Naver Webtoon has reported a return of readers to its official service and an increase in paid subscriptions following the closure of the illegal webtoon distribution site Newtoki. The platform has maintained a 99.8% defense rate against the illegal distribution of its latest paid episodes.
On September 30, Naver Webtoon released a report analyzing reader behavior data from January to August of this year, focusing on the period around Newtoki's closure in April.
The report categorized works based on the speed of illegal leaks prior to the shutdown: those leaked on the same day, those taking more than a day to leak, and a control group with no leaks. Samples were then extracted from each group to analyze inflow, retention, and revenue data, excluding works that had been suspended or had unstable release schedules.
The analysis revealed that new purchases from works that had been leaked on the same day as their release surged 7.9 times in the week following Newtoki's closure, compared to the average of the three weeks prior to the shutdown.
Of the new purchasers, 96% were existing readers of the series, suggesting that those who had previously accessed content through illegal sites returned to the official service.
Naver Webtoon has also significantly blocked the distribution of the latest episodes through illegal channels. The company stated that its own illegal distribution blocking system, Toon Raider, has maintained a 99.8% defense rate against the illegal distribution of its latest paid episodes. Even if episodes are leaked on illegal sites, they are released 3 to 5 episodes later than on the official service, reducing the marketability of the latest content.
Despite the emergence of new illegal sites after Newtoki's closure, Naver Webtoon explained that ongoing collaboration with the government has led to a decrease in their usage.
According to the Korea Copyright Protection Agency, since the government's emergency blocking measures were implemented on May 11, the average daily traffic to the top three illegal sites has dropped from approximately 4.71 million visits to 1.71 million, a reduction of about 64%.
Naver Webtoon analyzed that the closure of Newtoki was a result of increased government pressure and emergency blocking measures, combined with ongoing efforts to block illegal content distribution through Toon Raider.
The company is also strengthening its response to illegal sites overseas. Considering the unique characteristics of foreign markets, it is expanding its efforts to track and apprehend initial leakers and manage illegal links that appear in search results.
In May, Naver Webtoon collaborated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to shut down three global illegal sites based in Vietnam. In August, it worked with Interpol and local law enforcement in North Africa to close three English-language illegal sites with an annual visit count of 130 million and contributed to the arrest of their operators.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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