Good morning. We will now begin NAVER's 2024 Q3 Earnings Conference Call. For the convenience of our investors joining from home and abroad, we will provide simultaneous interpretation for the presentation and switch to consecutive interpretation for the Q&A session.
Analysts, investors, good morning. I am Paul Choi from the Capital Markets Office. Thank you for joining NAVER's Q3 2024 Earnings Call. As always, we have CEO Soo-yeon Choi and CFO Nam-Sun Kim joining us on our call today to provide an overview of our business status, strategy, and financial performance, after which we will entertain your questions. Please note that the earnings results are K-IFRS-based, provided for timely communication, and have not yet been audited by an independent auditor, and hence are subject to change after such review. With that, I will turn it over to our CEO to present on the business highlights. Good morning. I am Soo-yeon Choi, the CEO.
In Q3 , NAVER not only strengthened its search capabilities based on AI and data but also expanded hyper-personalized services that deliver content tailored to users' interests, continuing the effort to enhance the platform with a balanced focus on search and discovery. To respond to the recent reshaping of the e-commerce market, we have been carefully preparing various measures to strengthen NAVER's advantages and address its weaknesses. As a first step, we launched the NAVER Plus Store at the end of October to enhance the discovery and exploration experience of preference-based products, and it has been well received for its intuitive UI and UX with improved user convenience. We will continue to put effort into advancing our logistics capabilities and enhancing membership benefits to further strengthen our competitiveness. We will also continue to develop NAVER's spatial intelligence technology to discover new drivers of future growth.
NAVER Labs' spatial intelligence technology, powered by its differentiated positioning technology, was first introduced in Korea through its VR real estate tour service in Q3. Overseas, revenue from providing digital twin solutions for the Saudi Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing was generated for the first time this quarter. We plan to create new business opportunities by integrating on- and offline experiences such as Place, Maps, real estate, and digital twin in various local and spatial services through the application of generative AI. Let us take a closer look at our search platform performance. As for the search platform in the third quarter, efforts to enhance the platform's competitiveness, including strengthening search capabilities using AI and data and expanding time spent through the introduction of short-form and feed services, have paid off, resulting in double-digit growth for the first time in 10 quarters.
In recent years, various generative AI-based search services have evolved from answering questions with trained data to providing responses using the latest information on the web, increasing the importance of securing quality search data as well as AI performance. In response, NAVER is also improving its search performance by expanding the number of indexed documents in its database by 50% with a focus on enhancing reliability. In the third quarter, we strengthened the indexing and search of credible data from public institutions, which led to an increase in the number of clicks on relevant sources by more than 30%, and by increasing the visibility of specialized café content sources, improving image indexing quality, and enhancing video search performance, we aim to improve the accuracy of long-tail queries so that it leads to increased traffic.
Based on this extensive and up-to-date data, we plan to expand the AI Briefing feature to mobile comprehensive search next year to better understand user intent and context to provide direct answers to search queries in a concise summary format. At last August's Team NAVER Conference, then NAVER introduced its generative AI search CUE, which began testing on PCs. Since then, the focus has been on improving response speed and quality. The AI has continued to evolve with internal testing now completed for multimodal features that enable search by image and voice. Just like the AI Briefing results that summarize data from trusted sources, we plan to provide in the coming year an immersive experience on mobile, enabling users to take action based on search results that align with their purpose.
In addition, NAVER is expanding its feed service to enhance the flow of personalized content discovery, making it easier for users to find and explore tailored content across the platform. Since June, NAVER has been testing sports and entertainment feeds with select users, and as of October 31st, these feeds are now fully available. Also, NAVER has introduced the new Search Feed, which connects search results to a variety of content based on real-time user responses, transforming traditional search into a discovery and exploration experience. In order to secure quality content that enriches users' discovery and exploration experiences within the expanding feed space, we are also introducing various content creator development programs. NAVER Blog, which celebrated its 24th anniversary this year, has seen unique text-based content become a trending cultural phenomenon with the proportion of its users between 10 to 30 reaching 64% of the total user base.
