The New Year has arrived here on K-Comics beat, and we welcome 2026 with some updates and news. This time about a previous article we have covered on the changes coming to WEBTOON’s various creator programs from Canvas, Conventions, Digital Open Houses, and Residency Programs.
To my surprise we already got more details regarding the expansion of WEBTOON’s Creator Program in specific. At the tail end of 2025, WEBTOON announced they would expand the Creator Program with the goal of creator empowerment especially for its CANVAS creators on the platform.
As a refresher, these changes intend to include:
- New and improved monetization for CANVAS Creators to earn money from their work.
- A new dashboard that will make it easier for Creators to understand their series performance.
- A redesigned Creator Resource Hub.
As of January 5th, 2026, WEBTOON has since posted a new Notice detailing their focus on the first bulletpoint listed above: The new and improved monetization for CANVAS creators. So let’s get into it.
The latest updates on these monetization features focus on:
- Helping Creators get paid more frequently
- Lowering payout restrictions
- Making it easier to access the full balance Creators make
- Expanding revenue opportunities through Reward Ads
The biggest and most noticeable change is lowering payout restrictions. Before, many creators who are enrolled in these payment programs will only get a payout once their total income from ads or super-likes surpasses a $100 USD increment. Instead that threshold has now been lowered to $25 USD! Now this doesn’t mean that once you hit $25 you will just get $25, if you happen to have surpassed that amount before the payment cycle, you will earn the full amount. One example in the notice is, let’s say, you made $30 by the end of January. You won’t get paid $25 with the remaining $5 being held over until the following month. No, you will get the full $30 as WEBTOON covers all processing fees for the payment methods. Now as to the cut that will be taken out when the payment is transferred from PayPal and Patreon to say your banking account as one example, then, expect a small fee taken out there.
The last batch of changes with this update include allowing Creators who are enrolled in the Ad Revenue Sharing Program to now lock up to six episodes behind an ad, instead of the previous version which allowed only three episodes. By increasing the number of episodes that can be locked behind an ad, WEBTOON intends for the Creators to generate more revenue and monetize more new episodes.
The end of the notice hints that there might actually be even MORE Reward Ads updates later on in 2026. So it’s best to stay tuned and see what else will be coming out later this year.
Overall, I am a fan of these updates and changes to the monetization features. My biggest praise comes to lowering the threshold from $100 to $25. While it was possible to hit that $100 payout threshold regardless of which program you might be in, there has always been an air of uncertainty as to when. This is when you consider certain variables that might affect each and every Creator in either or both programs. Each series will have a different following, some more dedicated than others, then you also have to factor in the traffic based on the genre or the story that specific series is in. Then also factor in the upload schedule if it’s daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly uploads. All-in-all, those factors combined with just the unpredictability of life can determine how lucky or unlucky you will be to reach that $100 threshold by the payout cycle. By lowering it to $25, it helps out so much more as it allows more Creators that chance to get the payout a bit faster in a more forgiving manner. That and with those who are lucky enough to be in the Ad Share program being able to lock down up to six episodes behind ads, it will increase the chances of hitting the new threshold much more faster.
This is a step in the right direction. I am all for more support from WEBTOON towards its Canvas Creators, being one myself and having plenty of friends who self publish on the platform, as well as being part of the larger Canvas community. It’s an overall good start this year and I do look forward to what other additions and changes will be coming to the Ad Reward program this year, as well as the other changes, improvements, and additions that have been briefly touched upon last year.
The updates have already begun rolling out as of writing, with the updates and changes for the Ad rewards program taking effect as of January 13th, 2026.
What do you think on these news? Are you all for it? Any ideas you suggest WEBTOON should do to improve the quality of life for its CANVAS Creators? Let us know down in the comments.
Source: Webtoon
