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Naver Webtoon, a web-based cartoon platform owned by the tech giant, Naver Corporation, revealed on Monday, March 21, that it would be establishing a branch in France, which will become the company's first European unit.
The aim of Naver Webtoon's expansion in the French land is to further widen its presence in the international market. The office is expected to open in June, as per The Korea Herald.
With its branch in France, the company is planning to work on at least 200 webtoons in French and an additional 100 content in German. To carry out this scheme, Naver Webtoon will be hiring local webtoon artists in Germany, and they will be handpicked by the company.
Naver prefers non-professionals or amateur candidates as it wants the new hires to grow with them, to nurture them to become the best in the field. It was shared that the lucky artists will be chosen through the Canvas, an open webtoon platform that Naver is launching this year.
"The branch is tentatively called 'Webtoon EU,' and it will oversee webtoon services in France, Germany, and Spain, to discover new business opportunities in other European countries," an official of Naver said. "With Webtoon EU, Naver Webtoon will foster a strong foothold overseas with the other two branches in North America (Los Angeles) and Japan (Tokyo)."
Naver Webtoon was established in 2004, and it now has 82 million monthly active users worldwide as of January 2022. It was said that with its ads and monthly subscription fees, the platform was able to generate more than 100 billion won or around $82.6 million at the start of this year. It is available in more than 100 countries, and cartoons are translated into 10 languages.
Meanwhile, Naver's rival Kakao is also focusing on its European market, and the former's entrance in France simply intensified their competition. The Korea Times reported that Kakao Piccoma, the Japanese unit of Kakao that provides webtoon subscription service, also announced last week that it has started servicing France as well.
Kakao's announcement came just days after Naver was first reported to be boosting its business operations in Europe. "We will enable subscriptions for digital comics produced in France and other European countries," Kim Hyung Rae, Piccoma Europe's chief said.