Recently, through a challenge encouraging users to document their daily lives with text and images, we have secured content on a diverse range of topics. The largest share of content produced has been in place reviews such as travel, restaurants, and events, exhibitions, areas where NAVER has strong expertise, and this focus is expected to create synergies with our mapping service in the future. Through the third batch of Clip Creators recruited in August, we have been producing an average of 35,000 pieces of content per month, enabling us to secure video content across various topics. Similarly, with the Feed Maker Program launched in October, NAVER selected 700 creators with a focus on fostering creators to produce high-quality blog content.
The contents gathered through this process are organically recommended and displayed tailored to individual interests powered by AI technology across various NAVER platforms, including Home Feed, Blog Search, Explore Tab, and feed. As a result, the average daily time spent on NAVER mobile main page for Q3 grew by more than 10% YOY, just like the previous year, demonstrating its competitive strength. Specifically, daily visitors to the Home Feed have risen steadily since last quarter, and both the number of visits per person and the click conversion rate for content in Home Feed have also increased significantly since the beginning of the year. For Clip, monthly average daily play count increased by 50% QOQ, and the daily play count per person also grew by 81% year to date.
Stickers, which were introduced to strengthen the linkage between Clip and NAVER's vertical services, have shown high usage rates with Place and Shopping tags accounting for 47%. In particular, with Place stickers, users were naturally directed to tagged locations on Clips, leading to further actions like reservations and orders via the Map and Pay services. Similarly, for Shopping stickers, we observed a virtuous cycle where users transitioned from product recommendations to the purchase pages. NAVER is also focused on strengthening the competitiveness of its ad platform. In line with the gradual expansion of its feed service, we are consistently launching highly effective ad products and improving ad efficiency through AI-driven targeting enhancements. Feed ads have proven highly effective, achieving an average click conversion rate more than five times higher than standard banner ads due to enhanced targeting.
In particular, NAVER Dynamic Ads, which use AI to display personalized ads based on user shopping data, continue to stage high performance with a CTR over three times that of other feed ads. As a result, feed ads have been well received by both advertisers and users and are driving an influx of new display advertisers. NAVER is currently working on enhancing tools that automate ad execution to optimize efficiency within the budget set by advertisers, and as a result, the boundaries between search ads and display ads are expected to gradually blur. Furthermore, NAVER will continue to enhance its AI-based tools for advertisers and introduce compelling products based on advanced targeting to solidify its position as a platform that satisfies both users and advertisers. Next, I would like to share with you the status of our commerce business.
In 3Q, NAVER's total commerce GMV reached KRW 12.5 trillion, up 4.3% YOY, of which on-platform GMV, excluding outlink marketplaces, grew by 10% YOY. With the recent reshaping of the e-commerce market, there has been a growing preference for trusted platforms, leading to a continued expansion of sellers and brands using NAVER. In the services segment, despite the normalization of the travel bubble post-COVID, travel GMV growth has continued, and orders and bookings are performing well, supported by search enhancements and effective response to peak holiday demand. Our brand-driven expansion of Guaranteed Delivery is recording strong GMV growth, continuing from Q2 to Q3, backed by enhanced user benefits and seller convenience. Since the introduction of free shipping with guaranteed delivery for membership users, the GMV of the service among members has grown by nearly 50%.
For sellers using the free exchange and return services, GMV increased by almost 40% compared to before the service was introduced, contributing to increased transaction activity. In addition, for sellers who face challenges in adopting guaranteed delivery, we have supported them by enabling direct delivery from their warehouses and simplifying the contract process to improve convenience. This has led to positive feedback across various categories, including digital home appliances, fresh food, and daily necessities, leading to a sharp increase in coverage. Furthermore, we will continue to enhance the overall quality and speed of delivery by introducing Sunday delivery and expanding same-day delivery services. In the case of Poshmark, growth has slowed due to a sluggish North American C2C market, but it still shows solid traction compared to our competitors.
