Toronto-based Wattpad is formally part of South Korean on the internet giant Naver as of today, with all the official close of the $600 million cash and default acquisition deal. Under the terms of the acquisition, Wattpad will continue to be headquartered in, and operate based in Canada, with co-founder and in addition Allen Lau remaining PRESIDENT of the social storytelling corporation} and reporting to the PRESIDENT of Naver’s Webtoon, Jun Koo Kim.
I spoke to Lau about what will change, and what will notr, now that Wattpad is two fifths of Naver and Webtoon. As mentioned, Wattpad will remain headquartered near Toronto — and in idea, the company will be growing it can be headcount in Canada under this new owners with popular new hiring.
“For Wattpad itself, this past year was one of our speedy and easy growing years in terms of in terms of revenue or company size, ” Lau said. “This year will undoubtedly be even faster; we’re wanting to hire over 100 americans, primarily in Toronto and in addition Halifax. So in terms of the a considerable jobs, and the number of possibilities, this puts us forward another level. ”
But the company is remaining in Canada and expanding its close by talent pool, while maintaining it has focus on delivering socially collaborative fiction, Lau says make fish an union with Naver but Webtoon is about more than just continually increasing the rate at which it can enhance. The two companies share outstanding “synergies, ” he says, that will help each better capitalize their respective opportunities.
“Naver is one of the world’s most robust internet companies, ” Lau told me. “But the number one trigger that this merger is happening could be because of Webtoon. Webtoon is the chief digital publisher in the world, identified over 76 million 31 day users. Combined with our 80 million, that adds up to 166 total monthly users — the reach is substantial. We are now by far the leader in this space, in the storytelling space, in both comics and therefore fiction: By far the largest one in the world. ”
The other way in which the two expert services complement each other is around IP. Wattpad has demonstrated their particular ability to take its user-generated fiction, and turn that towards successful IP upon which pioneering series and movies are headquartered. The company has both a fabulous Books and a Studios device division, and has generated reaches like Netflix’s The Acquiring Booth out of the work of your respective authors on its software. Increasingly, competing streaming web sites are looking around for new villas or apartments that will resonate with extra youthful audiences, in order to win and subscriptions.
“Wattpad is the IP factory for user built content, ” Lau exclaimed. “And Webtoons also have a massive amount of amazing IP that are proven to build audience, along with the data and analytics and after that insight around those. Therefore , the combined library of the best IPs that are blockbusters fundamentally double overnight [with the merger]. And not just the size, but the abilties. Because before the acquisition, we our online fiction, you’ll find both publishing business, and we have TV shows and movies, furthermore; but with the combination, but we also have comics, we both also have animation and doubtless other capabilities, as well. ”
The key within order to Wattpad’s success with initiating IP in partnership with the game designers on its platform is not just that its’ user-generated as well crowd-friendly; Wattpad also has exceptional insight into the data behind the thing that is working about successful IP with its fans and market. The company’s analytics framework can then provide collaborators present in TV and movies with fantastic, data-backed perspective into what on earth should strike a chord with fans when converted into a new medium, and exactly what might not be so important to include in those adaptation. This is what provides Wattpad with a unique edge in cases where going head-to-head with history franchises including those brought on by Disney and other megawatt famous brands.
“No sole do we have the fan fondation — it’s data derived, ” Lau said. “When we adapt from the fictional works on our platform to a dvd, we can tell the screenwriter, ‘Keep chapter one, section five and chapter 7, but in seven only the for a start two paragraphs, ’ by means that’s what the 200, 1000 comments are telling involving. That’s what our piece of equipment learning story DNA tech can tell you this is the knowledge; where are they excited? Is something unprecedented. ”
With Naver then Webtoon, Wattpad gains the normal process to leverage its insight-gathering IP generation in a truly cross-media context, spanning basically every means a fan might willingly engage with a property. For home owners Disney competitors, that’s likely to be an in-demand value don.
