Webtoons, Web Novels, Anime... Soaring with IP [2024 Content①]

2024 Content Industry Review
Generative AI Far from Commercialization but Usage Soars
OTT Demand Increases with Strong Trend Toward Reasonable Pricing
IP Economy in Full Swing... 'Na Honjaman Level Up' and More

The content industry is rapidly changing. It demands structural improvements every year. This year, there were three major factors: intensified competition in artificial intelligence (AI) and over-the-top (OTT) video services, and the intellectual property (IP) economy. These caused significant changes in almost every sector.

The Advent of the Generative AI Era

Generative AI has not yet been commercialized. According to the "Q2 Content Industry Trend Analysis Report" published by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), the utilization rate is only 13.2%. However, this is an increase of 5.4 percentage points from 7.8% last year, and 98.8% of users responded that they would continue to use it.

This is because productivity improvement is expected. In KOCCA’s "Creative Workforce Survey," 65.2% of generative AI users cited efficiency as the top benefit. This was followed by cost reduction (8.7%), reduction of simple tasks (6.5%), enhancement of new ideas and insights (6.5%), faster development of new systems and software (5.4%), and promotion of innovation and growth (3.3%).

As the era of artificial intelligence (AI) dawns, related industries are accelerating the advancement of ultra-fast, ultra-low-power 'AI semiconductor' technology. The photo shows Seo Woong, Vice President of the Sapeon R&D Center, demonstrating the AI semiconductor 'X330'?which consumes less power and offers improved speed compared to existing GPUs?running a large language model (LLM) demo at the Pangyo Innovation Valley Cluster in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. A large language model (LLM) is a massive AI model trained on vast amounts of text data. During this demonstration, the LLM was asked, "What do you think about Asia Economy Newspaper?" The LLM responded that Asia Economy is "a valuable resource for continuously obtaining information on the latest business trends and developments in the Asian region," adding that "it provides in-depth analysis and insights into various industries such as technology, finance, and healthcare. I appreciate that this publication offers a balanced perspective on regional economic issues." Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The fields that used generative AI the most were animation and games. The Q2 Content Industry Trend Analysis Report showed utilization rates of 43.5% and 30.5%, respectively. Last year, these were 12.7% and 20.0%. Fields with relatively low utilization rates also more than doubled compared to last year. Characters increased from 5.0% to 16.9%, advertising from 4.9% to 15.3%, broadcasting from 3.6% to 11.2%, film from 0.9% to 4.4%, and music from 2.5% to 6.2%.

It is expected to take considerable time before commercialization. 76.2% of all respondents did not feel the necessity of generative AI. External factors cited included data issues (50.8%), unclear accountability for accidents (54.2%), insufficient related laws (43.8%), and difficulties in securing public or external funding (34.5%). Internal factors included introduction costs (66.0%), complex algorithms (54.2%), lack of existing staff capabilities (23.7%), and difficulties in hiring new personnel with the required skills (17.7%).

Intensified OTT Competition... What Is the Breakthrough?

According to KOCCA’s "OTT and Content Usage Behavior Survey," 89.3% of the population uses OTT services. This is an increase of 2.8 percentage points from 86.5% last year. The majority enjoy free OTT services, led by YouTube, with a usage rate of 85.1%. This rose by 6.9 percentage points from 78.2% last year. Conversely, paid OTT usage dropped by 1.8 percentage points from 55.2% to 53.4%.

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Overall demand has increased, but there is a stronger tendency to seek reasonable prices. In fact, as paid OTT subscription plans such as ad-supported models have diversified, consumers have more choices. The average monthly payment also decreased by 1,505 KRW, from 12,005 KRW last year to 10,500 KRW.

The most watched OTT was YouTube. Its usage rate rose by 7.0 percentage points from 77.9% last year to 84.9%. According to Mobile Index, the number of users in October was 46.24 million. Leveraging its solid viewing demand, it has absorbed nearly all sectors.

In KOCCA’s music streaming and download service usage statistics, YouTube recorded 53.0%, surpassing Melon (47.2%), YouTube Music (26.8%), Genie (18.7%), and Flo (11.8%). In animation usage channel statistics, YouTube dominated with 93.4%, far ahead of TikTok (33.0%) and YouTube Kids (28.6%). Its influence was also strong in the emerging short-form content sector, accounting for 41 hours and 56 minutes out of the average 52 hours and 2 minutes per person.

In the paid OTT market, Netflix (44.4%) still held a strong position. However, due to a lack of hit titles like "Squid Game" and "All of Us Are Dead," it decreased by 6.0 percentage points compared to last year. TVING ranked second with 17%, increasing by 3.8 percentage points thanks to securing professional baseball broadcasting rights. Following were Coupang Play (14.8%), Disney+ (10.1%), Wavve (6.9%), and Watcha (2%).

As OTT settles into its trajectory, legacy media such as terrestrial broadcasters urgently need to find new breakthroughs. Ratings, buzz, and advertising revenue are all declining. On top of that, rising production costs have made it inevitable to adjust the number of productions such as dramas.

IP Economy... The Rise of Webtoons and Web Novels

The most successful IP this year was the webtoon "Solo Leveling." It gained popularity by expanding into various fields. In particular, the game "Solo Leveling: Arise" is regarded as the first global success case. It ranked number one in downloads in 141 countries and topped sales charts in 21 countries. In October, it surpassed 50 million users.

The animation of the same name also performed well, ranking third worldwide in viewership on Netflix. This was possible because the original work was a global hit first. "Solo Leveling" has a global cumulative view count of 14.3 billion. It recorded a peak of 820,000 readers on Japan’s Piccoma platform. It also ranked first in cumulative sales in Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, and other countries.

"Catch! Teenieping" is also cited as a good example of IP expansion. The TV animation, which began airing in March 2020, recorded its highest viewership rating of 26.5% in season 4 last year. Riding on proven popularity, the theatrical animation "Love’s Hatchuping" attracted 1.23 million viewers, ranking second in the all-time Korean animation film box office. Related performances such as "Princess Diary," "Open the Mysterious Box," and "Exciting Sing-Along Concert" were sold out. Collaborative products with other industries, including ice cream, beverages, cakes, coffee, burgers, and hotel packages, sold like hotcakes, demonstrating the power of the IP.

The core of IP expansion is the adaptation of webtoons and web novels into dramas and films. While they rely on the popularity of the original works, they also stimulate interest in the originals. According to KOCCA’s "Global OTT Trend Analysis," the virtuous cycle effect of original work inflow due to secondary creations increased about 6.6 times this year. Transaction volume also grew 6.2 times. A representative example is the webtoon "Jeongnyeon-i," which is based on 1950s women’s theater. When the drama ranked sixth in Disney+’s global TV show category, its view count increased thirteenfold. "Seonjae Upgo Twieo" also saw its original web novel views increase about fourfold after the drama aired.