Korean Government 'To develop webtoon illustrators of 1 billion views'

▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows webtoon, 'Lookism.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows webtoon 'Incomplete Life.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows webtoon 'Secretly Greatly.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, January 6 (Yonhap) -- Attention is being paid to who is the writer who drew 1 billion clicks with one webtoon and how they were born as the government announced that it would raise 1 billion-view webtoon writers to expand K-content exports. 
 
The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will spend 1 billion won to foster 1 billion-view webtoon artists according to their business report on January 5. 
 
In other words, whether the illustrator has more than 1 billion cumulative views is the reference point for a successful webtoon artist.
 
Representative 1 billion-view webtoon writers include Park Tae-joon, who drew "Lookism," Yaongyi (real name Kim Na-young) from "True Beauty," Yoon Tae-ho from "Incomplete Life," and HUN (real name Choi Jong-hun) from "Secretly, Greatly." according to the webtoon industry on January 6. 
 
These people are star illustrators, who people have heard their names at least once, even though they do not enjoy watching webtoons.
 
A webtoon is deemed successful if it receives more than 100 million views on its platform per work.
 
Webtoon A, which maintained its weekly No. 1 position on major platforms for three years, had around 300 million cumulative views.
 
This proves how hard it is to become a webtoon illustrator with a billion views.
 
First of all, long-term serialization and steady popularity are cited as prerequisites for the birth of a billion-view artist.
 
"Lookism" is a popular work that has been continued for more than eight years since November 2014. "True Beauty" was always ranked at the top of the popularity rankings from 2018 until it ended in September last year.
 
The IP expanded to movies, dramas, musicals, or animations, and making a big hit is also another way to record 1 billion views.
 
"Incomplete Life" was produced as a drama, "Secretly, Greatly" was made into a movie and a musical, and the original webtoon recorded 1 billion views in Korea alone.
 
Entering overseas markets is another condition.
 
No matter how popular it is, it is not easy to record a billion views in Korea alone, considering the size of the population and the proportion of Webtoon users.
 
In the case of the webtoon "Love Alarm," the cumulative views in Korea were about 600 million, although it was so popular that it was produced until season 2 as a Netflix original drama. At the same time, it recorded 5.6 billion cumulative views in China. 
 
Webtoon B became a hot topic after achieving global No. 1 based on the online video service (OTT) TV program after being dramatized, but the cumulative number of views has not yet reached 1 billion. The reason is that the webtoon was not serialized overseas.
 
Although the government has expressed its ambition to create 1 billion-view webtoon illustrators,, paying attention to the importance of webtoons among K-content, it is unclear whether star writers can be born only with the government's policy.
 
Most importantly, the webtoon should be chosen by the readers based on its popularity in Korea and other factors that will allow it to expand internationally. 
 
Criticisms are made that it is going to be very challenging to record 1 billion views as there are many new webtoons produced compared to the past and that the webtoons are being serialized for a shorter period of time.
 
An official from the industry said, "Considering the value of the intellectual property, everyone would have developed a 1 billion view illustrator if they could actually succeed by sending 1 billion KRW," adding, "It is not an easy task." 
 
 

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Dowon Kim.)
 
 
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