Webtoon will integrate its new short-form animation service “Cuts” into its existing mobile application on August 25, marking the Korean company’s latest attempt to combat declining user engagement through bite-sized video content.
The move follows the company’s introduction of “Video Episodes” on its English-language platform, which transforms select webtoons into five-minute animated clips with voice acting and sound effects. Fourteen series now feature 20 episodes each, developed in collaboration with creators.
The dual-platform strategy represents a significant departure from traditional static webtoon consumption, as the industry grapples with stagnating growth and fierce competition from social media platforms. While Video Episodes focus on professionally produced content, Cuts will allow users to create and share one-to-three minute animated clips in a format resembling TikTok or Instagram Reels.
Naver Webtoon users averaged 426 minutes of app usage in June, down from 481 minutes a year earlier, according to analytics firm MobileIndex. The decline reflects broader challenges facing the webtoon sector, where readers continue to spend less time on webtoon apps while gravitating toward short-form video competitors.
Chief Strategy Officer Yongsoo Kim acknowledged the shift, stating the company recognizes “a massive appetite for short-form video among Gen Z.” The Video Episodes initiative targets this demographic with animated versions of popular series including “The Mafia Nanny,” “Vampire Family,” and “Angel of Death.”
The service launches as Webtoon Entertainment, Naver’s US-listed parent company, struggles with investor confidence. The stock trades around $9.34, sharply below its post-IPO high of $26 following its June 2024 debut. The company reported operating losses of $125 million last year.
Cuts will debut with “Kim Ae-yong’s Day,” a comedy series featuring a cat character from the popular webtoon “My Daughter is a Zombie.” Unlike the professionally produced Video Episodes, Cuts operates as a user-generated content platform where the company will recruit creators through a “Cuts Partner Creator” system, similar to Naver’s streaming service partner programs.
Industry executives acknowledge that platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels represent webtoons’ biggest competitive threat. Major competitors have responded with similar initiatives, including Kakao Entertainment’s AI-generated trailer feature and other short-form experiments.
Whether animated micro-content can reverse the industry’s fortunes remains uncertain, particularly as major webtoon companies have retreated from international markets amid disappointing performance.
