'Already 1 Trillion' Naver Webtoon Makes Waves... A Creator Earning 12.4 Billion Won Annually

BTS Webtoon Coming... Plans for Collaboration with HYBE and DC Comics

Naver has launched an all-out effort to make ‘Naver Webtoon’ a global platform. Naver Webtoon has produced webtoon artists earning up to 12.4 billion KRW annually. The scale of its own webtoon business model, the ‘PPS (Page Profit Share) program,’ which attaches advertisements and other revenue streams to webtoons, has surpassed 1 trillion KRW.

The World's No.1 Content Company

Kim Jun-gu, CEO of Naver Webtoon

Kim Jun-gu, CEO of Naver Webtoon, said at the ‘Naver Meetup’ event held on the 18th, "Through the Naver PPS program, webtoons as a new form of digital content have grown into a bona fide industry," adding, "Going forward, the hottest content in the global entertainment sector will emerge through Naver’s intellectual property (IP) value chain."

Kim first pointed to the ‘platform.’ Naver has implemented an ‘amateur content model’ where anyone can participate and showcase their work, and an ‘original content model’ where works serialized on the Naver platform can grow into super IPs. These two models create mutual synergy and have established a solid competitive edge. Naver’s global StoryTech platform (Naver Webtoon + Wattpad) maintains its position as the world’s No.1 platform with 167 million monthly users and 6 million creators active worldwide.

Kim also revealed the revenue scale generated through the PPS program, a webtoon creator revenue model first introduced by Naver. Since 2013, Naver has created a structure where creators can earn various revenues beyond manuscript fees through advertising, paid content, and IP business. Currently, the total scale of the PPS program reaches approximately 1.07 trillion KRW annually. The highest-earning artist made 12.4 billion KRW per year. The average income of all artists was 280 million KRW, and the average income of artists who started new serializations within the past year was 150 million KRW. Naver explained, "Having completed the IP value chain from web novels to webtoons to video adaptations, the expected revenue from the PPS program will increase further."

BTS

BTS Webtoon Coming Soon

On the same day, Naver also announced collaboration plans with BTS’s agency HYBE and DC Comics, home to Superman and Batman. Naver is launching a ‘Super Casting’ project to produce external super IPs into webtoons or web novels in partnership with entertainment companies that have global fandoms. Naver Webtoon plans to collaborate with HYBE artists including BTS to create webtoons or web novels, as well as offer original webtoons utilizing DC Comics’ universes and characters.

Naver particularly emphasized the ‘virtuous cycle effect’ of the IP value chain. A single IP can be produced in various forms such as web novels, webtoons, and videos to reach fans worldwide. Naver’s StoryTech platform secures users across multiple language groups, so when one piece of content based on an IP forms a global fandom, these fans can naturally flow into other related content, creating a virtuous cycle. Kim said, "The content ecosystem built by Naver is growing into a new industry and gaining attention," adding, "We will continue new attempts to ensure storytelling content emerges as a core element of the global entertainment industry."

"Competition with Kakao in Webtoons Is Not Fierce"

Kim also shared his views on the global webtoon leadership competition with Kakao. He said, "I don’t think the competition with Kakao is fierce," and added, "Rather than focusing on competing with latecomers, we are thinking about how to grow this industry as the No.1 webtoon business operator."

Regarding Kakao’s ‘Piccoma’ ranking first in Japan, Kim said, "I think latecomers are important, but the ‘mistakes’ of the No.1 player are also important," explaining, "Line Manga’s repositioning as digital original content and its long period of stagnation created a good opportunity for competitors."

Kim expressed confidence, saying, "Naver Webtoon has the most competitive content worldwide, and with Japanese partners, the newly reorganized Line Manga 2.0 will feature this content, so the market’s direction cannot be predicted solely by this," adding, "The indicators are improving, and the Japanese market will become even more interesting."

Additionally, Naver Webtoon revealed plans to expand the webtoon market through artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Kim said, "Ultimately, we aim to develop auto-drawing technology to lower the creative barriers so that many people can participate in the webtoon market."

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