Kakao's Piccoma rules the manga app world

Logo of Kakao. [KAKAO]

Piccoma, Kakao Japan’s manga subscription service, ranked first among all comic and novel apps in the world in terms of September sales, the company announced Monday.

According to Kakao Japan, it posted the highest monthly sales figure in September among all comic and novel apps in Apple’s App Store and Google Play. When it comes to non-game app category, it ranked No. 7. The result is based on the monthly report conducted by App Annie, a California-based app analyzer.

The achievement came only four years after the company entered the Japanese market, according to Kakao Japan. Japan is the largest comic market in the world, valued at about 5.7 trillion won ($5.12 billion), more than four times the size of those in the United States and China.

Piccoma’s transactions totaled at 130 billion won in the third quarter of the year, a 247 percent hike compared to the same period a year earlier. So far this year, it generated about 270 billion won, a 168 percent jump compared to same period last year.

Piccoma first ranked No. 1 in July in the Japanese non-game app category by sales and has maintained the crown ever since.

Kakao Japan says the success of Piccoma is largely led by its webtoon service.

The webtoon transactions of Piccoma in the third quarter totaled 58 billion won, a 70.1 percent increase compared to the previous quarter. Comparing to the same period last year, it is a 680 percent spike. This year’s total transactions are expected to exceed 150 billion won, according to the company.

Kim Jae-yong, CEO of Kakao Japan, cited the trend of consuming media for a short term as the main factor driving the success of Piccoma.

"The recent surge is largely led by [our marketing strategy that] targets customers who enjoy consuming media for a short term," Kim said in Monday's statement. “Starting with Japan, which has the largest comic market in the world, we will try harder to become a leading comic platform in the global market,” said Kim.

BY CHEA SARAH [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]