[THE INVESTOR]The number of foreign subscribers of Naver’s webtoons has surpassed that of Koreans for the first time, according to the search engine on Aug. 1, illustrating the growing popularity of the web comics among foreigners.
Naver began publishing its web comics overseas in 2014 via Line, a Japan-based mobile messaging subsidiary of Naver. Line’s webtoons are being offered in five languages, including English, Chinese and Indonesian.
In June this year, Line’s webtoons reported about 18 million reads, while Naver’s Korean-language webtoons posted about 17 million reads, according to Naver.
So far, Line’s webtoons have reported about 5.1 billion reads.
Naver has focused its webtoon service in Asian markets, where the Line messaging app is popular. However, Naver officials have suggested that they may expand the webtoon service in the United States and Europe.
“The growth potential of webtoons in a global market is huge because it is a new digital content,” said Kim Jun-koo, head of Naver’s webtoon division.
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