For the First Time Ever, the Webtoon Industry Has Surpassed US$1.5 Billion in Sales

In 2023, the Korean webtoon industry experienced a significant surge, reaching approximately $1.5 billion in sales. This represents a notable increase of 19.7% compared to the previous year’s earnings of $1.24 billion, making it the first time this thriving sector has exceeded $1.5 billion in annual income.

Since 2018, the growth of this sector has been consistent as per the ‘2024 WEBTOON Industry Survey’ conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). To put it in perspective, total sales were only $258 million in 2017. However, they significantly increased to over $716 million by 2020, and further surged to approximately $1.02 billion in 2021.

In the year 2023, approximately 64.4% of the overall market was generated by platform providers, amounting to a substantial sum of around $959 million. This significant portion of the market represents an impressive increase of 25% compared to the $767 million earned in 2022.

In terms of exports, Japan accounted for approximately 40.3% of the total market share, making it the largest importer. North America came in second with a share of around 19.7%, followed closely by Greater China with about 15.6%. Southeast Asia claimed about 12.3%, and Europe took up approximately 8.2%.

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2025-01-12 17:43