South Korean comics platforms dominate global top 10

Kakao’s Piccoma leads, followed by Line Manga and Line Webtoon

Kakao Piccoma is one of Kakao Corp.’s Japanese subsidiaries
Kakao Piccoma is one of Kakao Corp.’s Japanese subsidiaries
Han-Gyeol Seon 1
2022-04-12 13:29:43 always@hankyung.com
Webtoons

Six manhwa platforms operated by South Korea’s tech juggernauts rank among the top 10 paid digital comics platforms worldwide. 

Manhwa is the general term for Korean comics and print cartoons and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary last October. 

Piccoma logo
Piccoma logo
Kakao Piccoma, one of Kakao Corp.’s Japanese subsidiaries, announced Monday its app raked in the highest revenue worldwide in the fourth quarter of last year. 

Kakao launched Kakao Piccoma in 2011 and launched an exclusive app in April 2016. Piccoma is Japan’s No. 1 ranked webtoon subscription service.

On Feb. 17, the company launched the European version of its webtoon subscription service.

Naver Corp.’s Line Manga and Line Webtoon ranked second and third in terms of paid comics platforms worldwide. 

Naver Webtoon ranked sixth place and Tapas, which Kakao acquired last year, ranked eighth. NHN Japan Corp.’s Comico was 10th. 

Tech behemoths Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. have been intensifying competition over which will dominate the global webtoon market. 

Naver Webtoon, a subsidiary of Naver, will establish a local entity in Europe within the first half of this year – preliminarily called Webtoon EU. 

Once established, Naver Webtoon will be present in all of its target markets; namely South Korea, Japan and Europe, in addition to the United States where the headquarters are located. 

Late last month, Naver Webtoon’s Japanese subsidiary Line Digital Frontier acquired Ebook Initiative Japan, an ebook service provider, from the SoftBank Group.

The National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) forecasts the size of the global digital comics market to reach $1.3 billion this year.

Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.

Naver Webtoon to release three DC comics series from May

Naver Webtoon to release  three DC comics series from May

DC Comics' superheroine Vixen (Courtesy of DC Entertainment) Naver Webtoon Corp., the digital comics platform of South Korea’s online portal giant Naver Corp., is slated to intensify its partnership with DC Comics., the US publisher of superhero comics such as Batman and Superman. Naver W

Europe emerges as battleground for webtoon dominance

Europe emerges as battleground for webtoon dominance

The French language service of Naver Webtoon South Korea’s tech behemoths Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. are intensifying competition over who will dominate the global webtoon market. Naver Webtoon, a subsidiary of Naver, announced on Monday that it will establish a local entity in Eu

Springtime hopeful for K-Culture’s continued Belle Époque

Springtime hopeful for K-Culture’s continued Belle Époque

The Bar at Maxim's by Pierre-Victor Galland, capturing the opulence of the Belle Époque era In the spring of 2020, the South Korean stock market was still not over the COVID-19 scare. While going through the indices, I came across the KidariStudio Inc. shares and the name piqued my

Billionaire Kakao chairman Brian Kim resigns

Billionaire Kakao chairman Brian Kim resigns

Brian Kim (Kim Beom-su) founded Kakao Corp. in 2014 Kakao Corp. founder and chairman Brian Kim said on Monday that he will step down from the tech giant’s board of directors, following a series of scandals that rocked the company last year. The resignation will be finalized if confir

Kakao to unveil YouTube-like manga platform in Japan

Kakao to unveil YouTube-like manga platform in Japan

(Courtesy of Piccoma) Kakao Corp., the No. 1 digital comics platform in Japan, will expand deeper into the neighboring country's comics market by launching a platform where traditional Japanese manga publishers can upload their digital content.Kim Jae-yong, chief executive of Japan-based Kakao

(* comment hide *}