Webtoon has increased its market share in global comics. Many popular webtoons are now available in English, increasing its worldwide readers and becoming global trend.
Korean webtoon has now become one of the most vibrant and fast-growing industry in Korea according to Korea Herald. In Korea, there are more than 30 mobile platforms for webtoon offering more than 4,000 digital comic series. Spottoon, the newest English platforms for Korean webtoon launched in September, has been visited by 1.1 million readers from 210 countries in less than year.
Another factor that plays important role in the surge of popularity in webtoon is its adaptation into film and TV drama. The new MBC drama "W" has also started a new approach to portray its story in a webtoon format. According to Korea Times, "W" caused a boom in the online comics industry that has remained a peripheral subculture for years.
In Korea, two pioneers in webtoon, Daum and Naver are now the largest platforms for webtoon. Naver's English platform, LINE webtoon has drawn 18 million readers since its launching in July 2014. While Daum partners with Tapastic Media, the US-based webcomic company to offer popular webtoon in English.
Some of the popular webtoon series which are now available in English versions are "Tower of God," "Redstorm," "Magician," and "Cheese in the Trap."
Naver also expanded its market outreach in Asia, partnering with local artists in China, Thailand and Indonesia. It also recruits talented comic artists around the world through a comic competition. Naver, which also the most popular web portal in Korea aims to expand its digital webtoon.
"The webtoon is a new form of digital content still at the very beginning stage, so there's so much potential in this market," said Kim Jun-gu, the head of Naver Webtoon.
As the global market for webtoon begin to open wide, many startup companies join the bandwagon. Spotton is one of the latest webtoon startup companies that look forward to obtain some of the market share.