Despite the challenging market environment, we've seen good response to our 1P ads, resulting in increased ad revenue, and we have launched a Smart List AI tool powered by PoshLens, which will make it easier for more sellers to register the products. On October 30th, we launched NAVER Plus Store with enhanced product exploration, discovery, and hyper-personalized experiences. NAVER Shopping, which began as a price comparison service in 2003, has grown from an online store platform for SMEs in 2018 to a powerful commerce platform by expanding its capabilities to support D2C for brands in 2020. With the addition of the NAVER Plus Store, we aim to continue on with this evolution. For consumers, NAVER will offer an advanced shopping experience based on AI enhancements, providing a new level of shopping experience tailored to individual needs.
In addition to NAVER's strengths in intent-driven shopping search, the platform will evolve into an intuitive, user-friendly, technology-driven commerce platform that helps consumers easily discover preferred products and receive personalized recommendations, including AI-driven purchase guidance. For sellers, NAVER will support brand analysis, marketing, customer management, and price management through data and solutions that only NAVER can provide, transforming itself into a relational commerce platform that makes it easier to attract and engage new, loyal, and potential customers. Furthermore, we plan to enhance benefits for Plus membership members within the NAVER ecosystem and expand benefits outside the ecosystem as well. Within the NAVER ecosystem, the free shipping and free exchange return benefits of the guaranteed delivery product, which were tested for three months starting in August, have shown positive results with increased GMV and higher user satisfaction without significantly impacting profitability. And thus, these benefits were officially introduced in November.
We will also expand exclusive offerings for membership customers, such as Super Rewards and special deals, to provide personalized benefits tailored to individual preferences. Furthermore, outside of the ecosystem, we plan to expand further by offering powerful contents like Netflix and endless benefits in offline spaces, such as department stores, convenience stores, airports, and movie theaters. By leveraging NAVER's unique strengths, we plan to launch the new NAVER+ store as a separate app in the first half of next year to further enhance the hyper-personalized shopping experience. We will continue to develop the platform into one that satisfies customers, sellers, and partners alike. Next, allow me to provide an update on our fintech business. In 3Q, NAVER Pay TPV reached KRW 18.6 trillion, an increase of 22.1% YOY and 6.2% QOQ.
Non-captive TPV, driven by the continued expansion of our third-party ecosystem through the addition of new merchants, grew by 38% YOY to KRW 9.6 trillion. Offline TPV grew 78% YOY to KRW 3.1 trillion, backed by the growth of onsite and order and booking payments. In the platform business, we are continuously expanding our lineup of loan and insurance comparison services with the launch of rent loans and international travel insurance comparison services. The total volume of the loan comparison service continues to grow with the expansion of offerings, including credit loans, mortgage loans, and rent loans, and the cumulative volume for NAVER Pay's home mortgage and rent loan comparison service launched earlier this year has surpassed KRW 3 trillion.
Going forward, we plan to further expand the lineup of loan and insurance comparison services and enhance user convenience, allowing financial consumers to compare options quickly with convenience through NAVER Pay, reduce financial costs, and enjoy additional benefits. Moving on to Webtoon's third quarter results. In the first full quarter, as a public company, Webtoon's Q3 revenue recorded KRW 424 billion, increasing 11.6% YOY and 10.7% QOQ. On a constant currency basis, excluding the consolidated and transferred operations, as reported by Webtoon earlier this morning, revenue grew 13.5% YOY, continuously strengthening its position as the leading storytelling technology platform. Breaking it down by tech segment, paid content revenue increased 12.7% YOY, while RPU grew 14.7% YOY, representing continued success in driving paying user engagement. Advertising revenue grew 24.3% YOY, driven by double-digit growth across all regions, and IP adaptation revenue grew 5.3% YOY.
