Companies look to tap growing market for virtual content

Webtoons and songs featuring virtual singers are gaining thousands of views across various platforms. Companies are accordingly looking to enter the market by releasing their own virtual characters. Two weeks ago, a strange name begin to appear on...

Isegye Idol is a six-member virtual girl group who debuted in 2021, organized by YouTuber and Twitch streamer Oh Young-taek. [WAK ENTERTAINMENT]

Webtoons and songs featuring virtual singers are gaining thousands of views across various platforms. Companies are accordingly looking to enter the market by releasing their own virtual characters.

Two weeks ago, a strange name begin to appear on Kakao Webtoon, Kakao emoticon shops and music streaming service Melon.“Isegye Idol,” or “Isedol” for short, is a six-member virtual girl group that debuted in 2021, directed and owned by YouTuber and Twitch streamer Oh Young-taek. He is better known by his stage name “Woowakgood.”

The group features as the protagonist of Kakao Webtoon “Magical Girl Isegye Idol,” published on Kakao Webtoon and KakaoPage from June 21. Related merchandise, such as emojis and the soundtrack, also topped the charts on respective platforms such as Kakao and Melon, fueled by the girl group’s avid fans.

“’Magical Girl Isegye Idol’ topped the most-viewed charts of Kakao Webtoon and KakaoPage over the weekend,” according to Kakao Entertainment on Tuesday.

Livestream on Twitch, where the girl group appears to promote the webtoon, was seen by 50,000 viewers, and over 150,000 fans rushed to pre-reserve the webtoon to see it before its official release.

The webtoon soundtrack “Lockdown” was streamed over 1 million times in the 24 hours since its release on June 22 and became the first virtual artist to make it to the top charts in Melon. The song ranked No. 3 on Melon’s Hot 100. The group’s emoticon set, released on Kakao, topped the charts for the next four days since its release.

Kakao Entertainment released a webtoon and related soundtrack featuring Isegye Idol in June 21. [KAKAO ENTERTAINMENT]

“Kakao Entertainment first reached out to Wowakgood, Isedol, and the Waktaverse they created,” Kakao Entertainment’s spokesperson said. Waktaverse is the virtual universe that the girl group is active in.

“We will continue to carry out various projects related to the Isedol webtoon, such as the additional release of merchandise including a soundtrack or a new emoticon set for the fandom who love this IP.”

Even idols that appear in a web novel have considerable fandom. Seven-member boy band TeSTAR are the protagonists of the KakaoPage web novel “Debut or Die,” which has racked up over 420 million views since it began publishing on January 2021.

Over 15,000 fans visited a pop-up store for KakaoPage web novel "Debut or Die," opened on The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, western Seoul from May 11 to 24. [TWITTER CAPTURE]

After the novel wrapped up, a pop-up store opened on The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, western Seoul from May 11 to 24 which was visited by 15,000 fans. There was an “open run,” a Korean term referring to people lining up for hours or even overnight to get their hands on limited products, and a frequent phenomenon at the luxury brands of department stores, on the store's opening as 1,000 fans lined up outside. Each fan spent 500,000 won on average to buy merchandise at the store, according to Kakao.

The content industry is pondering ways to secure this IP fandom. Naver Webtoon will open a pop-up store for its popular works such as “Maru is a Puppy” and “Meow Man” at Coex in southern Seoul from Thursday to July 12. Webtoon-related merchandise, usually sold online, is taking its sales offline. Naver Webtoon said it plans to run at least three more pop-up stores in the latter half of this year to expand both the IP business portfolio and fandom.

Sales of Naver Webtoon’s online merchandise store “Webtoon Friends” skyrocketed 700 percent on year, according to Naver.

Naver Webtoon is diversifying its business portfolio to videos, books, soundtracks, crowdfunding, games and emoticons. The number of works that profited from its IP on Naver skyrocketed to 415 last year from 2013’s eight.

“Revenue-related IP business will grow bigger in the future,” Naver Webtoon’s CEO Kim Jun-koo said at a press event in April.

Kim said the company aims to have 2,000 works, each creating 100 million won by 2028, and annually release 500 works which create average revenue of 5 million won related to their IPs.

“Virtual characters are more advantageous than humans in some ways because infinite content can be created from one character which does not carry the risks of damaging their reputation or becoming involved in legal problems,” an insider from a production company said. “With the right technology, virtual characters will perform better than humans.”

Webtoon production company Kidari Studio, which owns webtoon platforms such as Bom Toon and Lezhin Comics, is planning to create 3-dimensional virtual characters from its webtoon works.

The company formed a strategic partnership with content production company Maro Studio in February to invest in the latter, although the price was not disclosed.

The two companies released a virtual group of YouTubers dubbed “V&U” last year.

“Consumers pay more attention to the content quality and storytelling now, compared to the past when they focused on the physical aspects of their human artists or actors,” said Professor Kim Sang-gyun of Kyung Hee University’s Graduate School of Business Administration. “We can say that the cultural maturity of consumers who enjoy K-content has grown.”

BY PARK KUN [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]