'Sweet Home' Global Success... Naver Webtoon Has a Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] The Netflix original series "Sweet Home," based on the Naver Webtoon, is achieving global success.

According to Naver on the 8th, "Sweet Home" ranked first on Netflix charts in eight countries. It is showing strong performance beyond Asia, including the Middle East and Western regions. It has entered the top 10 charts in countries such as the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia, achieving worldwide popularity. "Sweet Home," based on the webtoon of the same name, was co-produced by Studio N, a subsidiary of Naver Webtoon, and Studio Dragon.

The success of Naver Webtoon's intellectual property (IP) in video adaptations is not limited to Sweet Home. Since April last year, Naver Webtoon has sequentially adapted "Tower of God," "God of High School," and "Noblesse" into animations through a Korea-US-Japan joint production, receiving favorable reviews.

Naver Webtoon has set its ambition to become a global entertainment company by actively promoting IP video adaptations not only domestically but also globally. Recently, Naver Webtoon launched a dedicated platform for webtoon IP business called "Webtoon Studio" in the United States and established partnerships with global studios to produce local US works. With a restructuring plan that places Naver Webtoon's US corporation "Webtoon Entertainment" as the headquarters and subsidiaries in Korea, Japan, and other countries under "Webtoon Entertainment," it aims to accelerate its global expansion.

Naver Webtoon is already showing results in the US, Europe, and South America. The monthly active users (MAU) in the US have already surpassed 10 million, and Europe and South America exceeded 5.5 million within one year of launch. Cedric Robert, head of Webtoon Factory in Belgium, said, "Webtoons became popular among young people in France due to two factors: COVID-19 and Naver Webtoon," adding, "Naver entered France three months before the outbreak of COVID-19, which can be compared to the emergence of Netflix."

The intensifying competition among online video service (OTT) companies such as Disney Plus and Netflix is also favorable for Naver Webtoon. An industry insider predicted, "Naver Webtoon's share in the global OTT market will continue to increase."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.