Winged 'K-Webtoon'... Kakao Piccoma Ranks 3rd in Global Non-Gaming App Revenue Growth

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Kakao Japan's webtoon platform 'Piccoma' ranked 3rd in global non-gaming app revenue growth rate.

According to Kakao on the 6th, based on a report from global app research firm App Annie, Piccoma ranked 3rd in revenue growth rate compared to the previous quarter among global non-gaming apps in the first quarter of this year. This is based on the combined data from the Apple App Store and Google Play, the two major app markets.

Piccoma ranked 9th overall in non-gaming app revenue for the first quarter. It is the only comic app within the top 10 in revenue.

The biggest growth driver for Piccoma is webtoons, which account for 40% of total revenue. While existing works such as 'Solo Leveling' continue to be popular, Korean webtoons released in the first quarter of this year, including 'It Seems I Fell Into a Reverse Harem Game', 'Beware of Those Brothers', and 'I Became the Villainous Empress in a Novel', recorded monthly revenue of 30 million yen (approximately 306 million KRW) immediately after release.

Kakao Japan is also working with Daewon Media to discover and nurture creators. In February, Kakao Japan established a joint venture (JV) called 'Sherpa Studio' in Japan together with StoryJak, a subsidiary of Daewon Media. Through synergy between Korean and Japanese content, they will actively produce original webtoon and web novel content capable of leading the global market.

Kim Jaeyong, CEO of Kakao Japan, stated, "We will take the lead in creating a global content ecosystem by actively nurturing excellent creators who produce great works through Sherpa Studio."

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