The Current Status of the Webtoon Industry and Implications for Global Expansion

Ji Hye Park ()
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Ji Hye Park: Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, Postal: Sejong National Research Complex, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, 370 Sicheong Dae-ro C-dong 8-12F 30147, Republic of Korea, http://www.kiet.re.kr

No 22-22, Industrial Economic Review from Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade

Abstract: Webtoons, a digital cartoon format that originated in Korea, are now the global spotlight, having been established as next-generation hallyu content. As the consumption and supply of webtoons has expanded due to the spread of COVID-19 and the promotion of digital transformation, the size of the domestic webtoon industry grew 64.6 percent year-on-year in 2020, exceeding KRW 1 trillion. The webtoon industry is in full swing, with the domestic internet platforms Naver and Kakao dominating the market. Both have launched overseas services based on webtoon-specialized platforms. This paper we discusses future strategies and directions for webtoons’ effective entry into the global market, and strategies for establishing a system for continued growth in this sector.

Keywords: webtoons; cultural content; cartoons; comics; digital comics; digital media; digital content; content creation; Korea; hallyu; Korean culture; content industry; intellectual property; manga; anime; animation; comics; publishing; OTT; platform media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L00 L10 L80 L82 L86 L88 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 9 pages
Date: 2022-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-pay
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