Have you ever read a webtoon? I have. In recent years, webtoons have grown into a content industry that attracts attention not only in Korea but also around the world. A webtoon refers to a comic that is serialized on internet websites. Major platforms like Naver and Kakao are at the center of the growth of webtoons. These large platforms have made significant contributions to the growth of the webtoon market. However, if you were to ask, “Are there any other webtoon platforms besides Naver and Kakao?” you might not be able to think of any right away. In this way, Naver and Kakao almost monopolize the webtoon market, which is not good for the webtoon ecosystem.
The first reason is that unfair competition intensifies. Platforms act as both buyers and sellers of news content, creating a vertical relationship, while simultaneously forming a horizontal relationship competing for user attention and advertising. Platforms influence the webtoon choices of users through recommendation services and algorithms, which strengthens their transactional position. In other words, the relationship between platforms and creators is not equal. This superior position of platforms can lead to unfavorable contract conditions for webtoon creators. While smaller platforms have relatively few creators, larger platforms have many creators and works, making them less concerned about contracts with creators. However, creators are desperate. For them, being serialized on a large platform helps gain recognition and offers better benefits, so they desperately try not to miss out on opportunities with large platforms.
Secondly, there is the issue of the hindrance to the creative environment of writers. When platforms exert unilateral control over the entire production and distribution process, it negatively impacts the sustainability of creative activities. This makes it difficult for writers to attempt various approaches and leads to the production of uniform works. From the perspective of webtoon platforms, they need to showcase popular works to readers, which results in the selection of only webtoons with standardized stories for serialization. However, this undermines the diversity of webtoons. By choosing only webtoons with familiar and generalized stories, rather than original and innovative narratives, it becomes challenging for a variety of webtoons to emerge.
Thirdly, there is the issue of hindering the development of the webtoon industry ecosystem. Webtoon platform companies secure user data to utilize it for their business operations, which can lead to data monopolies. In exchange for providing services to users for free, webtoon platform companies collect user data and use it for their operations. This data monopoly can make it difficult for new competitive platforms to enter the market and can hinder innovation. If fewer platforms emerge to compete with large platforms, it will also put them at a disadvantage in competition with overseas platforms. The monopoly of global digital platforms is a significant issue that is also covered extensively in domestic media, and domestic platforms may face difficulties in competing with global platforms. Global webtoon platform companies, which are at the pinnacle of the webtoon industry ecosystem, have a significant impact not only on overseas markets but also on domestic consumers and producers, making this a crucial issue to consider. This could lead to a weakening of the competitiveness of the domestic webtoon industry.
In conclusion, the monopoly of large platforms like Naver and Kakao is harmful to the webtoon ecosystem as it leads to issues such as intensified unfair competition, hindrance to the creative environment for artists, and stunted development of the webtoon industry ecosystem. For the webtoon industry to further advance in the future, it is essential for the government to support or promote small and medium-sized platforms in addition to the large platforms like Naver and Kakao.