Adult webtoon platforms, which benefited from the 'stay-at-home special' during the COVID-19 pandemic, are now on a downward trend. Platforms focused on 19+ content, such as Lezhin Comics, Toptoon, and Toomics, have seen their user numbers drop by up to 77% compared to their peak, causing their market position to shake. Major platforms like Naver Webtoon and Kakao Page are maintaining their user numbers by enhancing adult content and diversifying genres.
According to app statistics analysis platform Mobile Index on the 10th, the monthly active users (MAU) of Lezhin Comics, the country's largest adult webtoon platform, were 239,630 last month, a 36.3% decline compared to the peak of April 2021 (376,405 users). In April 2022, the MAU slightly decreased to 351,560, but a significant decline began in April 2023 with 286,569 users, continuing a downward trend for two consecutive years.
Toptoon, which caters to a male audience, also showed a similar trend. Although the MAU recorded 82,075 in April 2022 and grew to 111,564 in April 2023, it dropped to 66,225 this April, losing over 40% of its users in two years. Toomics showed a more pronounced decline, with the MAU plummeting from 104,918 in April 2021 to 23,765 this year, a 77% decrease.
User attrition began to commonly appear after the mid-2023 endemic period. A webtoon industry official noted, "The decline in users of adult webtoon platforms seems to be a natural phenomenon due to the end of the pandemic special, decreased content freshness, and accumulated user fatigue."
In this situation, the expansion of adult webtoons by major platforms such as Naver and Kakao has stifled the competitiveness of existing platforms. According to the '2024 Comic and Webtoon Distribution Statistics' recently announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Manhwa Content Agency, the total number of new webtoons decreased by 14.6% from 17,245 in 2023 to 14,723 last year. Among these, works for adults aged 18 and older accounted for 8,481, or 57.6% of the total.
Recently, Naver Webtoon gained popularity by introducing romance-based adult webtoons, and Kakao Page adopted a strategy of simultaneously releasing the complete 19+ versions alongside existing web novel-based romance and fantasy works. While the MAU of Naver Webtoon slightly decreased from 10,458,545 in April 2023 to 9,644,901 this April, it still maintains close to 10 million users. Kakao Page's MAU increased from 5,999,053 to 6,174,828 during the same period. Bomtoon, focused on female-oriented romance and BL (Boys' Love) genres, also saw its MAU grow from 78,200 in April 2023 to 128,939 this April, a nearly 65% increase.
A webtoon industry official said, "It appears that major platforms are partly encroaching on the adult webtoon market while revealing the genre's limitations. Without genre diversification, securing new intellectual property (content), and expanding into secondary content such as videos and merchandise collaborations, it is difficult to find a momentum for rebound."