Adjusted EBITDA improved significantly YOY, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 8.3% as a result of a more efficient marketing spend. Webtoon has more than 120,000 episodes released daily in more than 150 countries as of the end of 2023, with approximately 170 million monthly average users now, and we remain focused on strengthening our global flywheel powered by our local creator ecosystem content and IP. Lastly, I would like to elaborate on the business performance of NAVER Cloud. NAVER Cloud's B2B business is growing, centered on the continued delivery of NeuroCloud and LINE WORKS. The delivery of NeuroCloud, equipped with HyperCLOVA X, continued to progress smoothly in the third quarter, and we expect to finalize discussions on its adoption with companies that have signed MOUs, such as Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, by the end of the year.
For LINE WORKS, the number of paid IDs grew by 13% YOY, leading to a 34% increase in revenue YOY. Going forward, we plan to expand our product lineup with diverse features to attract more customers and increase the number of paid accounts. In the case of NAVER Labs' digital twin technology developed for future growth, the revenue from the project to build a digital twin platform with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing was reflected for the first time this quarter ever since signing the contract in July, confirming that NAVER's R&D for the future is leading to overseas monetization.
Although still in its early stages, we see a wide range of opportunities in Saudi Arabia, not only for the digital twin business, but also for super apps, AI models, and data center development. Building on this foundation, we will continue to explore other global business opportunities.
In Korea, we will build on NAVER Labs' competitive positioning technology, which forms the foundation of spatial AI, to showcase differentiated features across NAVER's diverse services, including places, maps, and real estate. For example, in Q3, we launched the VR Real Estate Tour service with NAVER Financial as an AI-powered 3D digital twin solution that recreates real-world spaces in detail, including the form and texture. Initially applied to 50 properties in five large apartment complexes in Seoul and the metropolitan area, this service allows users to explore property listings online with accuracy and convenience. We will continue to focus on creating immersive experiences across NAVER's various local and space-related platforms using spatial AI technology to provide realistic spatial and real-time place information. On November 11th and 12th, NAVER's second Team NAVER Conference 10 will be held.
In this rapidly evolving AI era, NAVER, being the only firm in the world with a business model that encompasses search, commerce, payments, and content, will be sharing more details on how it leverages its technological foundation to create new services and business opportunities, evolving into an even more valuable platform, and we ask for your interest and support in the event. Next, CFO Nam-Sun Kim will walk you through the financial performance for the quarter.
안녕하세요, CFO.
Good morning. I am Kim Nam-Sun, or Nam-Sun Kim, the CFO. Allow me to present the financial results for 3Q. In Q3, NAVER's revenue driven by accelerated growth in search platform and solid growth across all businesses, including commerce and fintech, increased by 11.1% YOY and 4% QOQ to KRW 2 trillion 715.6 billion.
Operating profit continued its upward trend for the sixth consecutive quarter, with adjusted EBITDA showing growth for eight straight quarters. Notably, this quarter's operating profit achieved an all-time high of KRW 525.3 billion, up 38.2% YOY and 11.1% QOQ, thanks to efforts focused on accelerating high-margin business growth and enhancing productivity. Operating margin also rose by 3.8 percentage points YOY, reaching 19.3%. Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes variables such as stock-based compensation and depreciation and amortization expenses, increased by 27% YOY and 9.5% QOQ to KRW 699.1 billion. EBITDA margin improved by 3.2 percentage points YOY to 25.7%. It's particularly telling that operating profit grew by nearly 60% compared to 3Q 2022, two years ago. The structural improvements made to the business over the past two years have been successful, proving once again that revenue and absolute profit can grow in tandem. Next, let me discuss revenue by each business area.
