Top Media announced on the 7th through a disclosure of a change of 30% or more in sales or profit structure that it recorded consolidated sales of 19.18 billion KRW last year. This achievement was solely from the 'pure webtoon' related business. However, the total sales decreased by approximately 3.44 billion KRW compared to the same period last year due to the sale of the non-core Set-Top Box (STB) business segment.
During the same period, operating profit turned to a loss of 4.15 billion KRW as expenses increased due to expanded marketing activities for its own platform in Japan, 'Toptoon Japan.' Top Media has been conducting extensive promotional activities since last year to expand the user base and raise awareness of Toptoon Japan.
The net loss for the period continued at 11.82 billion KRW. This was a one-time factor resulting from the comprehensive reflection of discontinued operations losses from the STB business segment.
Top Media expects meaningful performance improvements starting this year. This is due to the completion of the STB sale and the significant achievements made by Toptoon Japan last month in various areas. Since its platform launch in January this year, Toptoon Japan has set record highs in both monthly and daily payment amounts.
The number of new subscribers to Toptoon Japan in January also reached a record high of 200,000. The company explained that this was the result of expanded launches of new works at the beginning of the year and active marketing activities. As of the end of February, the cumulative number of subscribers to Toptoon Japan was counted at 2.1 million, surpassing 2 million.
To accelerate its penetration into the Japanese market, Top Media has directly hired high-quality local creators starting this year and opened a separate studio. Through this, it plans to produce and supply a total of six new works in-house within the year. Previously, Top Media supplied 'domestic works' serialized on Toptoon to Japanese distributors or localized them for service on Toptoon Japan.
The company also plans to strengthen the absolute number of non-adult content. Utilizing its own studio, 'Omega Studio,' Top Media intends to adapt popular adult content previously serialized on Toptoon into non-adult content and distribute and serialize it locally in Japan. By expanding the supply of both adult and non-adult content, the company aims to further solidify its position in Japan and maximize performance growth.
A Top Media representative stated, “In the fourth quarter of last year, the conclusion of Season 1 of popular works that recorded top-tier sales on the platform and the continued weakness of the yen caused a temporary pause in external growth. However, since the beginning of this year, growth has returned to its main track, and we expect to show a rapid resurgence.”
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