76% of Character Chat Users Are in Their Teens and Twenties
"AI Integration... Considering Global Expansion of the Service"
Naver Webtoon’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chat service ‘Character Chat,’ which allows users to have real-time conversations with webtoon characters, has surpassed a cumulative total of 100 million messages. The service has been especially popular among users in their teens and twenties, earning praise for successfully delivering a service that meets the needs of the core webtoon audience.
Character Chat was launched in June 2024 through the ‘More’ menu in the Naver Webtoon app. It is distinguished by its ability to analyze and implement each character’s personality, speech patterns, and story information. The chatbot’s high-quality responses and its ability to preserve the integrity of each story’s universe have been well received, with users noting the high level of immersion.
Building on its steady popularity, the number of characters available in Character Chat has increased from four at launch to twelve as of now. The service has also been enhanced with features such as role-playing mode, intimacy-based conversation models, and gamified elements.
As of June 2025, marking one year since its launch, Character Chat has accumulated approximately 3.5 million unique users. The total number of messages exchanged between users and chatbots has exceeded 100 million.
Character Chat operates on a model where users purchase paid messages after using up a limited number of free ones. As the number of loyal users has grown, the proportion of paid messages has steadily increased, reaching 41% of all messages as of May 2025. The average amount spent per user has also doubled compared to the service’s first week.
In particular, the ‘Terteo’ chatbot, the male lead character from
Character Chat is especially popular among users in their teens and twenties. These age groups make up 76% of all Character Chat users, with teenagers alone accounting for 47.6%?the highest proportion.
The experience of conversing with webtoon characters through Character Chat has also proven effective in driving users to the original works and encouraging consumption of other titles. According to Naver Webtoon’s analysis of users of the ‘Seol Hyorim’ chatbot from
Among users of the ‘Seol Hyorim’ Character Chat, the number of original episodes read increased by 97% in the week following the chatbot’s release compared to the previous week. The number of readers rose by 29%, the number of paying users by 22%, and revenue by 44%. For users of the ‘Love’ Character Chat from <99 Ganghwa Namu Mongdungi>, the number of episodes read increased by 77% during the same period, with the number of readers up by 20%, paying users by 12%, and revenue by 31%.
Character Chat users also showed a tendency to visit the Naver Webtoon app more frequently and consume more content. A two-month comparison of in-app activity among Character Chat users revealed increases across all metrics: number of days the app was visited (8%), number of days webtoons were read (7%), number of titles read (11%), number of new titles read (32%), number of episodes read (8%), and total spending (4%).
Kim Hyojung, Chief Product Officer (CPO) of Naver Webtoon, stated, “We believe Character Chat could represent a new direction for digital products offered by webtoon platforms. We plan to expand the user experience by integrating voice and visual AI technologies into Character Chat, and we are also considering expanding the service globally.”
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