LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aron Levitz has been appointed co-President of Wattpad, a leading global webnovel platform and storytelling community from WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. (“WEBTOON Entertainment”). Levitz will lead Wattpad alongside KB Nam, while remaining President of Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. With a new leadership model in place, Wattpad will embark on its next phase of growth after a multi-year strategy to improve its core product and enhance community safety. Both Levitz and Nam will report to Junkoo Kim, the founder and chief executive officer of WEBTOON Entertainment.
Levitz joined Wattpad in 2013 as Head of Business Development, playing an instrumental role developing Wattpad’s monetization strategy, advertising business, and Creator Management team. With a passion for storytelling and helping authors reach new audiences around the world, in 2017 Levitz built Wattpad Studios, Wattpad’s TV and film adaptation division. The division marked a new era for Wattpad, bringing the platform’s growing webnovel catalog to Hollywood and other international entertainment markets, while also adding a new monetization stream for authors.
In 2019, Levitz’s Wattpad Studios expanded its adaptation model into publishing with the launch of Wattpad Books. The division brought Wattpad webnovels to bookshelves in North America, and set up key international publishing partnerships in the UK, France, the Philippines, and other countries.
Following Wattpad’s acquisition by WEBTOON in 2021, Levitz was named President of Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, an integrated studio and publishing business that has introduced webcomics and webnovels to new entertainment audiences around the world.
Wattpad WEBTOON Studios has launched a string of hit series and films, bringing fan-backed content to theaters and streamers like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon’s Prime Video, Tubi, and others. The division had its first global hit with “After” in 2019. Based on Anna Todd’s Wattpad webnovel sensation, the “After” film franchise took home three Teen Choice Awards and a People’s Choice Award in 2019, and spawned four sequels. The studio also produced Netflix’s global sensation “Through My Window,” a YA film trilogy based on Ariana Godoy’s hit Wattpad webnovel. Each film in the trilogy landed on the streamer’s global Top 10, and the first film in the series remains Netflix’s sixth most-watched non-English film of all time with 61 million views. Wattpad WEBTOON Studios also produced the upcoming Tubi Original, “Sidelined: The QB and Me”, which will feature TikTok superstar Noah Beck in his debut film role.
Wattpad WEBTOON Studios is also producing films and series with some of the industry’s most important studios and hitmakers, including Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, Skybound Entertainment, The Jim Henson Company, Vertigo Entertainment, Oscar winner Diablo Cody, Marvel screenwriter Christopher Yost, and many more.
“Readers and writers around the world come to Wattpad for community, opportunity, and incredible storytelling,” said Junkoo Kim. “Over the last few years, KB Nam and our Wattpad Teams have done an excellent job improving Wattpad’s core product and enhancing community safety. As we enter the next growth phase for Wattpad, Aron brings deep knowledge of Wattpad’s creators and community, and the entrepreneurial experience building Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. Together, KB and Aron are the perfect leaders to oversee Wattpad’s next chapter."
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate in my career to support our author community in a variety of roles, from building our early monetization programs through helping them reach new audiences on screens and bookshelves all over the world,” said Levitz. “After seven years building our entertainment and publishing business, I’m thrilled to be able to take on a new role as co-President of Wattpad, supporting our authors on and off our platforms, and growing the global community that has made Wattpad such a special place online.”
Prior to Wattpad, Levitz held roles at Xtreme Labs, and Blackberry, where he was Director of Entertainment and Global Content Acquisition. Levitz received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
About WEBTOON Entertainment Inc.
WEBTOON Entertainment is a leading global entertainment company and home to some of the world's largest storytelling platforms. As the global leader and pioneer of the mobile webcomic format, WEBTOON Entertainment has transformed comics and visual storytelling for fans and creators.
With its CANVAS UGC platform empowering anyone to become a creator, and a growing roster of superstar WEBTOON Originals creators and series, WEBTOON Entertainment’s passionate fandoms are the new face of pop culture. WEBTOON Entertainment’s adaptations are available on Netflix, Prime Video, Crunchyroll, and other screens around the world, and WEBTOON Entertainment’s content partners include Discord, HYBE, and DC Comics, among many others.
With approximately 170 million monthly active users, WEBTOON Entertainment’s IP & Creator Ecosystem of aligned companies include WEBTOON, Wattpad--the world’s leading webnovel platform--Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, Studio N, Studio LICO, LINE Manga, and eBookJapan, among others.
