Kakao Entertainment Targets Global Market with 'Super Webtoon Project'... First Persona: Lee Junho

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Entertainment announced on the 11th that it will accelerate its global market expansion with the 'Super Webtoon Project.'

The Super Webtoon Project is an expansion campaign of the Super Webtoon Project launched in 2020. Aiming to discover video adaptation intellectual property (IP), the Super Webtoon Project has energized the domestic webtoon video adaptation trend by consecutively unveiling video adaptation IPs such as 'Itaewon Class,' 'Space Sweepers,' and 'Steel Rain' (movie). In particular, the overlap between video viewers and webtoon users has increased the potential for secondary IP creation businesses.

This year, the Super Webtoon Project selects works with a focus on 'global potential.' The global selection criteria are based on Kakao Entertainment's success know-how in various global regions including Japan, North America, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and India. Selected works must have the three elements of art, dialogue, and story, and carefully chosen works reflect recent global trends such as appropriate fantasy genres with worldwide appeal and autonomous female narratives.

The first lineup of the Super Webtoon Project presented by Kakao Entertainment in March is the new Kakao Page work 'Siren.' This work is currently a hit with about 50 million combined views of the web novel and webtoon. A full-scale global release is also scheduled to begin in April.

Actor and singer Junho Lee was chosen as the persona for 'Siren.' Starting from the 21st, one episode per day of the 'Siren' commercial film will be released on the Kakao Page application and official social media channels. Beginning with this, Junho Lee will pursue various collaborations to create synergy with Kakao Entertainment's Super IP Project.

A Kakao Entertainment official said, “Junho Lee, who captivated viewers with his ability to freely switch between warmth and coolness, resembles Kakao Entertainment IP, which holds infinite scalability and stories,” adding, “Please look forward to Kakao Entertainment’s new Super Webtoon Project, which will unfold with Junho Lee starting with 'Siren.'”