343. WEBTOON Is Bigger Than Monopoly Go: Inside a New Game Marketing Channel

WEBTOON serves as a high-impact, untapped marketing channel for gaming brands seeking to reach a mobile-savvy, Gen Z audience. With 160 million monthly active users, the platform offers a unique "brandformance" opportunity where gaming IPs integrate into vertical-scrolling webcomics through authentic collaborations like branded epilogues. Square Enix successfully leveraged this by aligning game themes with popular webcomic narratives, resulting in significant lifts in engagement and visibility. Beyond awareness, the platform provides lower-funnel performance tools such as the "Coin Hunter" offer wall, which incentivizes user actions like Steam wishlisting. Because 70% of the platform’s readers are gamers, these integrations feel organic rather than disruptive, allowing brands to tap into existing fandoms while utilizing the platform’s creative ecosystem to drive measurable growth across mobile, PC, and console titles.