Korea's small webtoon platforms eye global adult markets

South Korea’s smaller webtoon platforms are targeting the world’s digital adult comics market, in which industry leaders Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. have little presence. Producers of adult webtoons, once a niche market for these smaller players, are eyeing digital erotic comics as a key form of K-content given their value as intellectual property to be produced into dramas or films.

Topco, South Korea’s top adult webtoon producer, has led the move. The parent company of Toptoon, the country’s largest erotic comics platform, has 45 million subscribers worldwide with about 250 works it has produced, generating 65 billion won ($51.8 million) in sales.

Topco has about 90 creators that make three to four webtoons a week for publication on Toptoon, while also preparing six to seven digital comics. About four to six creators work on one webtoon.

'LET’S MAKE IT A BIT SEXIER'

Topco’s webtoon producers and creators were in a meeting when The Korea Economic Daily recently visited its studio in Seoul.

“It would be better to make this a bit sexier,” said a participant in the meeting.

Out of the meeting room, dozens of creators and artists focused on their own work, quickly coloring the characters on monitors under dark lights in the workroom.

“The coloring artists are sensitive to changes in color due to lighting, so they usually darken the workspace,” Han Hye-kyung, Topco’s content support office general manager, told The Korea Economic Daily.

NICHE MARKET

Topco CEO Yoo Jeong-seok founded the company in 2014 when most webtoons were published on major portals that had little adult-only content given their accessibility for all ages.

Yoo saw this as an opportunity to start an adult webtoon business. Yoo released such digital comics via an online community as a test, drawing huge attention. He used all his money to establish Topco and open Toptoon.

The company was soon in the webtoon industry spotlight, attracting 300,000 subscribers and reporting sales of 3 billion won in the first year.

Topco currently generates about 90% of its sales from adult comics, which account for 70% of its total content.

“It needed to adopt the differentiated strategy of increasing in the adult genre not focused on by Naver and Kakao to better compete with those dominant players,” said an industry source.

EXPANDED PORTFOLIO

Topco has aimed to expand its webtoon genre into martial arts, noir and horror content for adult readers based on its success with erotic comics.

“This is to target consumers with the highest purchasing power by diversifying content and increasing IP,” said Topco Vice President Ryan Kim.

It also operates a web novel platform Novelpia to expand IP.

“There was strong internal opposition to entering the web novel business, given industry heavyweights such as the 20-year-old Joara and the 10-year-old Munpia. But we needed the web novel business to increase our IP,” Kim said. Munpia Inc. was acquired by Naver and CJ Group last year.

ADULT WEBTOONS, AUDIO CONTENT FOR WOMEN

Topco’s local competitor KidariStudio Inc. is specialized in adult webtoons for women. Its digital comics platform Bomtoon attracted local female readers with its romance genre and gay love stories, generating 30 billion won in sales a year. It added 1.1 million new subscribers last year. KidariStudio’s other webtoon platform Lezhin Comics is also popular among adult comics fans.

“Bomtoon and Lezhin are unrivaled platforms specialized in adult content for women in South Korea,” said Yoon Ye-ji, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment Co.

Other small webtoon producers actively lured digital adult comics fans. Mr. Blur Corp., famous for martial arts webtoons, provides gay love comics, while Toomics offers adult webtoons.

Some startups targeted the adult market with audio content. Blushh, a women-led startup selected by Forbes as a mover in the world of healthtech and femtech, operates a sensual audio app in Asia for women’s sexual wellness with autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) audio, similar to the sounds of sweet whispering.

Sensual Moment Co., which operates a romantic fantasy ASMR app Pling, has about 1,300 pieces of audio content for adults. The company cooperates with about 10 creators and 120 voice actors. 

“We started the service with the question of why there is no Netflix in the sexual sector,” said Sensual Moment Chief Marketing Officer Han Ye-jin. “We will show that not all adult content is lowbrow.”

Major players also eyed the market, given the industry’s rapid growth. Kakao Entertainment Corp. and Naver Webtoon Corp. earlier this year opened contests for romantic content that is less erotic than the adult webtoons published by Toptoon.

Write to Eun-Yi Ko at koko@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.