WEBTOON Entertainment has reported a substantial improvement in its financial performance for the first quarter of 2026, narrowing its operating losses by roughly 70% to US$8.03 million compared to the same period last year. The company also saw its net loss decrease by approximately 60%, falling to US$8.8 million from US$21.97 million.
Despite these gains in loss reduction, quarterly revenue experienced a slight year-over-year decline of 1.5%, totaling US$320.9 million. This marks another quarter of softening sales for the digital comics platform. However, when currency fluctuations are excluded, first-quarter revenue would have shown a modest increase of 0.2%.
A bright spot for the company was its performance in Korea, where revenue grew 3.2% year-over-year, attributed to a more diverse content lineup and AI-driven recommendations. This led to an 8.5% jump in monthly paying users in the region. Globally, excluding Korea and Japan, monthly paying users saw a 3.3% rise.
Japan continues to be the most profitable market on a per-user basis, with an average revenue per paying user of US$22.5, significantly higher than Korea's US$7.8 and the rest of the world's US$6.8. The platform's creator ecosystem now engages around 145 million monthly active users worldwide. CEO Junkoo Kim expressed satisfaction with the results and outlined plans to expand the creator ecosystem, including a significant overhaul of the amateur CANVAS platform.
Source: Anime News Network(https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-05-18/webtoon-ent-narrows-losses-in-1st-quarter-2026/.237477)
