Ridi Co., which operates the e-book platform Ridibooks, surpassed 250 billion won in sales last year on the back of comics and its global webtoon service. It was the highest revenue on record.
Ridi disclosed on Apr. 1 that sales under consolidation last year were 251.6 billion won, up 7% from a year earlier.
Webtoons and comics content drove revenue growth. In particular, revenue from the comics genre grew 30% from a year earlier. A Ridi official said, "As fandom-based consumption of animation original intellectual property (IP) increased, it led to stronger performance for major titles."
Notably, thanks to the theatrical release effect of the hit Japanese animation "Demon Slayer," revenue from the original manga surged about 1,800% from the month before release. Another popular animation, "Chainsaw Man," also saw original manga revenue jump 2,000% in step with its theatrical release.
Paid customers also increased. The company said the number of customers converting to paid on Ridi last year recorded a double-digit growth rate. It explained that customers who came to read comics went on to purchase other content such as webtoons and web novels, boosting the paid conversion rate.
Ridi's global webtoon service "Manta" also saw revenue increase 30% from a year earlier. Manta operates a hybrid business model that combines a subscription model with a la carte payments. Ridi said, "The number of titles served on Manta last year doubled from a year earlier, and we also introduced a serialized web novel service to diversify the types of content," explaining the background for higher revenue.
However, Ridi's operating loss last year was 26.2 billion won, with the deficit widening 103% from a year earlier. The initial investment expense for the global short-drama platform "Kanta," launched last year, was reflected. Kanta alone released as many as 100 original titles last year.
Bae Gi-sik, CEO of Ridi, said, "Last year was a year when our core businesses centered on 'Ridi' and 'Manta' continued their growth while we expanded into new IP businesses," adding, "Going forward, Ridi will build a foundation for sustainable growth based on IP competitiveness."