Digital comics (1997–2005)
Webtoons are a type of episodic digital comic that originated in South Korea, usually meant to be read on smartphones. Posting comic content for free caused the $3 billion South Korean book and comic industry to rapidly collapse. While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of South Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity internationally, thanks to the easy online accessibility and variety of free online comic content. Today, Webtoons make roughly $5.91 billion in just the U.S. alone. In the country, as digital comics have emerged as a popular medium, print publication of comics has decreased. The amount of material published in webtoon form has now reached an equal amount as that published offline.[13]
Webtoons are a sub-menu of the gate companies that began with South Korean portal services Daum and Naver. The Naver site started in 1999, but it initially had a muted response as a hidden menu. Portal sites gathered a large online audience by offering digital comics as bait. Naver, taking advantage of the unexpected success of digital comics, placed webtoons in premium advertising spaces worth 300 million Korean won on its portal surface. This significantly increased their traffic. The key to their success in the portal market was digital comics.
Webtoon Entertainment, the serial comics platform, was founded in South Korea in 2005 by CEO Junkoo Kim, Naver.[14] Since its launch in 2013, WEBTOON has become the most popular mobile app, catering to young adults and teens who enjoy reading comics and webcomic content.[15] Similar webcomics can be found on these platforms, including Tapas, Pocket Comic, and others.
In 2004, they already had a market share of 80%. Kim Jun-gu, who introduced the "Bizarre Comics" genre, played a crucial role in Naver's rapid growth. In 2008, Naver introduced ads on webtoons, but they did not fairly share the ad revenue with artists.
In 2012, Naver did not participate in the legal crackdown on illegal sites that had been pirating their content for eight years. The first legal action was taken against a frame-link piracy site. In 2013, Lezhin Comics introduced a new form of payment called "Time Delay."
Naver adopted this payment model and, due to the free nature of its site, had to offer low royalties to artists. However, the influx of readers brought in significant income through search keywords, exceeding the revenue from selling comics, despite the cost of around 26,000 to 4,000 Korean Won ($20 to $3) per keyword.
Moreover, there were multiple ads. Naver absorbed the electronic publication rights of Korean artists for a small fee, which allowed them to monopolize works for a long time, even though they were not books. Mobile platforms were utilized for brand promotion, and international publishing rights were eventually obtained. Many aspiring creators submitted free comics, and the influx of free content was guaranteed as long as they were not part of the 0.1% that received a formal serialization.
Due to this discrimination, freelance creators could not unite. Some profited from this system, which improved the company's image thanks to a few star artists. The "vertical scrolling" method was used to fit more content, demanding over 100 cuts, which strained artists' health due to the excessive workload.
Kakao Webtoons' top artist, for example, died at the age of 37 due to overwork. The BBC reported on artists suffering from severe labor and exploitation. The "gate sites", which were initially established to support comics, became highly profitable.[16]
In 2013, Webtoon launched Page Profit Share (PPS), which offered the artist a share of the advertising revenue for the first time.[17]
Global launch (2014–present)
On July 2, 2014, the Line Webtoon website and mobile app were launched worldwide, allowing international artists to upload their own works to the service. Hundreds of webtoons are available in the self-publishing section of Webtoon, known as Canvas, where artists can be paid based on page views.[18] JunKoo Kim, Director and Head of the Line Webtoon Division at the time of the launch, stated that a partnership with established and up-and-coming American creators would serve to "expand [Line Webtoon's] selection of titles and help [the creators] expand their fan base."[19] Naver Corporation selected 42 webtoons (including Noblesse, Tower of God, and The God of High School) and one new webtoon by an American artist to be available on the service in English at launch.[20][21] According to 148 Apps, the service offered "plenty of content" at launch, as seven to ten webtoons were updated each day and the webtoons spanned various genres.[22]
