[Courtesy of Naver Webtoon]
SEOUL -- The webtoon service wing of South Korea's web service giant Naver has seen on a roll by attracting some 180 million monthly active users worldwide in March 2022, up 291 percent from 46 million in May 2017.
Webtoon, also known as webcomics, is an online cartoon service that is based on a free-to-read payment system. Customers can read comics freely but they have to pay for the latest issues or special content. According to global market research firm MarketResearch, the world's webtoon market will grow at an average annual growth rate of about 30 percent to reach about $26.2 billion in 2028.
Naver Webtoon offers webcomics content in ten languages including Korean, English, Japanese, and Spanish. Normally, a Korean webtoon episode would be translated into different languages. Naver has more than one billion webcomics episodes created by some six million creators.
The webtoon service company attracted more than 180 million monthly active users worldwide in March. The company recorded sales of 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in 2021. Naver's webtoon service became popular internationally after some of its webcomics including "Burning Hell," the original webtoon of the Netflix drama "Kingdom," and "Sweet Home," an original webtoon series of the Netflix drama remake of the same title.
"Naver Webtoon now has the status of the No.1 global storytech platform with 180 million monthly active users," Naver Webtoon CEO Kim Jun-koo said in a statement on May 2.
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