Webtoons, a term for digital comic series coined in South Korea, have stretched from a local form of entertainment to a global audience. The popularity of webtoons has made them a hot content intellectual property (IP) thanks to screen adaptations via streaming services.
In the drama industry, webtoon-based television series have become a well-known trend that ensures commercial success. The K-drama series “Moving,” which has ranked as the most-watched Korean series within the past seven days on Disney+, is based on Kang Full’s webtoon. The most recently aired K-drama series on Netflix “Doona!” and “Daily Dose of Sunshine” are also based on the work of webtoon authors Min Songa and Lee Ra-ha, respectively.
Besides such screen adaptations within the country, there have been calls from foreign entertainment industries to bring South Korea’s webtoon IP to their own TV series production. According to a statement announced by Kakao Entertainment Corp. on Nov. 13, its webtoon “Nth Romance” will be adapted into a Taiwanese series by local production company IndieZ Entertainment, set to air in 2025.
Ji-Hoon Yang, a researcher of the Content Research Bureau within the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute, explained that Taiwan’s decision is understood due to increased demand for Korean IP, especially webtoons, among international companies.
“Taiwan is well-known for using trending content for production,” Yang said. “Their direct use of content from webtoons proves that South Korea’s webtoons are bringing in interest from foreign countries.”
However, Yang acknowledged that South Korea’s webtoons have not been established yet as a global webcomic platform. He emphasized that in Taiwan’s case, it was Korean content that was in demand, not webtoons specifically. Compared to Marvel Comics in the United States and manga in Japan, South Korea’s vertical scrolling webtoons are still in the stage of development to enter the global stage.
The rising global demand for South Korea’s webtoon IP is a positive signal at the same time. According to Yang, South Korea has an edge when introducing webtoon culture worldwide via global streaming services due to its novelty.
“For example, if a certain Netflix user that enjoys ‘Doona!’ and ‘Sweet Home’ finds out that they are both based on webtoons, they may consider reading the original webtoons as well,” he said. “Since there are English versions available, there is a real possibility for an increase in global users.”
Yang introduced another glocalization strategy pioneered by Naver Webtoon called Webtoon Canvas, which targets global, prospective content creators. Webtoon Canvas is an amateur participation system where creators develop their own webtoons with a chance to be selected as official webtoons.
Yang cited “Lore Olympus,” a romance webtoon from Webtoon Canvas that has won the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for two consecutive years. Created by Rachel Smythe, an artist from New Zealand, “Lore Olympus” shows how Webtoon Canvas has succeeded in fostering global talents while expanding the scope of webtoon users.
“One interesting thing about ‘Lore Olympus’ is that its main consumers are non-Koreans,” Yang said. “What this means is that because the concept of entertainment and humor can vary across different cultures, fostering foreign authors will be another route to reach out to the global audience.”
Besides South Korean firms, other competitors have stepped into the webcomic game. Seeing global potential in this industry, Apple Inc. has announced the start of their own online comics in North America through its Books app, while Amazon Kindle from Amazon launched Fliptoon, a webcomic platform, in Japan.
Professor Jeongmin Ko from the Graduate School of Business at Hongik University explained that the participation of these two big-tech players means both an opportunity and a threat for South Korea. Since both Apple Books and Amazon Kindle are to have their content supplied by South Korea’s webtoon production companies, the increase in demand is a positive sign for South Korea’s webtoon industry. On the other hand, since a global webcomic platform is so far absent, South Korea now has two major rivals to compete with.
“Although South Korea is number one in content and the webtoon market, we need to know that a global platform is still absent,” Professor Ko said. “This then leads to a competition over which country will successfully establish one before the others.”
According to Professor Ko, both Apple Inc. and Amazon have an advantage due to the size of their customer base. Besides the large demographic each company holds, there is also a robust global consumer base that ensures global networking and promotion.
“For one, iPhone users are exposed to the applications Apple includes on its devices, and with iPhone users everywhere in the world, Apple will have their own global network,” he said.
In order for South Korea to overcome the gap and succeed, Professor Ko stressed the importance of business models. Holding a long history of webtoons, South Korea is experienced in developing webtoon communities and providing services to engage its users. Putting forth the success of Sweden’s Spotify as a global platform, he suggested the elevation of business model competency to establish South Korea’s very own global webtoon platform.
“South Korea does not own any kind of global platform yet,” he said. “But with our strong webtoon content, there is a real possibility we could create such a platform.”