Lezhin Entertainment recently announced that Lezhin Comics, its global webtoon platform, ranked top in best grossing applications on U.S. Google Play in the first quarter of this year, outpacing Marvel and DC Comics.
Based on in-app purchases made in the first quarter, Lezhin Comics topped the list of best grossing applications in the comics chart. Until August last year, Lezhin was third on the list after Marvel and DC, but came out on top in October, beating Marvel for the first time. The rankings remained the same from January to March, with Lezhin on the top, Marvel and DC following behind.
Lezhin Entertainment emphasized that Lezhin Comics is the first to rank top in the list of best grossing applications on Google Play’s comics category in the U.S. market. Lezhin Comics advanced into the Japanese and U.S. market in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Including some 800 serial webtoons, about 6,500 comics are currently being serviced. Among those, about 160 Korean webtoons have been translated and are currently available. Also, some 150 webtoons were localized into Japanese and about thirty Japanese webtoons are available in the market.
Lezhin Comics recorded a sales of of 6.6 billion KRW last year owing to the success of its webtoons in the U.S. market, a year on year growth of 755%. Hui-Sung Han, the CEO of Lezhin Entertainment said that “We will continue exploring good contents and pioneering overseas markets to create future opportunities for the Korean webtoon industry through export and job creation.”
