From Panels to Platforms: How Webtoon Pioneers Transmedia Storytelling in Startups
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines how Webtoon, a leading digital comics platform, functions as both a pioneering transmedia storytelling ecosystem and a low-risk incubator for intellectual properties (IP). Drawing on the concepts of minimum viable dtory (MVS) and narrative venture capital (NVC)—introduced here as original analytical frameworks—the study explores how Webtoon enables creators to test narrative prototypes, gather audience feedback, and scale into larger media franchises, mirroring the iterative development cycle of startups. The essay also compares Webtoon’s model to Netflix and Spotify, analyzing similarities in how these platforms disrupted their respective industries by reshaping distribution models and consumer habits through storytelling as a core business driver. The findings argue that Webtoon’s approach offers a scalable and repeatable model for startups in creative industries, where story becomes the product and platforms act as accelerators. This synthesis bridges media studies, entrepreneurship theory, and platform economics, offering both academic and practical implications for scholars, creators, and innovation strategists. The study concludes with reflections on the evolving nature of storytelling in platform capitalism and the strategic role of MVS in the attention economy.
DOI: 10.3998/gs.8022
Author: Fernando García-Cruz
Institution: Tecnológico de Monterrey
Language: English
Subfield: Museology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7083683533
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