It was Kakao who set off the firecracker first. Last November, it was announced that Kakao has reached the top of the global webtoon. Citing global data research company App Any, Kakao claimed that “Kakao Japan webtoon app’Piccoma’ has become the number one platform in global sales.” As a result, Naver declared, “Naver has the world’s No. 1 webtoon platform,” based on the results of its own survey next month.
The world’s No. 1 platform is different depending on the standards. By app, it is true that Kakao’s Piccoma ranks No. 1, but Naver is the No. 1 company by subsidiary in terms of sales from Naver, which uses a multi-channel platform strategy such as’Naver Webtoon’,’Webtoon’ and’Line Manga’. It is an happening that helps you gauge the level of competition and tension between the two companies in the’platform war’ where only one place survives.
Japan, Kakao’s flipping bout
Naver Webtoon’Terror Man’
The world’s largest digital manga market in Japan was Naver. Launched in 2013, Naver’s digital comics platform’Line Manga’ has steadily maintained the No. 1 position with the national messenger line on its back. Afterwards, Japanese manga publishers, such as Shuesha and Kodansha, who ruled the world, released manga apps, but Naver’s location was unchanged.
In this situation, CEO Kim Jae-yong took office at Kakao Japan in 2015. At that time, Kakao Japan focused on KakaoTalk Japanese service. However, KakaoTalk’s Japanese service was like a wasteland in Kakao, with less than 1.5 million monthly users (MAU). CEO Kim founded Piccoma, a digital comics platform, in 2016, one year after taking office, and made a decision to shift the center of gravity of Kakao Japan to Piccoma. CEO Kim said, “Because the digital comics market was in a transitional period at the time, I thought that even a latecomer could win.”
Representative Kim’s number of matches was hit. Demand for digital comics platforms exploded in Japan last year when a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) hit. Piccoma absorbed this demand as it was, and took over the position of the No. 1 platform in Japan. The serialization method was different. Most Japanese manga apps, including Line Manga, usually have a lot of content in the form of serialization of a single comic book. This is because comic book-oriented publishing culture remains. Piccoma tried to differentiate itself with episode-by-episode serials that fit well for mobile. Episode serialization accounts for 75% of the total content. An official from Kakao said, “The episode type that can be quickly serialized fits well with the mobile showing a fast consumption pattern.”
American and Naver solo
In the United States, Naver’s persistence is shining. Naver started the Naver Webtoon English service in 2014 and aimed at the US market. Naver’s strategy is to utilize the local ecosystem in an American land with a completely different culture. In the same year, it prepared’Canvas’, a platform for American amateur writers to recruit webtoons. A Naver official explained, “It was a long road, but I tried to look far away.”
It took 5 years (November 2019) for the North American MAU of Naver Webtoon, which started English service in 2014, to reach 10 million. However, the content accumulated step by step showed its true value in the corona 19 phase. As of May last year, the number of users exceeded 64 million due to the spread of online content consumption culture. Naver webtoon is by far the number one manga app in the United States.
“It’s not over yet” war luck
Daum webtoon’Gyeongseong Night Song’
Naver and Kakao are each attempting to counterattack in the market behind them. Naver is carrying out various promotions in Japan, including increasing episode-type content and paying free coins to consume it.
Park Sang-jin, Naver’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), said, “We are trying to change the service from Line Manga to episode-centered books by putting the excellent management and development capabilities of Naver Webtoon. Accordingly, Line Manga’s MAU in the third quarter increased by 20% compared to the previous year and the number of payers increased by 46%.
In November of last year, Kakao additionally secured a 29.6% stake in the U.S. digital cartoon platform’Tapas’. It has become the largest shareholder with a total ownership of 40.4%. Some observers say that the industry will take over Tapas at all. Tapas ranks third in sales among American comic books. A Kakao official said, “Through tapas, Kakao will also enter the US market in earnest,” and said, “We are aiming to become the strongest webtoon platform in the US.”
Reporter Mingi Koo [email protected]