Naver Webtoonone of the largest webtoon platforms in the world, went through a drastic decline in its core user basewhich led to a negative reaction in the financial markets. In just two trading days, Naver Webtoon's market capitalization dropped by 1.4 trillion won. This decline triggered a wave of selling by disappointed investors, reflecting growing concerns about the future of the platform.

The figures for the second quarter of 2024 revealed that The number of monthly active users (MAU) and the number of paying users (MPU) have dropped significantlyboth in South Korea and other major markets. In particular, the South Korean market, which is critical for Naver Webtoon, has shown a significant decrease of 6.6% in MAU and 7.3% in MPU compared to the same period last year. Although there was an increase in Japan, it was not enough to offset the declines in other regions.

THE content quality has been pointed out as one of the main causes of this situation. Instead of focusing on creating innovative and high-quality works, Naver Webtoon adopted an approach based on the mass production of webtoonsknown as “formulaic webtoons”, which repeat pre-established successful formulas. This has led to a saturation of similar contentalienating readers and diminishing the overall appeal of the platform.

Industry experts have stressed that the solution to this crisis lies in a shifting focus to creating high-quality content and in promoting intellectual property (IP) that can be successful in the long term. Improved working conditions for webtoon creators and greater support for more ambitious work are seen as crucial steps to regain users' trust and consequently stabilize Naver Webtoon's financial performance.

In the short term, the situation is expected to remain difficult, as additional losses expected in the third quarter. However, experts emphasize that a strategy focused on the quality of content and the development of successful IP could reverse the negative trend and allow Naver Webtoon to regain its leading position in the global webtoon market.

• «The drawing styles are also very similar.».
• «It grew at great speed thanks to the Internet age, but for the same reason, low-quality mass production reduced its value.».
• «They said that webtoons would surpass Japanese manga, but what happened to that?».
• «I've read a lot of webtoons on Piccoma, but many of them drag on without finishing, and when they finally do, they have typical "our fight is just beginning" endings, as if they were canceled. Some even end abruptly.».
• «“Solo Leveling” is so much fun. Japan is losing out».
• «Do all Korean manga have the same character design, are they drawn by the same person?».
• «In webtoons, the creator of the story, the characters, and the settings are all different people. Since the images are generated with AI, many buildings and faces look similar.».
• «It seems that Jump TOON didn't work either. I suppose it's good for those who just want to pass the time, but as a work it seems more like a disposable product than something you'd want to reread several times, so they tolerate some contradictions and forced developments.».

Source: Otakomu