In Q3, the search platform grew by 11% YOY and 2% QOQ, recording KRW 997.7 billion. This is an encouraging achievement, marking a return to double-digit growth for the first time in 10 quarters since Q1 of 2022, when the company benefited from pandemic-related tailwinds. Search ad grew 9.5% YOY and 3% QOQ, driven by ongoing product improvements in Power Link brand search and the introduction of bidding for place ads, as well as the expansion of external media offerings. Display grew 11% YOY with steady expansion in feed placements and the sale of highly efficient feed ads, enhanced with precise targeting technology, but declined 2.3% QOQ due to the traditional off-season, such as the summer holidays and Chuseok. Commerce revenue reached KRW 725.4 billion, up 12% YOY and 0.9% QOQ.
Of this amount, commission and sales revenue grew by 24.6% YOY and 2.2% QOQ, thanks to strategic collaborations with brands, enhanced user benefits, and improvements in delivery quality, resulting in increases in GMV for Smart Store, travel, and reservation services, bringing about higher usage of brand solution packages and the guaranteed delivery. Membership revenue increased by 5.1% YOY, driven by strengthened benefits for users, leading to growth in both members and active users. However, it was down by 2.6% QOQ due to the temporary impact of changes in accounting treatment related to some digital content. Fintech revenue stood at KRW 385.1 billion, up 13% YOY and 4.5% QOQ.
TPV, driven by the ongoing expansion of our third-party ecosystem, was up 22.1% YOY and 6.2% QOQ, recording KRW 18.6 trillion, with the proportion of non-captive TPV continuing to expand to 51.3%, leading the growth, while offline TPV grew 78% YOY, backed by the high growth of order and reservation services and onsite payments. Content revenue was up 6.4% YOY and 10.2% QOQ to KRW 462.8 billion. In Q3, Webtoon, with a record high paid content revenue and a sharp increase in ad revenue in Japan, drove overall revenue growth with an increase of 11.6% YOY and 10.7% QOQ. For your information, on a constant currency basis, excluding deconsolidated and transferred operations, Webtoon global revenue grew by 13.5% YOY.
Snow's revenue decreased by 46.5% YOY due to the impact of NAVER Z's deconsolidation being reflected, but the camera segment continues to see a steady increase in paying subscribers of AI features. Cloud revenue increased 17% YOY and 16.1% QOQ to KRW 144.6 billion. B2B grew by 11.4% YOY, reflecting continued robust growth in paying accounts for LINE WORKS and the recognition of NeuroCloud's revenue. Also, revenue from the digital twin project with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, announced last quarter, was recognized for the first time, contributing to the overall growth in other revenue, both YOY and QOQ. Next is on expense items. Development and operation expenses remained stable, up 4% YOY due to the restructuring of the tech organization and efficient staffing.
Partner expenses rose by 5.8% YOY and 2.3% QOQ due to increased payment fees in fintech and Webtoon businesses, and infrastructure expenses grew 13.2% YOY, driven by increased depreciation costs from the acquisition of new server assets, maintaining a stable ratio of approximately 7% of operating revenue. Marketing expenses grew by 7% YOY and 13.8% QOQ, and as was mentioned last quarter, we expanded promotions in areas such as commerce, where we determined that strengthening competitiveness was necessary. We are planning strategic and flexible execution to provide fundamental value to build a solid cohort. Next, let me discuss the P&L by business. First, in combined search platform and commerce, the accelerated growth of search and advertising offset the increased spending on commerce promotions, resulting in improved profitability YOY and QOQ.
In the fintech segment, while payment revenue continued to grow, profitability declined slightly YOY and QOQ due to the expanded promotions related to financial products and onsite payments. In the content segment, losses were narrowed as a result of revenue growth driven by paid content and ads in Japan, along with the continued impact coming from the deconsolidation of NAVER Z's , which led to narrowing deficits. Lastly, for the cloud segment, losses were narrowed, driven by higher revenue from LINE WORKS and AI. Consolidated net profit for 3Q grew 19.5% YOY and 59.6% QOQ to KRW 530.1 billion, reflecting the impact of bond translation gains and losses due to fluctuations in the USD exchange rate. Let me now move on to cash flow and balance sheet.
