Naver Webtoon Accelerates Webtoon Video Adaptations... Direct Showdown with Kakao Webtoon, the 'Master' of 2nd Creation

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Naver Webtoon, dreaming of becoming the "Korean Marvel," is showing aggressive moves by announcing a lineup of dramas based on its own webtoons. With the surge in video content consumption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year they plan to maximize profitability by targeting the global market. The competition for intellectual property (IP) video adaptations with Kakao Webtoon, known as the "house of secondary webtoon creations," is also heating up.

◆ From romance to zombie stories... Accelerating IP video adaptations = According to Naver on the 10th, many video content based on webtoon IPs will be released in the second half of this year and the first half of next year. First, the popular webtoon "Yumi's Cells," which has accumulated 3.2 billion views, will be produced as a drama. It is a work that depicts the daily life and love story of a typical woman in her 30s, "Yumi," from the perspective of the cells in her head. It will be produced in a format combining live-action and animation, the first of its kind in domestic dramas. It will be simultaneously released on TVING and tvN in the second half of this year.

Naver Webtoon's subsidiary Studio N's first original drama "Our Beloved Summer" will also air on SBS in the second half of the year. This work is a youth coming-of-age romance that unfolds as a separated couple is forcibly summoned due to the reverse popularity of a documentary they filmed in high school.

In the first half of next year, MBC's fantasy drama "Tomorrow" is scheduled to air. The original work is Naver Webtoon's "Tomorrow." It tells the story of a job seeker, "Choi Jun-woong," who, after an accidental incident, helps the grim reaper "Guryun" save people planning to commit suicide.

The zombie webtoon "All of Us Are Dead," serialized on Naver, will also be released worldwide as an original series on Netflix. It depicts the struggle of those trapped in a high school infected by a zombie virus and those trying to save them. Since its first serialization in 2009 until its completion about two years later, this work ranked high among Naver Webtoon's weekday webtoons and topped real-time search rankings with every episode release.

Additionally, various Naver Webtoon works such as "Whale Star," set against the backdrop of independence activists during the Japanese colonial period, and "Tough Guy," depicting the second life of a man who rose from an ordinary employee to CEO, are also preparing for video adaptations.

◆ "Content is competitiveness" Targeting the global market = Naver Webtoon’s acceleration in IP video adaptations is interpreted as a strategy to gain an advantage in the fierce competition with Kakao Webtoon, which has been rapidly advancing recently. Kakao Webtoon achieved 1 billion KRW in transaction volume domestically within two days of launch, and the number of views per user increased 2.5 times compared to the previous Daum Webtoon, showing a remarkable growth rate.

In particular, Kakao Webtoon has a strength in video adaptations dating back to its predecessor Daum Webtoon. They decided on serialization considering the possibility of video adaptation from the planning stage. Examples include "Secretly, Greatly," which was the first successful webtoon movie attracting 7 million viewers, "Space Sweepers," which ranked number one on Netflix's global popular movies, and dramas like "Misaeng" and "Itaewon Class." A Kakao Webtoon official said, "From 2006 to the end of 2020 during the Daum Webtoon era, about 65 webtoons were adapted into videos," adding, "There are about 60 more works planned for future adaptations." This is why Naver Webtoon, being chased, has no choice but to put more effort into IP video adaptations.

Naver plans to promote IP video adaptation projects not only domestically but also targeting the global market. In May, it acquired all shares of the world's largest web novel platform, Wattpad, for $600 million (about 650 billion KRW), and recently established "Wattpad Webtoon Studio" by integrating Naver Webtoon Studio and Wattpad Studio. Naver plans to invest in Wattpad Webtoon Studio by raising a global IP business fund worth 100 billion KRW.

Han Seong-sook, CEO of Naver, said during the Q2 earnings conference call last month, "Through the establishment of a 100 billion KRW fund, we plan to rapidly proceed with video and publishing adaptations of IPs that Wattpad Webtoon has verified for commercial success," adding, "We will also improve the profitability of the IP business and rapidly expand Naver's global content ecosystem."