WEBTOON Entertainment showed Q1 revenue growth in constant currency, but flipped to a loss from a profit in the previous year, the company reported for Q1 2025. Sales were down 0.3%, from $326.7 million in Q1 2024 to $325.7 million in Q1 this year, but up 5.3% in constant currency, behind growth in all three revenue streams (Paid Content, Advertising, and IP Adaptations).
The profit decline was substantial, from $6.2 million profit in Q1 2024 to a $22.0 million loss in Q1 2025, which the company attributed to the expense of being a public company and increased marketing expense.
WEBTOON is reporting significant investment and growth in its English-language platform. Monthly Active Users in English were up 19% in the period, but the company noted that English webcomics have one of the highest proportions of light users. That is seen as a substantial opportunity to increase engagement, and WEBTOON is implementing AI-powered personalized recommendations, dynamic video content previews, and a new onboarding process to help it make more effective recommendations to users and expand the number of series they follow.
Global MAUs were down 10.5% compared to the year-ago period, which the company attributed in the conference call to Wattpad web novel user declines, particularly in Japan, where a Wattpad upgrade affected search engine indexing.
WEBTOON reported big losses for Q4 and full year 2024 on high sales (see "WEBTOON Reports Loss").

In Q1
Posted by Milton Griepp on May 15, 2025 @ 3:07 am CT

MORE COMICS
Says Next Payroll Is at Stake
July 2, 2025
Dynamite Entertainment says it cannot make next week's payroll unless it is paid for past due invoices.
Expanding the 'Invincible' Universe
July 1, 2025
The compendia bring new characters and stories to the best-selling franchise.
MORE NEWS
In a Bookazine with Variant Covers
July 1, 2025
The new publication is a one-shot book/magazine hybrid with two different covers.
New Arcade-inspired Fighting Game by Scorpion Masque
July 1, 2025
Hachette Boardgames announced Tag Team, a new arcade-inspired fighting game by Scorpion Masque.