Free cash flow in Q3, driven by more stable balance sheet management, increased by KRW 223.7 billion YOY and KRW 141.9 billion QOQ to KRW 387.1 billion. Efforts to liquidate non-core assets over the past two years continued in 3Q, successfully executing over KRW 1 trillion in cumulative asset liquidations. NAVER's consolidated adjusted debt to EBITDA improved from 1.9 times at the end of Q3 2023 to 1.6 times as of the end of Q3 of 2024, following the receipt of approximately KRW 800 billion in dividends from Japan's A Holdings. In particular, I would like to emphasize that despite the debt to EBITDA ratio being as high as 2.6 times at the beginning of 2023, NAVER was able to recover from a net debt position to a net cash position through more rigorous and strategic balance sheet management and improved profitability from its core businesses.
As a result, asset and capital efficiency, in other words, ROA and ROE, have been steadily improving, and we expect to be able to provide higher investment returns to our shareholders through wiser capital allocation and business operations going forward. Lastly, is an update on the recent special shareholder return program. In order to strongly enhance shareholder value, NAVER announced a special shareholder return program involving share buyback and cancellation of its treasury shares in an amount equivalent to half of the 809.1 billion KRW in special and regular dividends coming from the participation in the public tender offer for LY Corporation's shares of A Holdings at the end of September. Accordingly, from October 2nd to the 25th, we successfully acquired approximately 405.1 billion KRW worth of treasury stock, representing 1.5% of the total issued shares, and the acquired shares will be fully canceled as of November 13th.
This concludes the overview of NAVER's third quarter financial performance, and we will now receive questions. 지금부터. We will now open the call to questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star and number five. If you would like to cancel your question, press star and number five. Please limit your questions to a maximum of two per person.
To begin the Q&A, if you'd like to ask a question, please press the star and number five on the phone button. To cancel a question, just press the star and number five again. Our first question comes from the line of Eric Chow with Goldman Sachs. Please ask your question.
네, 안녕하세요. 질문 기회 감사합니다. 먼저 좋은 실적 축하드리고요. 두 가지 질문이 있습니다. 첫 번째는 서치 플랫폼인데요. 이 서치 플랫폼 성장의 가속화가 매우 고무적이었는데요.
왜 이렇게 되었는지는 앞서 설명을 자세히 해주셔서 제가 묻고 싶은 것은 이에 대한 효과, 즉 이 성장 모멘텀의 지속 가능성에 대해서 어떻게 생각하시는지, 또 4분기 아웃룩은 어떨 거라고 보시는지 설명 부탁드리고요. 두 번째 질문은 커머스입니다. 그 플러스 스토어 출시 후 유저 비해의 변화가 어땠는지, 또 유저 피드백이 어땠는지, 또 당장 4분기에 어떤 영향을 미칠지 궁금하고요. 내년에 단독 앱을 출시하신다고 하셨는데, 쇼핑에 대한 단독 앱을, 근데 그 서치 사업에 대한 임팩트를 어떻게 최소화시킬 수 있을지, 또 쇼핑 유저를 서치 플랫폼에서 쇼핑 플랫폼으로 어떻게 원활하게 마이그레이션을 어떻게 유도하실지 궁금합니다. 감사합니다.
Thank you for taking my question. And before I ask my question, congratulations on good earnings this quarter. I have two questions. The first one relates to the re-acceleration of the growth that we see from your search platform business. You've already explained this to the key drivers behind this growth.
I would like to ask whether you think that this impact and this growth trend is sustainable going into the future and what your projections are for the fourth quarter. Second question relates to your commerce business. You've talked about your NAVER Plus Store and how that will transform the user behavior, and would like to understand as to the feedback that you're getting from the users and what impact it will have in Q4, and you also mentioned that you will be making this into a standalone application next year. How would you minimize this impact of this separate application on your search business? and what are your plans to migrate the shopping users from your search platform to the shopping platform? 네, 서치 부분부터 먼저 답변드리겠습니다. 앞으로 하반기 관련해서 질문 주셨는데요.
