Written by Hana
When talking about the leading country in the Comics Market, which one comes to mind? Japan or the U.S.A? To many people’s surprise, the country that grabs the biggest share of the digital comics market is Korea. Korea has the most popular online comics platforms which publish this type of digital content in different languages to satisfy the active demand of their users all around the world. The reason why it wins this trend is all related to digital media. I want to share with you how the digital media changes the game.
Webtoon – the market leader of digital comics
Early Days: As Website Promoting Ads
The rise of digital comics in Korea can be traced back to the early 2000s when web portals just sprung up and wanted to attract more users. Some homepages started to publish free digital comics as a promotion tool to attract users. In 2003, one of the biggest websites “Naver” launched the first digital comics platform named “Naver Webtoon” since the promotion worked out. Unlike the previous pattern, it introduced the vertical scrolling format that was completely different from the digital layout of traditional comics, changing people’s reading habits toward comics. The opponent of “Naver” went after this move to release another platform. Digital Comics officially became one of the cultural products in Korea. Comics platforms kept coming up and those tense competitions drove innovation in digital comics.
Growth: Adaption to Mobile Era
Along with the spread of smartphones in the 2010s, Korean digital comics had a huge evolution which made it adapt well to the Mobile era. First of all, digital comics became full-coloured and vertically arranged can be distinctly user-friendly on mobile devices, compared to the Japanese iconic B&W style and U.S. detailed complex layout. Meanwhile, this new format made it easier for creators to maintain frequent updates, usually weekly or bi-weekly updates since it has a simpler frame. However, free content is unsustainable for this rapidly growing digital comics industry. Under the context of the Korean games’ success, Webtoon adapted the business model from Free to Play games in digital comics. For its spreading, Korean digital comics used a freemium model(free for ads or free for wait) to appeal to readers. Users can read per chapter a day if they wait or watch the ads on the platform. It also applied the visual currency/coin system that lowers the mental barrier of consumption. With this evolution, artists began creating content specifically for digital platforms instead of hard copy. This change required platforms to develop functions and tools that are much more handy for creators, resulting in a bloom of digital creators.
Expansion: Marching International Market
After succeeding in Korea and Southeast Asia, Korean Comics accelerated its pace of global expansion. The industry had developed a detailed division chain including script creation, layout creation, translation, distribution, promotion, data analysis etc, which kept promise to the quality of content. Korean Comics marched the international market through cooperating with large studios such as DC Comics and acquiring local platforms leading to a Matthew Effect that Korean Comics became unstoppable. According to a report, the Korean Comics market reached approximately $1.6 billion in 2023 and showed consistent growth of 20-30% per year. Nowadays, Korean Comics platforms have nearly 200 million users and distribute more than 10 kinds of language versions in different countries and districts every day. Furthermore, it integrates multimedia adaptions such as K-drama, and video games and builds its IP brand.
Embracing digital media made Korean Comics rise from the bottom of the market, as well as their K-Pops and K-Dramas. Technical integration can have a huge impact on a traditional industry and change the game.