Naver, Webtoon CEOs head to Silicon Valley to meet Netflix executives
Top executives from Korea's Naver and its webtoon subsidiary are set to meet with Netflix leadership this week in Silicon Valley, signaling a potential deepening of strategic collaboration between the digital content giants.
According to Naver on Monday, the IT giant's CEO Choi Soo-yeon and Webtoon Entertainment CEO Kim Jun-koo are slated to visit Netflix headquarters on Thursday at the invitation of the US streaming platform.
It will mark the first meeting between Choi and Netflix executives. While details have not been disclosed, the invitation-only nature of the meeting has sparked speculation about new collaborative opportunities at both the content and platform levels.
The two companies have been strengthening ties since last year. In November, Naver integrated a Netflix subscription benefit into its paid membership program.
Under the deal, users paying 4,900 won ($3.55) per month for a Naver Membership were granted access to Netflix's ad-supported plan, which costs 7,000 won -- a move widely seen as a bold and innovative bundling strategy.
The so-called Naver-Netflix partnership has shown tangible results. Netflix's monthly active users across the country surged from 10 million in June 2023 to over 14 million after the Naver partnership was launched. Naver saw a 1.5-fold increase in average daily new signups to its membership service.
On the content side, Naver Webtoon has emerged as a key intellectual property supplier to Netflix. Original webtoon-based series such as 'All of Us Are Dead,' 'Sweet Home' and 'Trauma Center: Golden Hour' have topped the global charts, cementing the webtoon platform's value on streaming platforms.
Despite market rumors, both sides denied that the upcoming talks would explore the integration of Naver Webtoon content directly into the Netflix mobile app. 'It's a meeting arranged purely within the context of a partnership,' a Naver official said.
'The CEOs are indeed scheduled to meet with Netflix executives at their invitation, but there are no predetermined agendas or confirmed outcomes,' the official added.
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