Kakao Japan's 'Piccoma' Ranks No.1 in Non-Gaming App Revenue in Japan

Q2 Transaction Volume Increases 2.5 Times Compared to Previous Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] In Japan, the world's largest comic market, Kakao's comic application 'Piccoma' ranked first in monthly sales in July.

Since its service launch in April 2016, this is the first time Piccoma, a latecomer in the Japanese comic platform market, has achieved the number one sales position.

Kakao Japan announced on the 10th that according to the global app research firm App Annie, Piccoma achieved first place in integrated sales among non-game apps on both major app markets, the Japanese Apple App Store and Google Play, for the month of July. In terms of global sales rankings for non-game apps on these two major app markets, Piccoma ranks 12th.

Since its launch, Piccoma has shown more than double sales growth every year. The transaction amount in the second quarter increased 2.5 times compared to the previous year. It has also recorded operating profit for three consecutive quarters from the fourth quarter of last year to the second quarter of this year, showing growth in profitability.

The Japanese comic market is worth 5.7 trillion KRW, making it the largest in the world. Last year, for the first time ever, digital comic market sales surpassed those of the paper comic market. Unlike Korea, where comics are mostly read via apps in digital formats, Japan has a web comic market worth 2.15 trillion KRW, and the app comic market, which Piccoma belongs to, is about 800 billion KRW, less than half the size of the web comic market.

One of the driving forces that captivated Japanese comic fans is 'webtoons.' Webtoons are optimized for mobile and have gained great popularity especially among younger generations. Piccoma receives high-quality K-story intellectual property (IP) from Kakao Page. As of July, webtoon works account for 1.3% of Piccoma's approximately 30,000 titles, but they represent 35-40% of total transaction amounts, enjoying explosive popularity.

Looking at recent popular works, among the top 10 in sales, 5 to 6 are Korean works, 3 to 4 are Japanese works, and 1 is Chinese. Kim Jae-yong, CEO of Kakao Japan, said, "Considering the entire Japanese comic market, this is just the beginning of full-scale growth," adding, "Together with Kakao Page, we will further strengthen the competitiveness of webtoons and continue to lead the growth of the global comic market."