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NHN building. (Photo = NHN) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Jisun] NHN recently exited the Taiwanese market with its webtoon service "Pocket Comics," ending a seven-year presence since its 2014 entry, industry sources reported on the 7th. This marks NHN's complete withdrawal from Southeast Asia's webtoon market.
Previously, NHN sold its Thai Comico subsidiary to Kidari Studio in July of last year and exited the Vietnamese market in 2022. In September 2023, NHN also quietly ended Pocket Comics service in Germany. Going forward, NHN will continue its webtoon services only in South Korea, Japan, North America, and France. The company operates under the Comico brand in South Korea and Japan, while North America and Europe are served under the Pocket Comics brand.
NHN is not alone in this trend; Kakao affiliates have also decided to scale back operations in Europe and Southeast Asia. Kakao Piccoma announced its withdrawal from Europe in September, while Kakao Entertainment plans to cease operations in Indonesia by the end of this year and in Taiwan next year. Naver Webtoon, too, has paused its planned European expansion, announced in 2022.
According to the Korea Copyright Commission, Japan's manga market reached approximately 693.7 billion yen (about 6.3 trillion won) last year—three times the size of South Korea's market. Digital content consumption is growing rapidly in Japan, raising hopes for domestic webtoon companies. North America's webtoon market is also expanding swiftly, with QY Research predicting growth from $578.41 million last year to $2.13 billion (around 2.97 trillion won) by 2030.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
