[Company Visit] NBT's Confidence: "Addison Offerwall Business Has High Growth Potential"

Kim Juhee, NBT CFO Interview
"Preparing to Increase Advertising Supply Capacity This Year... Results Will Appear Next Year"

"Addison Offerwall has many opportunities not only domestically but also overseas. As the number of client companies is expected to continue increasing, sustained growth is anticipated."

Joohee Kim, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of NBT. Photo by NBT

Kim Joo-hee, CFO of NBT, recently stated in an interview with Asia Economy, "This year, NBT is preparing to increase advertising supply capacity," adding, "As we are making many preparations, results will appear next year."

NBT was established in 2012. It develops and operates B2C mobile point apps such as Cash Slide and Cash Feed, and runs B2B mobile point networks like Addison Offerwall. Currently, Addison Offerwall is NBT's core business. Addison Offerwall is a point network that provides benefits to users and additional revenue to partners. It offers free charging stations for app users, and app developers can expect service activation and additional monetization through Addison Offerwall.

The main clients of Addison Offerwall include Naver Webtoon, Naver Pay, BC Card, and Baedal Minjok. The reason large companies have chosen NBT is thanks to 'Cash Slide.'

He explained, "Since 2012, we have successfully developed, operated, and monetized major reward services including our flagship service Cash Slide. In the case of Offerwall, it is a business that requires not only a deep understanding of the advertising market but also a stable system for user activation and proper reward payment, along with operational know-how."

CFO Kim said, "NBT has proven this know-how through its own service Cash Slide, gaining the trust of many large companies," adding, "This capability, verified by the largest national service domestically, has become a reference point that creates a virtuous cycle where more services seek us out."

Recently, NBT has also attracted attention as a beneficiary of the listing of Webtoon Entertainment (the parent company of Naver Webtoon). In July 2023, it made its first entry into the U.S. market through a partnership for Naver Webtoon's English service. In November of the same year, it expanded into Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan with Naver Webtoon.

However, it is expected that NBT’s full-scale global revenue generation will take some time. According to the securities report submitted by Naver Webtoon to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as of 2023, market penetration rates in North America and other regions are lower compared to Korea and Japan.

Conversely, this means there is high potential for future global expansion. He said, "The U.S. market has higher average advertising rates and a larger population compared to Korea, so there is greater growth potential," adding, "We plan to expand additional media partners globally, so future growth could accelerate."

He was confident about the growth potential of the Offerwall business itself. "In the case of Offerwall, fixed costs increase only slightly relative to revenue growth," he said, "As the number of clients increases, the leverage effect can be significant."

Additionally, the market targeting small and medium-sized advertisers remains open. He emphasized, "Until now, advertising operations have focused on large advertisers, but with future technological development, we can expand our business area to small and medium-sized companies, so the growth potential is very large."

NBT recorded sales (operating revenue) of 106.7 billion KRW and an operating loss of 2.8 billion KRW last year. In the first quarter of this year, sales were 23.2 billion KRW with an operating loss of 1.6 billion KRW, showing a decrease in sales and a slight increase in operating loss compared to the same period last year. However, improvements in performance are expected due to securing new clients. He emphasized, "Since we partnered with Baedal Minjok in April this year, sales are expected to increase as we move into the second half."

In particular, NBT expects this year to be a period of preparation for full-scale growth. He explained, "We are currently working on developing new advertising products and expanding our client base to further increase sales," adding, "Globally, we have passed the initial stabilization phase of introduction, and we see this as the time to globalize advertising products that have succeeded domestically while starting to expand new media partners step by step. This will soon become an opportunity to replicate the successful formula we have in Korea."