[K Changers]⑨ Ridi Rising as a New Global Webtoon Powerhouse

Second Place in North American Webtoon Market Share After Naver
The Only Unicorn in the Content Industry
Differentiated by Subscription Services Like Netflix

The webtoon genre was first pioneered by Korea. It began in 2000 with the launch of an online comic service on Cheollian, named ‘Cheollian Webtoon.’ This marked the start of a revolution that shifted the analog market, which was centered on traditional paper comic books, to a digital-focused one. Centered around K-webtoons, Korean comics recorded export earnings of $81.98 million (approximately 107.5 billion KRW) as of 2021, playing a significant role in the K-content industry.

Under the oak tree embroidered on the New York Times Square billboard (Photo by Ridi)

Besides the two giants of the webtoon industry, Naver and Kakao, there is an emerging global webtoon powerhouse. The only ‘unicorn’ (a startup valued at over 1 trillion KRW) in the content sector is ‘Ridi.’ Ridi’s ‘Manta Comics’ ranks second in the North American webtoon market by active users, following Naver Webtoon (70.5%) with 9.7%. Kakao Entertainment’s ‘Tapas’ follows in third place with 8%. Recognizing these achievements, Ridi CEO Baek Gisik was invited to President Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration ceremony.

Ridi posted sales of 221.1 billion KRW and a net profit of 44.8 billion KRW last year. Since its founding in 2008, its sales have increased every year for 14 consecutive years. It has also achieved ‘50 consecutive quarters of growth.’ From Q4 2010 to Q1 this year, sales have risen year-over-year for 50 straight quarters. In February last year, Ridi secured an investment of 120 billion KRW from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and others, becoming a ‘unicorn.’

Differentiation through Subscription Service

In November 2020, Ridi launched ‘Manta’ in the North American market. It was the first in the webtoon industry to apply a monthly subscription model. This set it apart from other webtoon companies that charge per episode. The monthly subscription fee is $4.99. Leveraging the advantage of an affordable price that allows access to all content, it surpassed 10 million downloads within two years. Starting in North America, Manta has expanded its service to over 175 countries. In January, it added Spanish language support, accelerating its global expansion.

A rich IP (intellectual property) portfolio is a key success factor. Ridi offers about 300,000 pieces of content. This is thanks to over a decade of experience as a leading e-book company, accumulated content production know-how, and a strong network with content partners (CPs). In North America, it mainly releases English translations of domestic hit works.

In particular, the flagship webtoon ‘Sangsuri Namu Arae’ (Under the Oak Tree) has surpassed 80 million cumulative views. The ‘TikTok Challenge’ for Sangsuri Namu Arae has generated over 35,000 videos, with a total of 8.7 billion views. Generally, a ‘challenge’ involves videos imitating a singer’s choreography. The ‘Sangsuri Namu Arae Challenge’ encouraged the use of webtoon characters. Fans participated by adding voiceovers, subtitles, music, and creating various skits using webtoon scenes. The original web novel became a bestseller in five countries, including the U.S. As part of aggressive marketing, Sangsuri Namu Arae was also displayed on the New York Times Square electronic billboard.

Samsung Veteran Leading Ridi for 16 Years

Baegisik Ridi CEO (Photo by Ridi)

At the heart of Ridi is CEO Baek Gisik, who has been with the company since its founding in 2008. A Seoul National University electrical engineering graduate, he began his career as a ‘Samsung man.’ While working in Samsung Electronics’ venture investment team, he developed an interest in e-book devices and later resigned to establish Initial Communications (Ridi’s predecessor). In the early days, he was so passionate that he personally visited hundreds of publishing houses to secure contracts.

Ridi, which became the number one e-book market leader, attempted a fundamental transformation five years ago. CEO Baek shifted Ridi’s main business model to webtoons and web novels. The familiar service name ‘Ridi Books’ was also changed to simply ‘Ridi.’ As the business expanded, the company grew in scale and held multiple investor presentations to raise funds, leveraging his experience from Samsung Electronics’ venture investment team. According to data from the startup information platform ‘The VC,’ Ridi’s cumulative investment raised amounts to 385.5 billion KRW.

Leading the Market through Infinite IP Expansion

Ridi Webtoon Embellishing COEX Starfield Avenue (Photo by Ridi)

Having transformed into a comprehensive content company, Ridi understands the importance of IP. To expand competitive IP, it signed MOUs (memorandums of understanding) with WYSIWYG Studios, which possesses computer graphics (CG) and visual effects (VFX) technology, and CJ ENM. CJ ENM plans to produce Ridi’s web novels into video content, while Ridi will present CJ ENM’s dramas and movies as webtoons and web novels.

Since 2020, Ridi has consistently sought new IP through annual webtoon contests. It has also launched a ‘webtoon OST’ business. Even without knowing the story, listeners can be drawn into webtoons through singers’ songs, and it serves as a marketing tool that generates additional copyright income from music. Notably, Cha Eun-woo and Ailee participated in the OST for Sangsuri Namu Arae. Other artists such as Soyou, Jinyoung, Moonbyul, and Gaho have also collaborated on various Ridi webtoon OSTs.

CEO Baek said, “Ridi has focused all its capabilities on strengthening the competitiveness of key IPs and expanding the global webtoon business beyond Korea. This year, we will continue to concentrate on discovering original IPs that combine artistic quality and commercial success, and solidify our position as a global content company through diverse partnerships.”