North American Webcomic Platform Tapas Shutting Down
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BigGo Finances has reported that the webcomic hosting site Tapas is shuttering:
“South Korea’s Kakao Entertainment is terminating service for Tapas, the North American webtoon platform it acquired for approximately ₩1.1 trillion (approximately $809.6 million). The ambitious 2021 investment, intended as a beachhead for the North American market, is effectively being written off just five years later.”
Ash Parrish at Kotaku carries the news with reactions from comic creators:
“On social media, readers and creators alike are distressed at the news, partly because it hasn’t been officially communicated by Tapas itself. Tapas shutting down will leave many comics and writers without a place to host their work and without a potential source of revenue. Like other comic platforms, Tapas makes its money from ads and selling currency used to unlock premium stories. Creators, in turn, get a cut of that ad revenue and any currency spent on their stories.”
Heidi MacDonald at The Beat, which had partnered briefly with parent company Kakao, also reports:
“Over the years Kakao invested heavily in various business models for Tapas, as one point hiring an array of US editors including Jamie S. Rich, to create original content, but that initiative lasted less than a year.
“While the webtoon format is popular, growth has stalled in the US due to a variety of factors, including repetitive content, and rumors of Tapas shutting down had been circulating for a while.”
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