On March 28th, WEBTOON Canvas released an email announcing the newest monetization feature for creators on their self-publishing platform of WEBTOON known as CANVAS. This feature is the hinted at “Tipping” system now revealed to be known as “Super Likes”. This comes a little over a year after Webtoon discontinued their Creator Rewards program, which acts as an extension to the Ad Share program on Webtoon Canvas. I see some benefits to the Super Likes, but it comes at a cost to some creators on Canvas and brings up lots more questions which I hope will be addressed before or around launch of the Super Likes program. You can read Deb’s article on the announcement right here to learn more.
What is Super Likes?
Super Likes is a new Monetization feature option for series creators on WEBTOON’s self-publishing platform. Eligible series on Canvas will allow fans and readers to send a Super Like, which in turn will allow the creator to make some amount of money per Super Like. Multiple Canvas series by the creator can be enabled to use the Super Like feature if they are eligible. For a series on Canvas to be considered eligible for this program, it needs to meet three requirements: the series must have earned at least 500 or more likes, the creator must be 18 years or older, and the series must comply with the content guidelines.
The Super Likes program is expected to launch sometime within the second half of 2024. As of now, we do not have information as to exactly how much is made per Super Like and what the payout threshold will be for creators who do receive Super Likes, and if fans/readers have to pay to send a Super Like. It could also be like Ko-Fi’s donation system where you can choose either the standard fixed amount or a donation amount of your choice for the Super Like.
The AD Share program
Unlike the Super Likes program, the requirements to be eligible for the Ad Share program are more difficult to obtain. To qualify for that program, the series must meet two requirements: have 1000 subscribers and, most notably, have 40,000 Global Monthly Views. For very new creators, this goal seems very daunting. Reaching 1000 subscribers could happen through various means such as having your series given a spotlight on the front page in Canvas. But even with that, having a total of more than 40,000 readers will prove to be an even larger challenge for many creators to achieve.
To pull that off requires a combination of luck, hard work, and also the genre your series is under. If it falls into a niche such as supernatural, superhero, thriller, horror, crime/mystery, action, it will struggle to pull in those numbers. Genres such as Romance and Slice-of-Life garner more viewers as they fall under what the target demographic of readers on the platform most likely gravitate towards. Of course there are exceptions and series under the more niche genres sometimes do make the cut, but those are a small percentage compared to the majority that made it into the program.
Once in the Ad Share program, your series will have ads placed on the bottom of each episode and depending on factors such as how many viewers read the episode and how many times the ad is viewed or clicked, it will add up until the creator meets the minimum threshold of $100 in ad revenue. Once they hit that, they will get paid. The amount of time it takes to achieve this can be faster or shorter for each series depending on viewership, genre, and frequency of each episode’s upload. The series must also maintain the viewer ads and keep the global monthly views over 200,000…yikes!
The payout from the Ad Share program can be higher than the minimum $100 but that is dependant entirely on engagement. The more readers who view the ad, the better the ad share. Another factor to consider – which was brought up by various creators in the program – is that the Ad Share program only works if the readers of the series see the ads while on the Webtoon App on IOS or Android devices. You might be wondering why not also allow it for desktop? The reason is pretty straightforward: on Desktop people can use ad blockers, so to counter this Webtoon has made the program work only on the mobile app.
The Discontinued Creator Rewards Program
This leads us to the complimentary program to the Ad Revenue Share program which was terminated as of February 2023: The Creator Rewards program. Basically to enroll in this, creators needed to have at least updated their series once a month while maintaining over 40,000 global monthly page views. In addition, the more page views, the higher the tier and the higher the payout. For example, maintaining a steady 40,000 would land the creator in the Bronze tier with a reward of $100. Tiers go from Bronze to Silver to Gold, with the final tier being Platinum with 1,500,000 Global Monthly Page Views bringing in $1000 (wow!). The other feature of the program is that your series will have approved episodes locked behind a video reward ad for 14 days – when readers watch the ad, there is more revenue.
In 2022, Webtoon announced they would be discontinuing the Creator Rewards program. It was originally planned to be terminated much earlier, but due to the pandemic, the program was extended until February of 2023. This news created an uproar in the Webtoon and Webcomic community at the time with understandable criticisms towards the decision.
Yuugiarts (Children of The night): Looks like Webtoon is ending the Creators Rewards program by the end of this year. Ouch, it’s going to bite for sure. But now I really don’t have to care about pageviews there, so the comic won’t be ahead there anymore. I’ll keep it up to date on all sites.
Violettenouvel (Lady Fay): Webtoon removing the Creator Rewards Program from Canvas teach us once again that no artist should ever rely on ONE source of income, especially from a company that has the power to terminate it anytime.
PerfectSerenad3 (Lucifer’s Ace): Webtoon Canvas has officially announced that the Creator Rewards program is ending Jan 2023. This is a huge, significant blow to the Canvas community. We knew this would eventually happen, but implementing a tipping system instead is a bad idea.
Unlike the Ad Share program, the Creator Rewards program benefited creators on Canvas more since it is based on page views rather than ad views. Despite the requirements being difficult to attain, for those in the program it was worth it. When asked about the Creator Rewards program, one Canvas creator on Canvas who was in the program before it was discontinued said “It was much harder to get into, but if you had x amount of monthly page views you would get a bonus. It was increments of $100, $300, $800, and $1000. It was so good, that I quit my job to focus on doing my comic. I never hit the $1000 threshold, but I was inspired to work hard to reach that requirement.”
