WEBTOON Launches New Features to Improve Webcomic Discovery, Including AI Recommendations and Animated Previews

WEBTOON Entertainment has announced a set of product updates designed to improve how users discover and engage with webcomic content on its platforms. The new features, which will be available starting May 8, 2025, aim to provide a more personalized experience and offer additional ways for readers to access and explore series.

According to the company, internal testing has shown a 9.3% increase in the number of episodes read among users who had access to the new features, showing a significant boost in engagement.

The key updates include:

• AI-Powered Personalized Recommendations
  A new recommendation engine that draws on onboarding inputs, user reading history, and selected genres to generate tailored suggestions on the Home tab.
• “New & Hot” Tab with Animated Previews
  A newly introduced section that features trending and recently released series, presented with short animated, trailer-style previews to give users a visual introduction to the content.
• Enhanced Keyword-Based Search
  An improved search function allowing readers to find series based on themes and keywords, rather than relying solely on exact title matches, thereby broadening discovery across the platform’s library.
• Full-Series Unlock Option
  A new feature enabling users to unlock all episodes of select completed series, giving readers more control over how they consume content and offering creators new monetization opportunities.

These are coming after two manga titles were announced to be arriving to the platform in full color and reformated to the vertical scrolling format. They are Fullmetal Alchemist and From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman. Both are already available.

Yongsoo Kim, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global WEBTOON, commented on the new updates, stating:

“As the category creator who built the massively popular webcomic format, innovation is core to what we do. WEBTOON has already transformed how the world reads comics, and today we’re revolutionizing how fans find their next favorite story. When faced with a vast catalogue of content from around the globe, it can be hard to know what to read next. We want our audience to spend their time enjoying a story, not looking for one. We’re making the WEBTOON experience more like browsing the world’s most immersive streaming and entertainment platforms, delivering personalized recommendations that take your tastes and reading history into account.”

The new updates will apply on WEBTOON’s global platforms, including its English-language service, from May 8.

Source: Press Release
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