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Architect of a Korean Streaming Invasion

Webtoon’s All of Us Are Dead is the fourth most watched international TV series of all time on Netflix.
Webtoon’s All of Us Are Dead is the fourth most watched international TV series of all time on Netflix. Credit: Netflix
Julia Alexander
May 30, 2023

It’s no secret that Netflix, the most global of the American streaming brands, is best positioned to ride out a prolonged writers’ strike. Over the past few years, the company has demonstrated the ability to turn its foreign series into U.S. hits. South Korean shows, in particular, have proven to be popular with American audiences—Squid Game needs no introduction. But even series like Attorney General Woo and All Of Us Are Dead have resonated in the U.S., while also exceeding expectations at home, which is Netflix’s barometer of success for international programs. If the WGA and the studios can’t resolve their differences in the next few months, expect to see more dubbed shows cropping up on the Netflix homepage.

It’s all upside for JunKoo Kim, the founder and C.E.O. of Webtoon, an online comics website that launched in 2004. During the past half decade, Webtoon has become a critical discovery platform for streaming services like Netflix. Series like All of Us Are Dead, the fourth most watched international TV series of all time on Netflix; Hellbound, which stayed in the Top 10 for four weeks; and the recent chart-topper Black Knight, have all come from Webtoon. In 2021, Kim and Webtoon also acquired Wattpad, an online publishing platform that has produced titles adapted into beloved Gen Z films, including Voltage Pictures’ After and Netflix’s The Kissing Booth. Since authors and artists are uploading to Webtoon first, developing readership numbers in the hundreds of thousands and millions, Webtoon has an eye on what fans will likely want in an adaptation—giving Webtoon first priority, and partners like Netflix a project with a built-in audience at a time when established I.P. is limited and getting far more expensive.