Webtoon Entertainment, the U.S.-based parent of Naver Webtoon, narrowed its first-quarter operating loss to 11.7 billion won.
The company disclosed Tuesday (local time) that first-quarter revenue came to a preliminary $320.87 million (about 469.2 billion won), with an operating loss of $8.03 million (about 11.7 billion won). Revenue declined 1.5% from a year earlier, while the operating loss shrank 69.8%.
First-quarter net loss fell 60% year-on-year to $8.8 million (about 12.9 billion won), while adjusted EBITDA rose 132% to $9.48 million (13.9 billion won).
By segment, paid content revenue came to $261.4 million, up 0.5% from the same period last year. Advertising revenue was $39.7 million (-0.5%), and intellectual property (IP) business revenue was $19.8 million (-22.8%).
Although revenue declined, excluding currency effects, Korea revenue rose 3.2% year-on-year and global revenue excluding Korea and Japan increased 5.6%. The company attributed the performance to "content diversification and AI recommendation effects," adding that "paid content revenue drove the growth." Monthly paying users in Korea and globally rose 8.5% and 3.3%, respectively, from the same period last year.
Webtoon Entertainment is actively pursuing global collaborations to diversify its content. The company is producing webtoon-format versions of The Walt Disney Company's flagship Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars animations, along with a commemorative Formula One (F1) webtoon and a webtoon based on Xbox's "Sea of Thieves."
"Love Me Love Me" and "Kissing Is the Easy Part," from the global web novel platform Wattpad, are being adapted for video on Prime Video and Tubi, respectively. To strengthen its platform foundation for user engagement and immersion, the company expanded its AI chatbot service "Character Chat" to Japan and signed a partnership with AI avatar creation firm Genies.
Webtoon Entertainment plans to invest more than $50 million, or about 70 billion won, in its creator ecosystem this year. Within the first half, it will consolidate "Canvas," its global amateur creation space currently operated separately in seven languages including English and Spanish, into a single platform, while enhancing translation and personalized recommendation features.
"Through the expansion of our creator ecosystem and the Canvas overhaul, we will showcase more diverse content while continuing to invest in business innovation and long-term growth," said Junkoo Kim, CEO and founder of Webtoon Entertainment.
