Webtoon Entertainment Posts 11.7 Billion Won Operating Loss in Q1; Revenue Down 1.5% Year-on-Year

Intellectual Property (IP) Business Revenue Drops by 22.8%

Jungoo Kim, CEO of Webtoon Entertainment.

The U.S. headquarters of Naver Webtoon, Webtoon Entertainment, reduced its operating losses in the first quarter of this year, recording an operating loss of 11.7 billion won.

On the 11th (local time), Webtoon Entertainment announced that its preliminary first-quarter operating loss was $8.03 million (11.7 billion won, based on the quarterly average exchange rate of 1,462.2 KRW/USD), a 69.8% decrease compared to the same period last year. Revenue was $320.87 million (469.2 billion won), down 1.5% from a year earlier.

The net loss for the first quarter was $8.8 million (12.9 billion won), a decrease of 60%, while adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) rose 132% to $9.48 million (13.9 billion won).

Paid content revenue, which accounts for the largest share of total sales, increased by 0.5% to $261.4 million. Advertising revenue fell by 0.5% to $39.7 million, and intellectual property (IP) business revenue declined by 22.8% to $19.8 million.

Webtoon Entertainment explained that, after removing the effects of exchange rates, sales in Korea increased by 3.2% compared to the same period last year. The number of monthly paid users (MPU) in Korea rose by 8.5%, and the global MPU (excluding Korea and Japan) increased by 3.3%.

In North America, Webtoon Entertainment is diversifying its content through global collaborations, such as reformatted webtoons with Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars by The Walt Disney Company, a commemorative 2026 Formula 1 (F1) webtoon, and a webtoon based on Xbox's "Sea of Thieves."

On the global web novel platform Wattpad, web novels such as "Love Me Love Me" and "Kissing Is the Easy Part" have been released on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi online video service (OTT) platforms.

To strengthen its user engagement platform, Webtoon Entertainment is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot service "Character Chat" in Japan and has formed a partnership with the AI avatar production company Zinus.

Webtoon Entertainment plans to invest over $50 million (about 70 billion won) this year in the global creative ecosystem, including creator and content discovery. By the first half of the year, the company will integrate "Canvas," a global amateur creative space currently operated in seven separate languages including English and Spanish, into a single platform and enhance its features.

Jungoo Kim, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Webtoon Entertainment, stated, "We achieved solid results in the first quarter on a constant currency basis," adding, "We will continue to invest in expanding the creative ecosystem and revamping Canvas to introduce a wider variety of content, and to drive business innovation and long-term growth."

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