Naver Webtoon narrowed its operating loss by about 70% from a year earlier in the first quarter, helped by growth in paid content.
Webtoon Entertainment, Naver Webtoon's U.S. headquarters, said on the 11th (local time) that first-quarter revenue came to $320.87 million (about 469.2 billion won). That was down 1.5% from the same period a year earlier ($325.71 million), but up 0.2% on a constant-currency basis. Operating loss was $8.03 million (about 11.8 billion won), with the loss narrowing 69.8% from a year earlier (about 39.3 billion won).
Paid content, the largest portion of total revenue, was tallied at $261.40 million (about 385.5 billion won), up 0.5% in a year. Advertising revenue fell 0.5% to $39.70 million (about 58.5 billion won), and intellectual property (IP) business revenue fell 22.8% to $19.80 million (about 29.2 billion won).
On a constant-currency basis in the first quarter, revenue in Korea rose 3.2% from a year earlier, and global revenue excluding Korea and Japan rose 5.6%. The company said diversification of content and an artificial intelligence (AI)-based recommendation feature contributed to growth in paid content. Monthly paid users (MPU) in these regions increased 8.5% and 3.3%, respectively, from a year earlier.
To diversify content in the first quarter, Webtoon Entertainment pursued global collaborations in North America, including reformatted webtoons from The Walt Disney Company's Disney, Marvel and Star Wars, a commemorative webtoon for the 2026 F1 (Formula One), and a webtoon based on Xbox's "Sea of Thieves."
It also released the Wattpad-originated web novels "Love Me Love Me" and "Kissing is the Easy Part" through OTT platforms such as Prime Video and Tubi. Webtoon Entertainment plans to invest about $50 million (about 73.7 billion won) this year to expand the global creative ecosystem, including discovering creators and new works.
Kim Jun-koo, chief executive officer (CEO) of Webtoon Entertainment, said, "The first quarter delivered solid results," adding, "We will continue to present a wider variety of content by expanding the creative ecosystem and overhauling Canvas, while maintaining investment for business innovation and long-term growth."