In this TechNode Global Q&A with Chon Dal Yong (Chief Exercutive Officer) and Maulana Rizki (Global Sales & Marketing Manager) of IdeaConcert, we learn how the platform is enabling better content lifecycle and engagement with the use of artificial intelligence.
“It won’t be long from now how people view or enjoy image content like webtoons/comics will change. this is in line with the continued development of technology and 5G in various countries,” they tell TechNode Global. “By collaborating with Ideaconcert, companies that have been or will become our partners have secured a place in this market competition.”
A winner at the Startup Awards – Internet Solutions category at the ORIGIN Innovation Awards 2021, IdeaConcert is a creative contents lab that provides a platform for users to create and consume webtoons and comics. Through a combination of content and cultural technology, it aims to foster the feeling of joyfulness in its users. Its concept of “joyful imagination” aims to provide creators with the ability to produce fun and unique content for consumers.
IdeaConcert developed the authoring tool “Toonivie” to easily turn webtoons into videos. With just 40 hours of training, anyone can easily make videos. It is possible to make videos 3 times faster than the existing methods of making webtoons/comics into videos. IdeaConcert’s 15 artists can create up to 120 webtoon movies every month (contents made from webtoons). In total, it has produced at least 1,200 episodes.
What are the trends driving innovation in the Asia Pacific region today, particularly relevant to solutions being provided for businesses or end-users?
The life cycle is one of the main problems for image content such as comics or webtoons. There are many cases where the short life cycle of the image content makes it difficult for IP holders to develop their profit model. Ideaconcert develops technology that can make image content such as digital comics (webtoons), general comics, and children’s books into video content easily.
We continue to develop technology that makes it easy for anyone to make videos, and we will build a system/platform that can be shared with everyone in the world where through that system/platform everyone can access our technology called TOONIVIE for free and can create their own image content become interesting content videos anytime, anywhere.
Regardless of age or gender, we will bridge the digital technology gap around the world with technology that anyone can learn in just about 40 hours. So that the problem of the picture content life cycle can be solved and at the same time everyone can enjoy the image content more fun than ever.
What are three key challenges that businesses are facing, and how is your company helping your clients/partners navigate these challenges?
In our opinion, the three main challenges faced by the image content business and how our company helps our partners navigate these challenges are as below:
First, the short life cycle of content and how companies can continue to develop their content according to the times following the market request
Ideaconcert, with the development of technologies called Toonivie and Moonright, provides solutions for partners to be able to transform their products according to market demand so that they can lengthen the life cycle of the content itself and also make illustrated content more attractive. By introducing these two technologies we can turn comic books into digital comics.
Currently, comic books that are converted to digital form are only in PDf format, but with our technology comic books can be made in a more modern format, namely in the form of webtoon and video formats automatically.
Second, how to turn local content into global content
Comics/webtoons have the largest content characteristic called speech bubbles. When you want to carry out the translation process, there is a very complicated and cumbersome task of retyping the text that is in the speech bubble, then the translation process is carried out, then re-entering the text into the speech bubble using the editing tools after translating it. it is very time-consuming and very ineffective.
We have created a technology that can automatically extract text from speech bubbles with artificial intelligence technology and automatically replace it after it is translated. With this technology, the translation process will be faster so that everyone in the world can easily view local comic/webtoon content in any country.
Third, ensuring readers feel comfortable in viewing our image content
We now understand that readers or customers enjoy all kinds of content on their smartphones. Ideaconcert developed a technology that allows you to freely view video content in full screen both vertically and horizontally.
The content created by our video creation tool (Toonivie) is presented in the most ideal size in the width and height of the smartphone.
What are your bold predictions in terms of tech in the medium term? How about the long-term?
Ideaconcert is preparing a video service platform to enjoy comics and webtoons content called Toonflix, where you can not only view but also create your own video content from the image content you have through our technology.
We will set up a platform where various content whether image or video content is professionally prepared so that people all over the world can enjoy it.
In addition, regarding the translation technology that I mentioned earlier, our company will develop the technology within three years where this technology will be able to help our partners produce videos complete with dubbing more easily.
Can you share some interesting data or case studies from your portfolio or partners that are a good example of how technology can bring about impactful change amid today’s business environment?
Ideaconcert had an opportunity to introduce Korean webtoons and comics through a partnership with TikTok, a global media platform.
Apart from webtoons and comics in Korea, we also make videos of the works of comic artists from various foreign countries such as Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia & Thailand) and Latin America (Brazil).
The produced video will be serviced starting in 2022 through OTT service, VOD service, and telecommunication company customer service.
In the future, we will create more video content so that everyone in the world can enjoy our content and make their dreams come true.