Naver Webtoon said on Tuesday that paid spending on major titles rose by an average 23 percent through Toon Radar, its system to block illegal distribution.

Naver Webtoon released a report on Toon Radar results for the first quarter of 2026. The report said the number of works leaked to illegal sites within 24 hours after the latest paid episodes were released on its Korean-language service fell 90 percent by the end of the first quarter versus the start of the year.

Based on the top 100 works with fast piracy and the top 50 most popular works, the time at which the latest episodes were leaked to illegal sites was delayed by more than 2 episodes compared with the start of the year. The gap between the latest episodes available on official platforms and those shown on illegal sites widened, meaning people must wait at least 2 more weeks to see the newest content.

Naver Webtoon compared paid spending in weeks when new paid episodes of 10 major domestic works with strong piracy-delay effects in the first quarter were illegally copied within 24 hours with weeks when they were not. The total amount paid rose by an average 23 percent. Some works posted a 60 percent increase.

Naver Webtoon introduced a pilot for "simultaneous serialization" to protect copyright and the creative ecosystem. By eliminating the time gap between releases on its Korean and global services, paid spending on works rose by up to 200 percent compared with before a hiatus.

Naver Webtoon has a dedicated team for Toon Radar research and development and is responding to illegal webtoon distribution by linking with its dedicated anti-illegal-webtoon organisation, Anti Piracy.