Fourth-Quarter Revenue Declines, but Paying Users Rise
New Disney Comics Platform to Launch This Year
Expanding IP Business with In-House Hits Adapted for Video
Webtoon Entertainment, the U.S. headquarters of Naver Webtoon, announced on March 3 that it posted revenue of $1,382.71 million in the previous year. This represents a 2.5% increase in scale over the prior year. Operating loss was $63.51 million, down 36.9%. Adjusted EBITDA reached $19.44 million. However, net loss surged more than twofold to $373.39 million compared to the previous year.
The annual improvement in performance was driven by the intellectual property (IP) business. Revenue from the IP segment jumped 31.8%, while paid content increased 0.4%. Advertising revenue declined 1.1%.
Fourth-quarter results last year were somewhat sluggish. Revenue across all segments fell to $330.69 million, a 6.3% decrease from the same period a year earlier. Operating loss came in at $13.24 million, reducing the deficit by 52.2%. Despite weaker profitability, the company strengthened its core base of loyal customers by securing an additional 3.3% increase in monthly paying users in Korea and 5.6% globally.
This year, Webtoon Entertainment is focusing on expanding its global IP business. In line with the agreement signed last year with The Walt Disney Company, it is building a new platform to offer 35,000 comics, including titles from Marvel and Star Wars. The company will also launch original webtoons based on Disney IP within the year. In addition, it plans to diversify revenue by directly producing popular in-house webtoons such as "Dark Moon" and "Lore Olympus" as animations and live-action dramas.
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