Naver that has set up an ambitious Naver WebToon Chinese subsidiary is about to close the Chinese branch. WebToon is the core content business that has put Hae Sung-sook`s new Naver CEO (photo) in his current position, so the WebToon business in China is expected to be the biggest test after his CEO debut.

According to the industry on April 18, before the launch of Naver Webtoon, Naver`s next-generation WebToon Corporation, Broccoli Entertainment, a subsidiary of WebToon, which was established in China in February, has failed to achieve any success for three months.

Broccoli Entertainment is a business organization dedicated to China`s Line WebToon service, including intellectual property (IP) business. It was Naver`s position that it would speed up the provision of customized WebToon contents to the Chinese market and speed up the fast-growing Chinese market.

According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, the Chinese cartoon (publishing and WebToon) market is expected to grow by 4.6% on annual basis until 2020, reaching USD 528 million (KRW 605 billion). Especially, the local WebToon market is growing rapidly. WebToon market is expected to grow at an annual average rate of 190% and grow to USD 149 million (about KRW 170.7 billion) by 2020.

Naver launched Broccoli Entertainment in order to establish a strong base in China for its growth potential. But reality is different from Naver`s expectation. Broccoli Entertainment has not provided a single service since its launch. There are no other business results such as IP business and distribution business. As a result, Naver`s plan to extend the stage of the WebToon business to the global market seems to be in failure.

Especially, the `no performance` of a Chinese branch is a sign of compromising CEO Han himself. Han has been leading the Naver Service 1 headquarters since 2012 and is the number one player in expanding Naver`s outreach to cultural contents such as WebToon and Web Novels. The WebToon business is his `special feature`.

Naver representative said, ‘The Chinese government is controlling the content of the Korean wave and WebToon is not able to produce results. We are in talks with local affiliates, but there is no achievement yet.’ "

A related person in the WebToon industry pointed out, ‘It was not just a day or two before the Chinese government’s ban on Korean wave, but Naver, who stands for a global company, should have carefully prepared various variables before establishing a local corporation.’

In particular, it is pointed out that it will be recorded as a ‘judgment error’ by Han Seong-sook, which is a Chinese corporation before the establishment of Naver WebToon, which will be established in the headquarters of the WebToon business. Since the dispute between Korea and China has been continuing since the decision to deploy a high-altitude missile defense system (THAAD) on the Korean Peninsula, it has not been necessary to adhere to the strategy of establishing a Chinese subsidiary. It means that CEO Han must have revised the strategy on Chinese market.

In addition to China Broccoli Entertainment, Naver also established WebToon Entertainment in Los Angeles, USA and Watton Entertainment in Hong Kong. These corporations also have no IP contract performances.

By Kim Soo Yeon newsnews@


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