Why Naver and Netflix are getting closer — and what it means for webtoons

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Why Naver and Netflix are getting closer — and what it means for webtoons

Published: 02 Jun. 2025, 11:20 Updated: 02 Jun. 2025, 20:44

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon speaks with reporters after the company's annual general meeting at Naver's offices in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on March 26. [YONHAP]

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon will travel to California this week to meet Netflix executives and explore potential collaboration in North America.

Choi’s visit, which comes at Netflix’s invitation, will take place ahead of an investment networking event in Silicon Valley on Thursday, according to information exclusively obtained by the JoongAng Ilbo. This marks her first in-person meeting with Netflix’s top leadership. Kim Jun-koo, CEO of Webtoon Entertainment, will join Choi for the meeting.

What's the meeting for?

Netflix and Naver have strengthened ties over the past few years by adapting several hit Naver Webtoons into Netflix series, including "All of Us Are Dead" (2009-11), "Sweet Home" (2017-20) and "The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call" (2019-22).

In November of last year, the two companies launched a bundled membership offering that allows users to subscribe to both Naver’s premium service and Netflix’s ad-supported plan for just the price of the Naver membership at 4,900 won ($4) per month. The Netflix plan on its own originally costs 7,000 won monthly.

The joint package represented a rare move for Netflix, which has typically avoided membership partnerships with other platforms.

A “Naver-Netflix Meetup” session was held on April 28 at Naver Square Jongno in central Seoul to reflect on the results and significance of the two companies’ six-month collaboration. [NAVER, NETFLIX]

The collaboration has delivered measurable gains. Netflix’s monthly active users in Korea increased from around 10 million in June 2024 to 14 million following the launch of the bundle. Naver also saw its daily new membership sign-ups jump by 50 percent.

“Naver is a partner with broad user accessibility, across age, region and gender,” said Choi Yoon-jung, Netflix’s director of business development, at a joint event in April.

“After launching the partnership, we saw a significant increase in male users and those aged 35 to 49 coming in through the Naver membership channel.”

Inside Naver, many credit CEO Choi for pushing the partnership from the early stages. Observers believe the success of the membership deal helped prompt the invitation from Netflix.

How will they collaborate?

Industry analysts are closely watching Webtoon Entertainment CEO Kim’s participation in the upcoming meeting. His presence suggests the companies may discuss new ways to bring webtoon content directly to Netflix’s platform — potentially through a feature in the Netflix mobile app.

Netflix has already begun offering games in addition to video content through its mobile interface, and the addition of webtoons could be the logical next step.

“This partnership is just the beginning,” said Jung Han-na, head of Naver’s membership program, during the April meetup. “It opens the door to many more collaborative possibilities between our services.”

A Naver spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the upcoming meeting.

Webtoon Entertainment, the parent company of Naver Webtoon, was listed on the Nasdaq on June 27, 2024. Pictured is an ad in New York’s Times Square featuring the Japanese webtoon series ″Senpai Is an Otokonoko″ (2023-25), one of the company’s flagship titles. [NAVER WEBTOON]

What's the big deal?

Analysts see Naver’s engagement with Netflix as part of a broader strategy to scale its domestic success globally. While competitors like Coupang have focused on vertically integrating e-commerce with their own streaming and food delivery platforms, Naver is pursuing growth by aligning with global content and tech players.

For Netflix, partnering with a company that owns a large portfolio of original intellectual property could help it stabilize subscriber numbers, which tend to fluctuate based on the timing of major releases.

“Netflix gained local subscribers through Naver,” said one industry insider. “Now Naver is looking to use Netflix as a launchpad to grow its global business.”

What's next?

Naver is expected to actively expand its North American business beyond content as it deepens its collaboration with Netflix.

After the meeting with Netflix, Choi will join Naver founder and board chairman Lee Hae-jin at an investor networking event in Silicon Valley on Thursday. They are expected to discuss the launch of Naver Ventures, a new U.S.-based investment arm.

Naver has also restructured its business to focus more heavily on North America, creating a new Strategic Investment division to drive consumer-to-consumer business through its U.S. subsidiary Poshmark and invest in early-stage startups.

Updated, June 2, 2025: An earlier version of this article stated that Naver and Netflix were discussing a proposal to integrate Naver Webtoon content directly into the Netflix mobile app. The companies have not confirmed such plans. The article has been revised to remove that characterization.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KANG KWANG-WOO, EO HWAN-HEE [[email protected]]