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NAVER WEBTOON unveils “WEBTOON With,” to promote the creative ecosystem and foster growth for creators

- The “WEBTOON With” program supports the creative ecosystem in the webcomics industry based on NAVER WEBTOON's services, policies, and technologies
- NAVER WEBTOON has prioritized "coexistence with creators" since the beginning, leading the way in building a healthy creative ecosystem

 

April 27, 2023

 

NAVER WEBTOON officially unveiled the “WEBTOON With” program, which supports the creative ecosystem, on its website today (27th) and published an infographic of win-win growth in 2022.

 

‘‘WEBTOON With" is a win-win program encompassing all activities to create a healthy creative ecosystem with creators, users, and partners via Naver Webtoon’s services, policies, and technologies. NAVER WEBTOON released last year's win-win results as an infographic, focusing on the following four areas: ▲ provide open opportunities for creators, ▲ support creators in entering the global market, ▲ diversify profits for creators, and ▲ develop technology to support the creative ecosystem.

 

▲ Provide open opportunities for creators: Expand the creative ecosystem by lowering entry hurdles through "Challenge," where newbie creators can upload their comics and contests for those aged 18 to 64

NAVER WEBTOON opens up opportunities for new creators, even those with no previous experience in serializing their work, through "Challenge Comics" for webcomics, "Challenge League" for web novels, and other contests. Last year, 39% and 59% of webcomics and web novels, respectively, were officially serialized through Challenge Comics, Challenge League, and contests.

Challenge Comics and Challenge League are leading the expansion of Korea's creative ecosystem as a space for amateur creators where anyone can share their works and gain fans. Popular webcomics, such as <Tower of God (SIU)>, <Love Revolution (232)>, <Lookism (Park Taejun)> and web novels, such as <The Remarried Empress (Alpha Tart)>, <I'm the Queen in this Life (Lefaljinf)> were discovered through these opportunities.

In addition, NAVER WEBTOON strives to discover various works by expanding support for various genre contests, including "World's Greatest Contest," the most significant contest in the industry, and "Best of the Best Contest." The youngest and eldest writers officially serializing their webcomics and web novels in NAVER WEBTOON and NAVER SERIES are 18 and 64 years old, respectively. Both debuted as serial writers through such contests.

 

▲ Support creators in entering the global market: About half of the serialized webcomics in Korea are exported overseas; in some cases, overseas sales account for 88%

NAVER WEBTOON launched overseas platforms to support the global market entry of Korean webcomics, starting with the Japanese service in 2013. During overseas expansion, the company offered various services necessary for global serialization so that writers could focus on creating their content. Services to support the localization process were provided, such as translation, design, marketing, and PR suitable for the local sentiment and culture, as it would be difficult for individual creators to cover such areas.
While 77% of NAVER WEBTOON's 85.6 million global platform users are overseas readers, 52% of Korean webcomics were exported overseas last year. The webcomic <The Remarried Empress>, which NAVER WEBTOON is servicing, has grown into a global IP, accounting for 88% of overseas sales last year.

▲Diversify profits for creators: Offer a stable creative environment via the PPS program and 21 profit models

NAVER WEBTOON has been operating the PPS (Partners Profit Share) program since 2013 to provide a stable creative environment by increasing the profits for creators. Apart from the manuscript fees, official serial creators who own copyrights can maximize the value of their titles through 21 profit models in the following three areas: ▲Paid sales of content (Fast Pass, Daily Pass), ▲Ads linked to the title, and ▲IP business (TV, films, publishing, music, and game). 

As the number of profit models increased from 9 at the time of the PPS program launch in 2013 to 21, creators can earn additional profit through various channels regardless of popularity or serialization. In particular, as the ripple effect of webcomics and web novel IP grew, the number of titles that earned additional profit from IP businesses such as TV, films, publishing, game, and music soared from 8 in 2013 to 415 last year.
Recently, as part of "WEBTOON With," "Creators," a system dedicated to creators for Challenge Comics and Best Challenge Comics, was launched. "Creators" offers various features that allow amateur creators to monitor reader responses, increase the convenience of creation, or protect their works from malicious comments. A feature to create profit for creators will be introduced this year.

▲ Develop technology to support the creative ecosystem: As a story-tech platform with leading technologies, increase creative efficiency and protect copyrighted works

 

As a story-tech platform, NAVER WEBTOON is also taking the lead in developing technologies to help creators and protect the creative ecosystem. Last year, the company published six technical papers and presented papers at global conferences such as the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR). 

NAVER WEBTOON is developing and researching various technologies that increase creative efficiency and help creators, as well as technologies that protect the creative ecosystem, such as copyright. It is also putting a lot of effort into creating an environment where anyone can enjoy content, such as AI-based ‘"WEBTOON alternative text" technology that helps the visually impaired enjoy webcomics.

An official from NAVER WEBTOON said, "The WEBTOON With program is an activity that NAVER WEBTOON has consistently promoted since the beginning of the service for a healthy creative ecosystem. We will continue to invest in and support the creative ecosystem through WEBTOON With."

 

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