Other creators have expressed how this program was great and that they miss it too. Enter the Super Likes program. As replacement for the Creator Rewards program, it is an easier-to-achieve monetization program for Creators on Canvas to use if if qualifying for the ad share program is simply too difficult to reach.
It is an odd business decision though, since the Super Likes program is more of a tipping system. The revenue received from it might be inconsistent and unpredictable as well. One concern was voiced by another anonymous creator: they “feel like Super Likes can be really volatile from month to month, compared to something like Ad Revenue, which would be a lot more stable and consistent, even if the amounts are small. A lot of Webtoon users are also really young and don’t have the means to financially support their favorite creator…I think all-in-all I’m curious to see how things will play out in general. There are a lot of factors that are hard to predict.”
The Creator Rewards program was possibly cut as a means for the company to make more revenue. The timing of the program oddly lines up with their aim to go public within the U.S Stock market as early as 2025, and the fact the parent company of WEBTOON, NAVER, moved its headquarters to Los Angeles in 2020. This is only speculation, but it seems that showing more profits to Wall Street seem more appealing on paper and will give the boost they need for the IPO. Also consider with how Super Likes work, how creators are being paid by the fans instead of out of WEBTOON’s pockets, how Ad Share is money from the advertising companies, and things somewhat do start to make some sense. We will possibly learn after the IPO since there will be more transparency with the financial aspect of the company. But until then this is pure speculation.
Thoughts on Super Likes
As a creator myself on Webtoon Canvas, while the implementation of Super Likes is promising with the low requirements and ease of use, I feel it was not worth taking down the Creator Rewards program just for this. Until the program is launched, ad share is the only form of monetization on the site for series excluding external income streams such as Patreon and Ko-Fi. What would have been best is to keep the Creator Rewards program, and lower the global monthly page view requirement for the ad share program to an amount that is not as quite daunting or difficult to achieve. That way there’d be more options for creators to work towards and more ways to sustain themselves from the hobbyist to the artist who wish to make a decent living from the income streams provided, at least until WEBTOON/NAVER come up with a better program to support the creators on Canvas.
The way I see it, Canvas is one of the biggest self-publishing platforms on the internet with access to the WEBTOON app for millions to read. Even with alternatives such as Tapas.io, Manga Pusl Creators, GlobalComix, and even NamiComi, Canvas still draws in a high amount of internet traffic on mobile and desktop devices. It is partly the reason why WEBTOON is one of the juggernauts in the self-publishing/webcomic scene. It’s an easy-to-use self publishing platform read by millions of users worldwide whether you’re on it in the hopes to become a WEBTOON Original or for the freedom Canvas can provide (so long as your series doesn’t violate the content guidelines). Your series/story will be exposed to readers no matter whether the story fits within a niche or targets a demographic. So the more options that benefit the creators on the platform, the better. While Super Likes itself is promising, it will not undo or properly replace Creator Rewards for those who worked hard to make it into the program. It seems more of a fumble on WEBTOON’s part, one which I can only speculate a business perspective as to the reason that led to the decision. But only time will tell once more information comes to light trough business reports, announcements, conferences, etc.
SUPER LIKES VERDICT
So with all this information and my rambling out of the way let’s break down the pros and cons of the program that will soon launch for WEBTOON Canvas users.
PROS
- Tipping system in the form of super-likes that allow creators to get paid.
- Requirements are fairly easy to work up towards with 500 likes per series to be eligible.
- Can be applied to multiple Canvas series the creator has if eligible.
- Creators get paid by the fans who love their series.
CONS
- Unpredictable element towards making money through Super Likes
- No information yet as to how much money can be given with each Super Like
- No information if there’s a limit to how many super-likes can be given per series/account
- WEBTOON users might not always have the means to financially support their favorite creators on/through the platform.
- Creator Rewards program discontinued in favor for Super Likes
With only knowing how to enroll in the program and what Super Likes itself is, I can see it having potential as a simple bare-bones tipping system towards creators. But it might not win over other tipping systems such as Ko-Fi, as well as being an unreliable form of making money on the platform compared to the ad share program. But It is something for those who create their own series on WEBTOON Canvas as a hobby or in the hopes to build something more out of it, which is better than nothing I suppose. Though platforms such as Ko-Fi and Patreon still seem to be favorable alternatives in the scene, I might be trying the Super Likes system just to see how it pans out, though I am not expecting much from it. It feels more of a gimmick if anything.
WEBTOON announced that the Super Likes program will launch within the second half of 2024. In the meantime, Canvas, does encourages creators on the platform to promote their series and work towards reaching 500 likes prior to the official launch of the program.
In conclusion: For fans of your favorite Webtoons on Canvas who are eager to try out Super Likes once it launches, get out there and like the episodes of your favorite series on Canvas to show your support!
As for creators who are interested in trying out Super Likes, now would be a good time to promote your series on social media and other platforms. You can check how much likes your series has through the dashboard tab in your Webtoon Series on Canvas.
So what do you think about the news and information regarding the Super Likes, Ad Share, and Creator Rewards program? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
For more news on WEBTOON. You can read about the criticism from creators towards a post about the Webtoon Original Contracts here.
Follow WEBTOON Canvas on their X/Twitter for news on CANVAS as well as art the account promotes from artists within the Canvas Community.
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