Kakao Entertainment plans to merge KakaoPage and KakaoWebtoon and reorganise its story business into a single platform system centred on KakaoPage.

Kakao Entertainment said on Monday it will provide users of both services with details on the integration method and schedule on Sept. 29 and aims to complete the platform merger within the year.

The overhaul focuses on bringing together content, user data and operational capabilities that were split between KakaoPage and KakaoWebtoon. The integrated platform will combine service data such as about 16,000 original story intellectual property rights, a user base and subscription patterns.

Kakao Entertainment will also concentrate its writer and partner network, IP planning and production capabilities, and experience in expanding into secondary businesses such as adapting web novels into webtoons and into video, performances and games. It plans to reorganise technology related to content platforms, AI, and marketing and operational capabilities around KakaoPage.

After the platform integration, it will work to enhance personalisation features using data and AI. Kakao Entertainment plans to improve recommendation and discovery functions based on users' content consumption patterns and connect webtoon and web novel user experiences within a single service.

The roles handled by the two platforms will also be combined during the integration process. KakaoPage has been operated as a comprehensive content platform offering web novels, webtoons, comics and books, while KakaoWebtoon has expanded services around a writer network carried over from Daum Webtoon and original webtoon production capabilities.

Kakao Entertainment has previously broadened points of contact between the two platforms' content by simultaneously serialising major KakaoWebtoon titles on KakaoPage. Through this integration, it aims to operate services and resources that were run separately within one system.

The reorganisation of the story business expands the scope from the recent integration of IP production subsidiaries to include platforms. Kakao Entertainment plans to link story IP secured in South Korea with Kakao Piccoma's global platforms and use it for overseas distribution and business expansion.

A Kakao Entertainment official said, "This integration is part of changes to use core capabilities efficiently through selection and concentration," and added, "We will accelerate global growth in earnest by strengthening the fundamentals across the business."