Webtoon's David Lee on Disney Partnership, Growth, and AI for Creators

Webtoon's Global Storytelling Platform

• 💡 Webtoon is a global storytelling platform with over 150 million monthly active users, primarily Gen Z, who spend 30 minutes daily enjoying stories.
• 🌍 The platform hosts a network of 24 million creators worldwide who write webcomic and web novel stories, with many adaptations becoming movies and TV series.
• 🚀 Many creators are not professional artists but individuals with full-time jobs, such as kindergarten teachers and plumbers, who use the platform to share their stories.

Impact of the Disney Partnership

• 🤝 The Disney partnership is seen as pivotal, signaling Webtoon's move from niche to mainstream and allowing Disney to bring iconic characters like Spider-Man to the platform as webcomics.
• 📈 This collaboration is expected to increase company awareness among investors and corporations, validating Webtoon's mainstream appeal.
• 🎭 Webtoon plans to create original stories with Disney and adapt existing ones, featuring alternative endings and bringing background characters to the forefront.

Financial Health and Profitability

• 💰 Webtoon reported a positive adjusted EBITDA of $9.7 million, demonstrating growth in cash reserves from its IPO.
• 📊 Despite expansion, the company is focused on building cash prudently and creating shareholder value through self-reliance.
• 📈 The company saw its English-language app grow 19% year-over-year for the last two quarters.

Understanding and Engaging the Gen Z Audience

• 🎯 Webtoon uses data-rich insights to understand its target consumer, 'Maddie,' tracking her reading habits to help her discover new stories.
• 🌱 As 'Maddie' grows, Webtoon can cater to her evolving tastes across various genres due to its extensive library of 120,000 daily new stories.
• 🗣️ This generation of consumers, including Gen Z and Gen Alpha, prefers to discover content independently.

AI's Role in Supporting Human Creators

• 🤖 Webtoon utilizes AI to protect human creators by fighting piracy and helping consumers discover new stories from its vast daily influx of content.
• 🌟 The company emphasizes its role in promoting human creativity and generating returns for creators, highlighting its business model that has shared $2.8 billion with creators from 2017 to 2023.
• ✅ AI is seen as a tool for human good, supporting amateur creators and enabling them to change their lives.