매크로 경제라든지 시장 전망의 불확실성은 여전히 남아 있지만, 사실 지금 저희가 3분기까지 보여준 서치 플랫폼 매출의 성장 자체가 저희 플랫폼의 경쟁력 강화에서 기인한 것으로 보고 있고, 아직 성장 여력은 충분히 남아 있다고 판단하고 있습니다. AI 플랫폼을 통한 이해나 매칭 기술을 향상시킴으로써 그동안 대응하지 못했던 쿼리들을 저희가 비즈니스화하고 있는 노력을 하고 있고, 또 그를 통해서 통합 검색 내 비즈니스 커버리지도 확장 중에 있기 때문입니다. 또한 외부 매체 또한 고도화된 타겟팅 기술을 기반으로 저희가 퍼포먼스 높은 광고로 교체를 해나가고 있습니다. 특히 검색과 메인 등 서비스 내의 피드 영역이 점진적으로 확대되고 있으며, 내년 중에서도 그러한 노력은 계속해 나갈 예정입니다. 이를 통해서 신규 상품을 출시하고 AI 기반의 타겟팅이라든지 광고주 도구의 고도화를 통해서 광고 효율 역시 지속적으로 개선해 나가고 있어서 앞으로 지면 확대 및 성과형 광고 중심의 추가적인 성장을 기대하고 있습니다.
Regarding the search platform question, you were asking about the outlook going forward for the second half of the year.
Currently, the macro environment and the overall market outlook is quite uncertain, so we may not be able to be completely certain about what will happen going forward. But if you look at the third quarter and the search platform growth that we were able to achieve, this was driven by the competitiveness that we have internally with respect to our search platform business. And therefore, we believe that going forward, there is more potential for us to further grow and trigger growth in our search platform business. And also, we will be harnessing the AI technology and adopting that to the overall search platform business. And because there were areas where we were unable in the past to respond to various different types of queries, but we are now packaging that from a business model perspective, and we are expanding the business coverage within that platform.
We're also constantly enhancing the high-performance ad capabilities, even with respect to the third-party media channels as well. So within our search and within the service scene, we are expanding on the utilization and the usage of these different high-level targeting capabilities and technologies, which we are using to further drive up advertisement efficiency and also release new types of products and further scale up the tools that we can provide so that we may be able to drive further growth. 커머스 플러스 스토어에 대한 질문에 대해서 답변드리겠는데요. 네이버 플러스 스토어는 그 모든 스토어를 저희가 브랜드를 포함해서 스마트 스토어 상품으로 연결해서 이용자 경험을 더욱 편리하게 만들고, 지금은 단독 앱이 아니라 네이버 앱에 결합된 형태지만 커머스 앱처럼 끊김 없는 쇼핑 환경을 제공하고자 출시하였습니다. 현재 매우 극초기 단계이기 때문에 지표에 대해서는 자세히 말씀드릴 수는 없지만, 이용자 경험이라든지 소비자 만족도, 그리고 저희 거래액이나 광고 측면에서 모두 긍정적인 효과를 저희가 보고 있습니다.
그 의도를 저희가 동반한 상품 검색 외에도 앞으로 다른 플랫폼에서는 제공할 수 없는 맞춤형 혜택이라든지 선호 상품을 개인화 추천할 수 있어서 그 플러스 스토어를 더욱 재밌고 유용한 공간으로 만들고자 하는데요. 그동안 저희가 서비스 간의 유기적인 연결을 통해서 각 서비스가 경쟁하기보다는 전체 규모를 증가시키는 방향으로 성장해왔고, 또 그러한 서비스 연결 노하우를 저희가 가지고 있기 때문에 앞으로도 시너지를 극대화시켜 나간다면 전체 규모를 키워낼 수 있을 것으로 기대를 하고 있습니다. 저희가 하반기 10월 30일에 지금 플러스 스토어를 네이버 앱에 결합된 형태로 출시를 했고, 앞으로 지표들을 보면서 단독 앱 출시와 그 형상을 계속해서 구체화해 나갈 예정이고, 또한 이를 통해서 서치에서 어떻게 앱으로 유입시킬 것인지에 대한 마케팅 전략 역시 구체화시켜서 효과적으로 시장에 런치할 것을 계획하고 있습니다. Responding to your question about our NAVER Plus Store, the commerce app, basically we've been able to provide seamless experience, seamless shopping experience by coupling that with the NAVER platform.
