Kakao Piccoma Sweeping Japan, Advances into Global Market

Leading Manga Nation's Entry After 6 Years
App Transaction Volume Hits Record High
Service Launch in French Market Within First Half

Jaeyong Kim, CEO of Kakao Piccoma

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Piccoma, which holds the number one market share in Japan, the birthplace of comics, is expanding its market globally and making rapid progress. Kakao Piccoma entered the content business in 2016 as a latecomer in Japan, the world's largest comic market, and the first-month performance of the 'Piccoma' service was only 200 yen (about 2,100 KRW). Six years later, in 2022, Piccoma set a record for the highest monthly transaction amount as a single application (app), surpassing a cumulative transaction amount of 1.3 trillion KRW.

The comprehensive digital comic platform Piccoma has recorded more than double the transaction growth every year since the year after its launch in 2017. In July 2020, it became the first non-game app to rank first in sales in Japan, achieving a market share of 65%. It recorded a transaction amount of 722.7 billion KRW over the past year.

Piccoma analyzed users' changing content usage environments and patterns and devised a method to provide comics segmented into 1 to 2 episodes per volume so that users could access the comic app without burden. Additionally, by introducing the 'Wait and Read for 0 Yen' system, it lowered the barrier so users could easily find content, establishing a goal of becoming a comic app accessible to everyone.

Along with this, Piccoma raised its credibility by adopting respect for works as its platform philosophy. Unlike other platforms that rely on advertising business as their main revenue source, Piccoma chose to compete with comics themselves without ads, building trust from subscribers and creators toward the platform.

In particular, the hidden support of Chairman Beom-su Kim of Kakao played a role in Piccoma reaching the top. Chairman Kim cited overseas market expansion as the greatest goal of his entrepreneurial life and personally managed the business by visiting Japan every month. In 2015, he met CEO Jaeyong Kim, who was working as the head of the LINE Creative Center, in Japan and offered him the position of CEO of Kakao Piccoma (then Kakao Japan).

Jaeyong Kim, CEO of Kakao Piccoma, said, "When Chairman Kim suggested applying the 'Wait and Read for Free' model, which was first introduced on KakaoPage, to Piccoma, local Japanese publishers did not sympathize with this business model and responded coldly. However, we believed it would succeed, and thanks to Chairman Kim's unwavering faith, who silently waited until results came, we were able to continue our challenge without shaking."

Meanwhile, Piccoma, which ranked 6th in global mobile consumer spending apps in 2021, is challenging the world market from the Japanese market. Based on the 'Piccoma Europe' corporation established last September, it plans to launch services in the French market within the first half of this year.

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