Kim Jung-gu, CEO of Naver Webtoon, "Aiming Beyond No.1 US Webtoon to Post-Disney Era"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] “Naver Webtoon has cultivated the webtoon ecosystem in the United States, the world's largest entertainment market. We aim to leap beyond webtoons to become a global top-tier entertainment company like Disney."

On the 12th (local time), Kim Jun-gu, CEO of Naver Webtoon, shared Naver Webtoon's efforts and achievements in pioneering the global market in Redwood City, California, USA.

CEO Kim evaluated, "Last year was a year in which we were recognized not only for the artistic quality and popularity of our content in the global market but also from an industrial perspective." He mentioned the case where INSEAD, a global business school, produced a case study on Naver Webtoon's growth strategy following the sweeping of the three major U.S. comic awards (Eisner Awards, Harvey Awards, Ringo Awards) by Naver Webtoon's English original work 'Lore Olympus' last year.

Naver Webtoon has focused on the U.S. from the early stages of its global challenge. It launched its English webtoon service in 2014 and established Webtoon Entertainment in the U.S. in 2016. To date, over 120,000 creators have registered works on the Canvas English service. As of the second quarter of last year, Naver Webtoon's monthly active users (MAU) in the U.S. reached 12.5 million, ranking first.

CEO Kim explained, “The U.S. is a strategic region where entertainment companies must succeed,” adding, "It has the largest content market in the world and, due to the nature of the English language, it has the advantage of continuously producing diverse works."

As Naver Webtoon has established itself as the platform gathering the most creators and users worldwide, love calls from global entertainment companies such as Marvel, DC Comics, and Netflix are increasing. Naver Webtoon plans to continuously announce partnerships noteworthy to the entertainment industry.

Regarding future direction, the company positioned itself as a global entertainment company that sends various creators' intellectual properties (IP) worldwide, like Disney. CEO Kim emphasized, "We will grow beyond our current position as the world's number one story tech platform to become a top-tier entertainment company globally," adding, "We want to be the place where various entertainment players visit to find valuable IP."

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