Naver Webtoon is actively moving to target the Western market, leveraging Japanese animation. The company has determined that it has firmly established its position in Japan through efforts such as discovering local original content, and plans to fully activate its anime production pipeline.
According to IT industry sources on Wednesday, LDF (LINE Digital Frontier), the Japanese subsidiary of Webtoon Entertainment, which operates Naver Webtoon, recently launched a co-CEO system with Mori Hiroshi and Kim Yong-soo. Kim Sin-bae, who had been leading LDF as Chief Business Officer (CBO) following his role as Chief Growth Officer (CGO), has stepped down.
Naver Webtoon, which entered the Japanese market in 2013, established itself as the top operator, surpassing a 50% market share on app market standards during former president Kim Shin-bae's tenure. Although it struggled initially in Japan, where published manga holds a strong advantage, it focused on content development through joint work with local studios and achieved significant growth by diversifying its marketing methods, such as strengthening AI recommendation models.
The reshuffle at LDF is interpreted as an effort to adjust strategies in line with the changing situation in Japan and the global business direction of the parent company, Webtoon Entertainment.
While it had previously focused on building a flywheel that extends from local content discovery to IP (intellectual property) expansion through merchandise and video adaptations, it now aims to focus further on anime production, which can serve as the key to entering Western markets.
In its Q2 shareholder letter, LDF stated that it would focus investments on three areas: expanding investment in unique original content, increasing user scale and engagement, and strengthening partnerships. Mori Hiroshi, the CEO who has overseen Webtoon business and production at LDF, is expected to lead overall investment and anime production, while CEO Kim Yong-su, who serves as President at Webtoon Entertainment, is expected to take on the role of bringing these efforts to global markets.
Behind this decision lies a shift in the Japanese animation market. The Japanese government plans to grow the animation market, which exceeded 3 trillion yen (approximately 25 trillion won) in 2023, to a scale of 20 trillion yen (approximately 169 trillion won) by 2033.
Another major change is that the position of production committees has weakened with the entry of global OTT (online video streaming service) platforms such as Netflix and Crunchyroll. Cases are increasing where productions are made through direct contracts with global OTTs, rather than through production committees, which have low profit distribution due to their subcontracting structure. For LDF, which holds the copyrights, this is a positive change in terms of profitability.
Naver Webtoon is fully launching its entry into Western markets based on Japanese animation. While domestic webtoons often aim for drama production, many Japanese webtoons are created with anime adaptation in mind, making them advantageous for anime production.
The plan is to naturally guide interest from the familiar medium of animation among Western readers back to the original webtoons. Naver Webtoon also announced a joint production partnership among LDF, Crunchyroll, and Japanese production company Hayate at New York Comic-Con earlier this month. The three companies will collaborate from the development stage on approximately 15 selected webtoon works that have potential for anime adaptation.
A Naver Webtoon official said, "We plan to proceed with business in various ways, including continuing our existing efforts to discover original content and participating in production committees when necessary."
in TECH
