LINE Webtoon: readership is 50% female

Art from Heroine Chic by David Tischman and Audrey Mok.

Mobile comics platform LINE Webtoon is huge in Korea and getting bigger here, and they are no slouches in the diversity department. According to a release, 42% of LINE WEbstoon’s creators are female, 48% of its comics feature female leads, and 50% of its over 6 million daily readers are women. Impressive, if not surprising statistics. And they’ll discuss them more at a “Women in Digital Comics” panel to be held at SXSW on Friday, March 18^th. Participants include moderator Tom Akel, LINE Webtoon’s director of content, and 2 Broke Girls’ star Beth Behrs (Dents), digital star Michelle Phan (Helios : Femina), LINE Webtoon creators Kaitlyn Narvaza (Where Tangents Meet, Siren’s Lament) and Susanna Nousiainen (ShootAround), and one of the winners of LINE Webtoon’s recent Superhero Comics Contest, Sandra Diaz (Supersonic Girl).

The panel can be viewed live at 1:30pm ET on the SXSW channel on Twitch at twitch.tv/sxswgaming and fans can ask question prior to the panel by tweeting at #WebtoonSXSW.

“As the comics industry as a whole struggles to catch up to the increasing demand for quality content for and by women, LINE Webtoon remains ahead of the curve, consistently maintaining a 50/50 ratio of female to male readers due to our roster of incredibly talented female creators and a wide array of comic series across genres led by strong female characters,” said JunKoo Kim, Founder and Head of LINE Webtoon. “We are proud to welcome such talented women as Beth, Michelle, and Sandra to the LINE Webtoon platform with their new series, and to continue working with creators who began their careers in comics with us like Kaitlyn and Susanna.”