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Agence France-Presse

When Bae Jin-soo quit his high-paying job at one of South Korea’s biggest conglomerates to write stories, his parents were so upset they kicked him out of the house.
But 17 years later Bae is one of the biggest names in South Korea’s thriving billion-dollar webtoon industry, with some of his works turned into YouTube reality shows, and a major Netflix series.
The business of webtoons – online-only, mobile-friendly comics – has seen explosive growth around the world since the format emerged 20 years ago in South Korea.
Webtoon Entertainment, the most popular digital comic-hosting platform, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the tech-rich US Nasdaq stock exchange.

Webtoon Entertainment, which is owned by the South Korean tech giant Naver, could reach a valuation of more than US$2.6 billion (HK$20.3 billion) after the IPO, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on June 17.
But when Bae started out, his parents – like many people at the time – did not consider being a comic artist a viable way to make a living, he says.
Having started from the absolute bottom, even the smallest of gains has always brought me joy
Bae Jin-so
Even his friends were worried about his career choice as he “couldn’t draw”.
But he taught himself how – by taking photographs of himself and his surroundings and then copying them with a pen – while working part-time at a convenience store and delivering pizzas.
Readers’ comments that were critical of his early, rudimentary drawings but praised the storyline spurred him to work harder.
In 2012, he posted his breakout horror hit, Friday, on Naver’s Webtoons.
Supported by South Korea’s ultra-fast internet and smartphone-crazy populace, webtoons are fast becoming the country’s latest viral cultural export.

The sector’s value in South Korea went from US$109 million in 2013 to US$1.33 billion by 2022, government figures show.
Webtoon Entertainment, the market leader, has around 170 million monthly active users from more than 150 countries, and says it paid creators over US$2.8 billion between 2017 and 2023.
The “average professional creator is earning US$48,000 a year and the top 100 are earning US$1 million”, according to the platform’s chief executive Junkoo Kim.
The genre has already inspired successful K-dramas and film adaptations, including Misaeng (2014), Yumi’s Cells (2021), Marry My Husband (2024) and The 8 Show (2024) – which is based on Bae’s webtoons Money Game and Pie Game.
One of our goals is to find smaller, potentially undiscovered stories that resonate with original [webtoon] fans and find new audiences
Keo Lee, content director at Netflix Korea, on selecting webtoons for screen adaptation
Creating a drama series based on a popular webtoon means it is already a “work that has been validated in terms of both content and originality”, says Park Soon-tae, a producer who worked on the webtoon-inspired TV romance True Beauty.
“Actors and actresses are already familiar with these webtoons and eager to play the roles, which provides an advantage in terms of casting,” adds Park, who works for a production label under South Korea’s CJ ENM Studios.
But even as adaptations of webtoon adaptations go global, many readers remain loyal to the original format.
Reading online allows “stories to develop and evolve in real time as the user scrolls”, wrote Webtoon Entertainment’s Kim in the company’s SEC filing.

“The use of white space highlights a character’s isolation and loneliness. A crowded panel creates chaos. Long blank panels build suspense,” he added.
Of the around 14 original South Korean dramas launched by Netflix in 2023, at least seven were based on webtoons.
“One of our goals is to find smaller, potentially undiscovered stories that resonate with original [webtoon] fans and find new audiences worldwide,” Keo Lee, content director at Netflix Korea, says.
“So we ventured into unconventional genres,” he adds.
While webtoons span a variety of themes, creators have particularly addressed “the agony of loser-like younger generations”, according to Dal Yong Jin, the author of a book on the medium titled Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture.
Bae’s Money Game, which inspired Netflix’s The 8 Show, follows a young man who becomes debt-ridden after a failed cryptocurrency investment.
He and seven others decide to participate in a game in which they must survive 100 days in a sealed space – without even a toilet – to win a substantial prize.

What they spend in the space is deducted from the prize, with the cost of living 1,000 times higher than in the real world – a conceit Bae says he came up with while drinking with friends.
The violent, gruesome webtoon has already been made into two YouTube reality shows – one in South Korea and the other in the US.
Bae says that despite the darkness of his works, readers should easily empathise with his characters.
“The hardest thing is to give up what you’ve got,” he says, referring to human nature.
“But having started from the absolute bottom, even the smallest of gains has always brought me joy.”


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How Netflix and Nasdaq look set make the South Korean webtoon industry even more lucrative

South Korean webtoon artist Bae Jin-soo draws a character at his studio in Seoul. The already multi-billion dollar business looks set to grow further as its biggest platform, Webtoon Entertainment, files for a Nasdaq IPO. Photo: AFP

Bae’s works have been adapted on YouTube and Netflix. Photo: AFP

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Bae reflection in a poster for Netflix’s The 8 Show. Photo: AFP

A cell from Bae’s Money Game webtoon. Photo: Webtoon Entertainment

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Jung Eun-ji as Lee Mi-jin in a still from Miss Night and Day, a fantasy comedy that sees a woman magically flitting between youth and middle age. 

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Lee Jung-eun as Lee Mi-jin/Im Soon in a still from Miss Night and Day.

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Lifestyle

K-drama

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

K-Pop

Netflix adaptations took webtoons global, but a Nasdaq IPO for the medium’s No.1 platform may take the billion-dollar industry even further


After adaptations on YouTube and Netflix helped Korean webtoons gain popularity worldwide, the biggest platform is looking to go public on the Nasdaq, which could help the industry grow even bigger.


Internet

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How Netflix and Nasdaq look set make the South Korean webtoon industry even more lucrative

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Netflix adaptations took webtoons global, but a Nasdaq IPO for the medium’s No.1 platform may take the billion-dollar industry even further

Netflix adaptations took webtoons global, but a Nasdaq IPO for the medium’s No.1 platform may take the billion-dollar industry even further