KakaoPage () is a monetized content platform optimized for mobile devices, launched by the

Kakao Kakao ( ko, 카카오) is a South Korean internet company that was established in 2010. It formed as a result of a merger between Daum Communications and the original Kakao Inc. In 2014, the company was renamed Daum Kakao. The company rebrande ...

Corp. in 2013 and currently owned by its subsidiary

Kakao Entertainment Kakao Entertainment Corp. (), stylized as kakao ENTERTAINMENT, is a South Korean entertainment, mass media, and publishing company founded in 2021. A subsidiary of the internet company Kakao, it was established subsequent to the merger of the la ...

. The service launched on April 9, 2013 as a digital content marketplace allowing brands and individuals to create and distribute visual, audio and written content such as

manhwa (; ) is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons. Outside Korea, the term usually refers to South Korean comics. is greatly influenced by Japanese Manga comics. Modern Manhwa has extended its reach to many other countries. ...

and

genre fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

. It entered the Indonesian market in 2018 and Taiwan in 2020. KakaoPage is famous in South Korea for its "free if you wait" system that allows readers to view one episode of a webtoon or web novel for free if they wait for a certain amount of time after reading.

History

The service's then-operator, ''Podotree Co., Ltd.'' (changed name to ''KakaoPage Corp.'' in 2018), was founded on July 20, 2010 as a subsidiary of Kakao. KakaoPage was deemed a failure by mid-2013, but after adding ''

Legendary Moonlight Sculptor The ''Legendary Moonlight Sculpto''r is a Korean light novel and web novel by Heesung Nam (남희성). The series has ended with 1450 episodes on the online website as of July 2019, and the latest published book is volume 57 as of April 2020. P ...

'' and several other popular works, the service bounced back. By April 21, 2014, they started their free

webtoon Webtoons (), are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones. While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity internationally ...

and web fiction service. In 2014, they announced that they would add over a 100 different webtoon series before the year was out. Any individual can create content and upload it to KakaoPage and sell it directly to other consumers on the platform. The total revenue for any sale is distributed as, 30% to

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...

, 20% to

and remaining 50% to the publisher. By September 2019, KakaoPage recorded over 66,000 contents in total and 22 million accumulated number of members.

Investments

KakaoPage Corp. owned 19.8 percent of '' Haksan Publishing'', 22.2 percent of '' Seoul Media Comics'' and 19.8 percent of '' Daewon C.I.'', all of them publishers of comics. It also owned 21.9 percent of stocks in

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

Mega Monster Mega Monster () is a South Korean TV series production company and a subsidiary of Kakao Entertainment. The company was founded in 2014 as Story Plant by Kim Yang (television producer), Kim Yang and , and was a subsidiary of CJ E&M (known now a ...

'', which is a subsidiary of its then-sister company

Kakao M Kakao M (; formerly Seoul Records, YBM Seoul Records and LOEN Entertainment) was a South Korean entertainment company established by Min Yeong-bin in 1978. It is currently one of the largest co-publisher companies in South Korea. The company op ...

. In 2018, the company acquired '' Neobazar'',

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

's top webtoon platform company, for 13.8 billion won. In July 2020, KakaoPage invested in the US-based web-novel platform Radish, for 32.2 billion won. In August 2020, KakaoPage acquired 49% of multinational drama and film production company ''

Kross Pictures Kross Pictures, Inc. is a South Korean multinational film and television production company with offices in Seoul, Los Angeles, and Mumbai. The company was co-founded and is currently run by Hyunwoo Thomas Kim. Key business areas of Kross Pictu ...

'' for 5.8 billion won. In March 2021, KakaoPage Corp. and Kakao M merged into a company named

, while having its own representative system under the name "Page Company" there.

In the media

In 2017, actor

Park Bo-gum Park Bo-gum (; born June 16, 1993) is a South Korean actor. He gained recognition for his diverse range of roles in film and television, notably, a psychopathic lawyer in '' Hello Monster'' (2015), a genius Go player in ''Reply 1988'' (2015– ...

became KakaoPage's first brand ambassador and has since appeared in print, digital and visual media advertisements for the brand.

References

External links

Kakaopage(Korea)

kakaopage(Indonesia)
{{Kakao Android (operating system) software IOS software Cross-platform software Communication software Kakao Webtoon publishing companies

History

Investments

In the media

See also

References

External links