Naver Webtoon and Kakao Entertainment, the two leading domestic webtoon corporations, are expected to accelerate the cultivation of hits and the expansion of overseas business this year under new leadership. The goal is to develop mega intellectual property (IP) loved worldwide like Disney and secure new users in North America and Europe.
Under the leadership of newly appointed Webtoon Entertainment President Kim Yong-su, Naver Webtoon will focus on the North American market, while Kakao Entertainment is expected to pursue platform advancement centered on a global fandom under the co-CEO system led by Go Jeong-hui, who comes from KakaoBank.
According to related industries on the 2nd, the biggest theme in the webtoon industry this year is "global." With the domestic webtoon market entering a phase of growth stagnation, the strategy is to seek growth pathways in overseas markets.
According to the "2025 Webtoon Industry Survey" published by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), last year's domestic webtoon industry revenue was 2.2856 trillion won, up about 4.4% from the previous year. Compared with the annual revenue growth rates during the COVID-19 period of 65% in 2020 and 48% in 2021, the growth has slowed sharply.
This trend is also evident in each company's performance and in the number of users of webtoon and web novel platforms. Last year's revenue at Webtoon Entertainment, the U.S. head office of Naver Webtoon, was $1,382.71 million (about 1.9647 trillion won), up only 2.5% from a year earlier. According to WiseApp Retail, Naver Webtoon's monthly active users (MAU) in Korea were about 12.97 million on mobile apps last month, up about 6.7% year over year, but users of Series, a web novel platform, stood at 3.94 million, remaining at a similar level to a year ago.
Kakao Entertainment's webtoon business contracted last year. Consolidation-based revenue at Kakao Entertainment, which includes its three main businesses—music (Melon and music/album distribution), story (webtoons/web novels), and media (video production/distribution)—was 1.7384 trillion won, down 4.1% from a year earlier.
Among them, revenue in the story institutional sector, which includes webtoons and web novels, totaled 440.177 billion won, down 11.5% from the previous year. It was the steepest decline among the three businesses. As of last month, users of KakaoPage, a leading domestic webtoon and web novel platform, numbered 5.79 million, down nearly 7% from a year earlier.
In response, both companies plan to step up efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of their webtoon platforms by installing new commanders this year. The resumes of the newly appointed CEOs of Naver Webtoon and Kakao Entertainment show where the two companies intend to concentrate their efforts this year.
Webtoon Entertainment last month appointed Kim Yong-su as president, calling him the right person to lead the global webtoon business. After stints at McKinsey and Tesla, Kim joined Naver Webtoon in 2022 and is credited with leading Webtoon Entertainment's 2024 Nasdaq listing in the United States and last year's content collaboration with The Walt Disney Company.
With Kim, who has overseen the global webtoon business including the United States, moved to the forefront, Webtoon Entertainment is expected to focus this year on strengthening webtoon content that will resonate in overseas markets. As part of that, the company presented a blueprint to invest more than 70 billion won this year in discovering new works and supporting creators, and to nurture popular works into "mega IP." The core is to discover region-specific original web novel and webtoon IP that can expand into Netflix drama series or animation, games, and merchandise.
At a press briefing last month, Kim said, "For now, the top priority is mid- to long-term growth rather than short-term revenue improvement," adding, "We will work to ensure webtoons are recognized as mainstream, not niche, content in the U.S. and global markets."
As part of efforts to broaden webtoons' appeal and lower entry barriers, a new comics platform featuring Disney and Marvel content is also set to launch at year's end. It is an attempt to draw the existing Disney and Marvel fandom into the webtoon platform. On the English-language platform, the company also moved to link up with game IP, unveiling this month an original webtoon series based on the popular game "Overwatch."
New Kakao Entertainment co-CEO Go Jeong-hui officially took office at the shareholders meeting on the 25th of last month. Newly joined, Go will work in tandem with existing co-CEO Jang Yun-jung. While at KakaoBank, Go helped establish user-participation services such as "26-week savings," "group accounts," and "piggy bank."
While the previous co-CEO system under Kwon Gi-su and Jang Yun-jung focused on streamlining by shedding noncore businesses, the Go Jeong-hui and Jang Yun-jung system is expected to concentrate on expanding the global fandom through linking IP and platforms. Kakao Entertainment's businesses had been criticized for weak linkages among the three units—music, story, and media. The company said, "With the new leadership, we will advance the synergy between IP and platforms."
In particular, there is speculation that Go will build a more user-friendly platform based on experience at KakaoBank to increase users' time spent. For webtoons, the plan is to advance the services of KakaoPage, where user growth has recently slowed, and to accelerate IP diversification such as adapting popular webtoon and web novel IP like "Solo Leveling" for the screen.
However, securing profitability in the webtoon business remains a challenge. Both companies have been posting operating losses for years, and because the priority for now is investment for external growth such as discovering new titles and expanding business using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, a near-term turnaround to the black appears difficult.