SEOUL, KOREA- Korea's market for webtoons, animated comic strips available on the web, is forecast to grow to 300 billion won by 2015. According to a report by KT Economic Management Research Institute, the nation's cartoon market reached 715 billion won last year, of which online cartoons accounted for 14 percent or 100 billion won.
The report predicted that the nation's webtoon market will grow to 150 billion won this year, 210 billion won next year, and 295 billion won in 2015.
The growth of the webtoon market will likely to be led by the increase in advertising sales, secondary copyright incomes, and pay-based webtoon sales. Webtoons have been used as source content for a variety of media, including movies, dramas, and games.
The webtoon market is showing signs of expanding as an increasing number of public institutions and private enterprises use webtoons for the purpose of brand promotion and campaigns, while using webtoon characters for marketing purposes.
