancing, and work-from-home cultures, along with temporary lockdowns, boosted the installation of these digital comic apps in the country as people got plenty of time to spend on entertainment-related aspects, thereby augmenting the growth of the webtoon market.

The Korean Wave or Hallyu Aided in Making Webtoons one of the Significant Mediums to Popularise Korean Culture and Lifestyle

Webtoons have opened up a new area for the quick creation of transmedia IP and provide cartoonists with a chance to use their cartoons to reach enormous digital audiences. Webtoon serves as an intermediary between a dynamic system of agents, including audiences, publishers, producers, advertisers, and governments, as directed by Korea's cultural strategy for exporting domestic material to a worldwide audience.

With the growing popularity of K-dramas and K-pop, the demand for webtoons or Manhwa is increasing. Just like TV shows, its episodes are released online weekly at the scheduled time. These online comic platforms provide cultural and lifestyle-related knowledge via entertainment. These webtoons are available in various genres and languages. However, they’re also a great way to improve Korean language skills if read in their original Korean language. Moreover, these digital comics are easier to produce and distribute, and they reduce paper usage, thus, attracting environment-conscious people in the country. These factors drive the development of the webtoon market in South Korea.

Market Analysis

Based on genre, the South Korea Webtoons Market can be segmented into comedy, action, Sci-Fic, romance, and horror, among others. On the basis of revenue model, webtoon industry of South Korea is segmented into subscription model and advertisement based. Based device type, the South Korea Webtoons Market is divided into mobile, television, and laptop and tablets.

• Naver Webtoon Limited

• Kakao Entertainment Corp.

• Toptoon Co., Ltd.

• Lezhin Entertainment, LLC.

• Tappytoon/Contents First, Inc.

• Toomics Global Co., Ltd

• Toryworks Co.,Ltd.

• Others

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Market Share by Genre

In South Korea Webtoons Market, comedy, romance, action, fantasy/Sci-Fic, drama are the most preferred genres followed by other genres. The webtoon industry will expand not only in South Korea but globally owing to the rising popularity of BTS, K-pop, K-dramas internationally.  Moreover, the surge of various webtoon companies, cartoonists, writers, and freelancers are expected to further augment the webtoon market during the mentioned forecast period. 

Market Share by Revenue Model

Due to their distinctive qualities and user-friendly design, webtoons are becoming more and more popular, which is anticipated to fuel the expansion of the webtoon market. Over the years, the popularity of Korean webtoons as a "snack-culture" format customised for smartphones has increased substantially. Additionally, the use of visual effects technology is expanding in recent webtoons, which is anticipated to positively impact revenue growth. The iOS App Store has been significantly impacted by several income sources, such as subscriptions, and this trend will only increase. The popularity of this concept can be seen in a number of prominent apps such as Daum and Naver. Like other media, in-app advertising enables publishers to make comics freely available to a larger audience in a number of ways. 

Market Share by Device Types

These digital comics or webtoons can be read on several devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and television. With the growing popularity, a lot of webtoons are now made into television-based shows with short and crisp storylines and this segment is much preferred by people who are more inclined toward audio-visual-based entertainment rather than reading comics. The laptop and smartphone segment experienced incredible growth during the COVID-19 pandemic due to boredom brought on by constant temporary lockdowns and work-from-home orders. Features such as the inclusion of OSTs, interactivity and audio are attracting a lot of people, especially the MZ generation.

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Competitive Landscape

Naver Webtoon Limited- The largest digital comics platform in the world, WEBTOON, is home to some of the industry's top creators, intellectual properties, and fandoms. WEBTOON, the industry innovator and leader in mobile webcomics, has completely changed the way that artists and readers interact with comics. The company's storytelling technology enables anybody to become a creator and grow a global audience for their stories, and as a result, a diverse new generation of international comic artists has found a home on WEBTOON. Naver, a South Korean internet giant, is the owner of WEBTOON. Naver purchased Wattpad, a digital novel app, in 2021. The merger brought together WEBTOON, the leading online comics platform in the world, with Wattpad, the top web novel site. A total of 166 million individuals are reached by these channels for digital storytelling worldwide.

Kakao Entertainment Corp.- Kakao Entertainment Corp. is a business that creates application software. Two mobile content platforms, KakaoPage and Kakao Webtoon, are run by Kakao Entertainment. Communication, media, content, gaming, lifestyle, finance, and search are among the services it provides. The company's headquarters are in Jeju-si, South Korea, and it was established on February 16, 1995.

Key Highlights of the Report