Korea Investment & Securities said on the 17th that the recent collaboration between NAVER Webtoon and Disney is an event that could expand the market dominance of a key business unit for NAVER. It maintained a Buy rating and a target price of 300,000 won. NAVER's previous closing price was 235,000 won.
Earlier, on the 16th, NAVER Webtoon announced the joint development of a platform with Disney. The new platform will integrate and offer more than 35,000 comics owned by Disney, including Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar, along with some original series from NAVER Webtoon. The business is expected to proceed in a format in which Disney provides intellectual property (IP) and NAVER Webtoon oversees the development and operation of the platform. To facilitate the collaboration, Disney plans to acquire a 2% equity stake in Webtoon Entertainment.
Jung Ho-yoon, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, said, "We expect a large number of additional subscribers to come in on the back of Disney's IP," and added, "NAVER will operate its existing webtoon platform and the new platform simultaneously and create synergy to make as many users as possible move over to the existing platform by leveraging the new one." Revenue generated on the platform will be recognized by NAVER, and NAVER plans to pay Disney a portion of sales as a fee.
Regarding the collaboration, Jung said, "While NAVER Webtoon has declared overseas expansion under the banner of the globalization of webtoons, it has struggled in the U.S. market. This is expected to be a critical turning point."
NAVER Webtoon's global monthly active users (MAU), which stood at 119 million in the first quarter of 2023, fell slightly to 110 million in the second quarter of this year.
Jung analyzed that this was because the cultural barrier to webtoons becoming part of mainstream culture in the U.S. market was stronger than expected.
Jung added, "At a time when overall interest in Korean culture in the West has risen significantly with the major success of 'K-pop Demon Hunters,' developing a collaborative platform with Disney to naturally create a pathway for users to flow into webtoons will be a new opportunity for webtoons to raise their profile in the U.S. market."