SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — With the illegal sharing of web-based comics emerging as a headache, South Korean online webtoon service providers are taking different approaches to address the problem. Naver Webtoon, an online platform for digital comics run by internet portal operator Naver Corp., is focusing on an artificial intelligence (AI)-based advance interruption system [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Webtoons are fun to read with catchy visuals and creative stories, and they want to offer more to attract readers with differentiated content: music for your ears. While background music and sound effects have been used in some digital comics optimized for reading on mobile devices, audio had been [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Korean-made webtoon services are gaining popularity in Japan. Japan’s MMD Laboratory reported that LINE Manga was most the widely used webtoon app at 41.9 percent as of June, followed by Piccoma at 37.3 percent. LINE Manga is operated by LINE, a Japanese mobile messenger arm of South Korea’s top [...]
SEOUL, March 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean webtoon series “Money Game” has been produced into an American web reality show, Naver Webtoon said Tuesday. The new American show is a five-episode reality show in which eight participants compete in a series of brainteaser games to win a prize of US$300,000. Jubilee, a YouTube channel [...]
BANGALORE, India, March 16 (Korea Bizwire) – TOONSUTRA, the India-focused mobile webtoon startup that has been incubating in stealth mode, announced it closed an oversubscribed pre-seed round for US$1.1 million. The new startup was incubated at leading character entertainment company Graphic India and was founded by media entrepreneur Sharad Devarajan. TOONSUTRA is building India’s first “Webtoons meets [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — A new fantasy webtoon and web novel inspired by K-pop superstars BTS will be released later this week, the group’s management agency said Wednesday. Hybe said its original story of “7Fates: Chakho” will be available on Naver Webtoon, an online platform for web-based comics run by South Korea’s top [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s cartoon exports jumped more than 40 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid the growing global popularity of Korean pop culture, a report said Wednesday. Outbound shipments of cartoons, including webtoons, stood at US$64.82 million last year, up 40.9 percent from a year earlier, according to [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — In the midst of the rapid growth of the South Korean content industry, the competition between Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp., the two major tech companies, is heating up to secure story content like webtoons and web novels. Naver Webtoon, the webcomic arm of the nation’s top portal operator, [...]
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Entertainment, an entertainment arm of Kakao Corp., said Tuesday it has acquired U.S.-based online comic app Tapas and fiction app Radish for US$510 million and $440 million, respectively. The subsidiary of Kakao Corp, the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said the latest deals could help [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Naver Corp., South Korea’s top Internet portal operator, and Kakao Corp., the operator of the country’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, have an unrivaled presence here but often face criticism that their platforms are limited to the domestic market. This criticism, however, is becoming increasingly misguided since Naver and Kakao’s [...]