WEBTOON Entertainment cut its losses in Q2, and reported growth in users of its English-language app, which delivered improvements in the quarter.
The quarterly loss was down to $3.9 million in Q2, a big improvement from the $76.6 million loss in the same quarter a year ago. The earnings improvement was primarily the result of a more than $70 million reduction in general and administrative expenses, which the company attributed to the expenses of going public last year.
Global revenue was up 8.5%, from $320.1 million in Q2 2024 to $348.3 million in Q2 this year.
The number of Monthly Average Users of the company’s English WebComic app has grown 18-19% each of the past three quarters, CFO David J. Lee said in the conference call, with a strong Gen Z component. One factor driving app user growth has been an improved product, with a better onboarding process that allows improved content recommendations, and “new and hot” videos to aid discovery.
All three of the company’s revenue streams (paid content, advertising, and IP adaptations) grew, with the fastest growth (42% year over year) in IP adaptations. Random House recently signed a 14-title deal to publish content from WEBTOON under its Inklore and Ink Pop imprints (see “Random House Signs Deal“).
Lee emphasized that the recently announced deal to bring Marvel Comics, Star Wars, and other Disney comics to the WEBTOON platform (see “Disney and WEBTOON Announce Deal“) was not expected to have a meaningful impact on the company’s financial performance, but would have strategic benefits.
Source: ICv2
