KakaoPage

South Korean content platform

KakaoPage
Available inKorean, Indonesian, Chinese
OwnerKakao
(Kakao Entertainment)
URLpage.kakao.com
kakaocorp.com/service/KakaoPage

KakaoPage (Korean: 카카오페이지; RR: KakaoPeiji) is a monetized content platform optimized for mobile devices, launched by the Kakao Corp. in 2013 and currently owned by its subsidiary Kakao Entertainment.[1][2] The service launched on April 9, 2013, as a digital content marketplace allowing brands and individuals to create and distribute visual, audio and written content such as webtoons, manhwa, and genre fiction. It entered the Indonesian market in 2018[3] and Taiwan in 2020.[4]

KakaoPage is famous in South Korea for its "free if you wait" system that allows readers to view one episode of a webtoon or web novel for free if they wait for a certain amount of time after reading.

History

The service's then-operator, Podotree Co., Ltd. (changed name to KakaoPage Corp. in 2018), was founded on July 20, 2010, as a subsidiary of Kakao.

KakaoPage was deemed a failure by mid-2013, but after adding Legendary Moonlight Sculptor and several other popular works, the service bounced back. By April 21, 2014, they started their free webtoon and web fiction service. In 2014, they announced that they would add over a 100 different webtoon series before the year was out.[5]

Any individual can create content and upload it to KakaoPage and sell it directly to other consumers on the platform. The total revenue for any sale is distributed as, 30% to Google Play, 20% to Kakao and remaining 50% to the publisher.[6]

By September 2019, KakaoPage recorded over 66,000 contents in total and 22 million accumulated number of members.[7]

Investments

KakaoPage Corp. owned 19.8 percent of Haksan Publishing, 22.2 percent of Seoul Media Comics and 19.8 percent of Daewon C.I., all of them publishers of comics.[8] It also owned 21.9 percent of stocks in drama production company Mega Monster, which is a subsidiary of its then-sister company Kakao M.[9]

In 2018, the company acquired Neobazar, Indonesia's top webtoon platform company, for 13.8 billion won.[10]

In July 2020, KakaoPage invested in the US-based web-novel platform Radish, for 32.2 billion won.[11]

In August 2020, KakaoPage acquired 49% of multinational drama and film production company Kross Pictures for 5.8 billion won.[12]

In March 2021, KakaoPage Corp. and Kakao M merged into a company named Kakao Entertainment, while having its own representative system under the name "Page Company" there.[13]

In the media

In 2017, actor Park Bo-gum became KakaoPage's first brand ambassador and has since appeared in print, digital and visual media advertisements for the brand.[14][15]

See also

References

  1. ^ Tebay, Andy (February 13, 2013). "Kakao Launches Mobile Content Service". The Next Web. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  2. ^ 남, 혜현 (April 21, 2014). "ko:카카오 웹툰 시작…연내 신작 100편 공개 | KaKao Webtoon starting... Opening 100 brand new episode within this year". ZDNet Korea (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  3. ^ "Kakaopage Targets Southeast Asia by Acquiring Indonesia's Top Webtoon Business". December 19, 2018. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  4. ^ "일본 넘어 대만으로... 카카오페이지-대만 지사 설립, 네이버웹툰-대만 플랫폼 일원화". Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  5. ^ 남, 혜현 (April 21, 2014). "카카오 웹툰 시작…연내 신작 100편 공개 원문보기 | KaKao Webtoon starting... Opening 100 brand new episode within this year". ZD Net Korea. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
  6. ^ "Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". Tech in Asia. Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  7. ^ 김, 민정 (September 18, 2019). "카카오페이지, 일 거래액 10억 원 돌파 | KakaoPage, passing 1 billion won of sales in a single day". 'Startup's Story Platform’ (in Korean). Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  8. ^ "Kakao Page invests W40b in 3 comic publishers". www.theinvestor.co.kr. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  9. ^ Full list of stakeholders in MEGA MONSTER Corp. Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine dart.fss.or.kr.
  10. ^ "KakaoPage acquires Indonesian top webtoon platform Neobazar - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea". pulsenews.co.kr. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  11. ^ Park, Gye-hyeon (July 20, 2020). "카카오페이지, 웹소설 스타트업에 300억 배팅, 이유는?". Money Today (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  12. ^ Park, Ju-won (August 24, 2020). "카카오페이지, '크로스픽쳐스 인수'…글로벌 슈퍼 IP 키운다". Sedaily (in Korean). Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  13. ^ Jo, Ah-ra (March 4, 2021). "카카오페이지, 웹소설 스타트업에 300억 배팅, 이유는? - 머니투데이". The Korea Economic Daily (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  14. ^ 박, 철현 (February 14, 2017). "카카오페이지 대세 박보검 통해 대세 플랫폼 알린다! | KakaoPage advertises itself through Park Bogum". IT Chosun. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017.
  15. ^ 백, 민재 (February 13, 2017). "박보검, 카카오페이지 공식 모델 발탁 | Park Bogum, chosen as official model of KakaoPage". Gametoc. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017.

External links

  • v
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  • e
Webtoons published by KakaoPage
First published in Korean
Adaptations