‘So much demand for original content’: Apple sees global potential in Korean web comics to revive its Books app
- Web comics – cartoons that users can scroll through on their phones – are hugely popular in South Korea, and Apple sees a chance to popularise them elsewhere
- It has signed a deal for Korean start-up Kenaz to supply web comics for its Books app. This includes adaptations of existing works such as the Gladiator movie
Apple is betting on Korean web comics to give a jolt of life to its Books app.
The firm signed a three-year exclusive contract with South Korean start-up Kenaz in December to supply online comics known as webtoons. The new content was rolled out in Japan last month, and will expand to cover all 51 countries where Books is available. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
Webtoons are Korea’s favourite way of consuming digital comics and provide the inspiration for many of the country’s global entertainment hits, from dark zombie comedy All of Us Are Dead to monster epic Sweet Home.
The format, which has users scrolling through full-colour, super-short episodes on their phones or PCs, has been around for decades.
Unlike conventional manga or comic books, authors draw webtoons accounting for how much screen space is created by a single scroll-down on a device.