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Naver Webtoon's AI-Based Character Chat Surpasses 100 Million Messages

NAVER WEBTOON's AI-powered service ‘Character Chat’ has exceeded 100 million messages exchanged as of one year after its launch. The feature allows users to engage in real-time conversations with popular WEBTOON characters and has proven especially popular among teens and young adults.

Launched in June 2024 as an experimental feature within the NAVER WEBTOON app, Character Chat uses advanced natural language processing to replicate each character's personality, tone, and in-universe knowledge.

Initially launched with four characters, the service now features 12, with ongoing updates that include roleplay modes, relationship-based responses, and gamified elements. As of June 2025, Character Chat has drawn approximately 3.5 million users.

The monetization model allows users to send a limited number of free messages before transitioning to paid options. In May 2025, paid messages made up 41% of all interactions, with average user spending doubling since launch.

Character Chat has proven most popular among younger demographics, with 76% of users in their teens and 20s. Teenagers alone accounted for 47.6% of the user base.

"Our goal is for Character Chat to lead the next wave of digital products on the WEBTOON platform," said Hyo-jung Kim, Chief Product Officer at NAVER WEBTOON. "We're looking to enhance the experience by incorporating voice and visual AI technologies and are currently exploring global expansion."

Currently, Character Chat is not available in the United States.

NAVER WEBTOON has been actively integrating AI with its IP portfolio. The service also earlier this month launched Tarotoon, a new web-based service that lets users receive AI-generated fortune readings from popular WEBTOON characters. The service also features AI Caricature, which transforms user photos into webtoon-style illustrations.

Source: Naver WEBTOON's press release