Naver Webtoon Captivates 280 Million Indonesian Market... 46% Say "Will Pay"

Indonesia and Thailand Webtoon Active Users Account for 76%
Southeast Asia Webtoon Market Size Rising... $700 Million Expected by 2027
Close Ties with Indonesia... Domestic Web Novels Localized into Webtoons

Naver Webtoon is soaring in the Southeast Asian market, including Indonesia.

According to global data and analytics platform Data.ai on the 19th, the proportion of active users of webtoon-related applications using Naver Webtoon in Indonesia and Thailand in the first quarter of this year was 76.17%. This is more than 65 percentage points higher compared to other apps. Considering the 74.07% usage share of Naver Webtoon in the fourth quarter of last year, the market share dominance has been steadily maintained.

It is particularly encouraging that the growth trend is prominent in Indonesia, which has a large market size. According to the '2024 Overseas Hallyu Survey' published by the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, a survey of 1,200 Indonesians showed that 38.3% responded that Korean webtoons have 'popular appeal,' and 29.3% said they have 'average popularity.'

In February, domestic web novels were reborn as local webtoons in Indonesia for the first time. Naver Series web novel 'Yeonaeboda Gyeolhon' (Marriage Over Romance) was introduced as the Indonesian webtoon 'Our Secret Marriage.' The work also showed success, ranking first in the romance genre for Indonesian language services.

Consumption is also active. In the Overseas Hallyu Survey, when investigating the share of Korean webtoons in overall webtoon consumption, Indonesia ranked second with 35.8%, following the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 36.0%. In a survey on willingness to pay, 46.2% responded 'willing to pay,' 34.4% 'neutral,' and 19.4% 'not willing to pay,' indicating that the majority are willing to consume Korean webtoons.

Naver Webtoon entered the Southeast Asian market early by launching Thai language services in 2014 and Indonesian language services in 2015. Since then, it has attracted attention with advantages such as vibrant colors and convenience, different from traditional comic books, and has continued to grow thanks to the expansion of the digital comics market. It has also implemented various strategies, including webtoon adaptations through local production companies, web novel-to-webtoon adaptations, and discovering new artists.

The Southeast Asian webtoon market is growing steadily. From $383 million (approximately 526.1 billion KRW) in 2021, it increased to $509 million in 2023, and is expected to reach around $548 million this year. It is projected to grow to $700 million by 2027.

A Naver Webtoon official stated, "Although Southeast Asia may be smaller in scale than Korea, Japan, and the United States, we have consistently invested in expanding the webtoon ecosystem over the past decade. After 10 years of effort, local webtoon creators have emerged, and IP businesses such as video adaptations and pop-up stores are expanding locally."