Overseas audiences fall for ‘Marry My Husband’ webtoon

Webtoon poster for ″Marry My Husband″ [NAVER WEBTOON]

The original webtoon of the adapted tvN drama series “Marry My Husband” is mounting traction overseas, according to Naver Webtoon on Tuesday.

“Marry My Husband,” featuring actors Park Min-young, Na In-woo, Lee Yi-kyung and Song Ha-yoon in lead roles, revolves around a woman who was murdered after witnessing her husband’s affair with her best friend but is given a second chance to relive her life as she travels back 10 years.

It was initially serialized as a web novel in 2020 and adapted into a webtoon the following year. The webtoon gained massive popularity and accumulated 810 million views.

Naver Webtoon said that its webtoon works are again gaining worldwide attention as the drama series becomes popular.

The TV series is available for streaming on local platform Tving as well as on Amazon Prime Video.

Total transaction volume for the webtoon jumped 17.1 times for the period between Jan. 1 to 10 compared to 10 days before the drama series began airing. The number of views also increased 8.1 times during the same period.

Thailand experienced the highest growth in both views and transaction volume, respectively increasing by 55.4 times and 36.2 times during the same period.

The webtoon is currently available in nine languages worldwide, including English, Chinese, Thai, Spanish and German.

More than 30 streaming projects adapted from works published on Naver Webtoon are scheduled to be released this year, including Netflix series “The 8 Show” and “A Killer Paradox.”

“Adapted works on screen are becoming more diverse as Naver Webtoon publishes a variety of popular works in the global market,” said a Naver Webtoon spokesperson. “As works serialized on global platforms are adapted into visual content, they form a mutually beneficial cycle and Naver Webtoon can now reach a broader audience worldwide.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]