We were connecting that to our Smart Stores, further improving the convenience of the shopping consumers on our platform. We believe that, and it is too early at this point to provide you with what the metrics are telling us in terms of the impact that NAVER Plus Store has, but we are seeing signs that this has a positive impact in terms of the user's experience, the level of satisfaction, and the impact on the uptrend in the GMV. We, NAVER, have strength in providing search results that are based off of the intent of the users. Based upon that understanding, we are able to provide more customized and personalized outcomes to the users of our platform and provide them with personalized products and recommendations that best befit and match up with the user's taste.
We are also planning to add a fun factor as well as enhance usefulness by providing the NAVER Plus Store to our user base, and I believe that by organically coupling this with what NAVER is already providing, we will be able to increase the absolute size of the business that we see. I say that because we already have know-how that is built within the company, and I believe that we will be able to further leverage off of by creating additional synergies with the existing businesses, so it will, at the end of the day, help us further grow the entire scale of the business. As we've mentioned, we've introduced NAVER Plus Store, coupling that with the NAVER app on October 30th.
We are going through collecting different feedback and different metrics from this, and we will make the final decision with respect to making NAVER Plus Store into a separate application, a standalone application. And with that decision, we will also be able to fine-tune our marketing plan and come up with the most effective way for us to migrate our search platform users to the application. And after we go through all of those planning phases, then we will come to you with the launch of the product. 다음으로 질문하실 분은 JP Morgan의 Stanley Yang입니다. Our next question comes from the line of Stanley Yang with JP Morgan. Please ask your question. 네, 안녕하세요. 저는 넷플릭스 멤버십 제휴에 대해서 여쭤보고 싶습니다. 멤버십이 언제부터 넷플릭스와 제휴해서 시작이 되고요. 그 효과가 과연 저희 이커머스 성장에 얼마나 도움이 될지에 대해서 좀 확인해 주시면 감사하겠는데요.
멤버십 유저가 상당히 유입이 될 것 같고, 지금 현재 네이버 멤버십 유저의 액티브 유저 수가 정확히 모르겠는데, 어느 정도가 되고 얼마나 또 성장이 되고, 또 새로 들어온 멤버들이 그 이커머스를 많이 구매를 하면서 going forward , GMV 가 많이 성장을 할 것 같은데요. 그런 부분에 대해서 매니지먼트 생각을 좀 말씀해 주시고, 그다음에 이제 마지막으로는 저희가 이제 넷플릭스에 지급하는 어떤 레버리지 쉐어링 아니면 컨디션 이런 어떤 스트럭처가 있을 텐데, 그런 부분이 과연 저희 뭐 숏텀 하기는 마진에 어떤 영향이 있을 거고, 또 전체적으로 길게 봤을 때도 마진에 어떤 영향이 있을지 설명해 주시면 감사하겠습니다. 이상입니다. Thank you for taking my question. My question relates to your arrangement with Netflix in terms of that membership partnership. When will that start, and also what impact would that have on your overall e-commerce growth? I would presume that there will be quite an influx of users onto your membership program.
I do not know as to the actual number of your active users, but I would presume that it will have an impact on further growing that base. So I would like to understand as to whether you project that these new members that come in will also be transitioning into the buyers of your e-commerce on your e-commerce platform, and what impact would that have on your GMV growth? And also, can you share with us the details of the revenue sharing structure or the commissions that you will be paying? And from a short-term perspective, as well as long-term, what is the margin impact? 넷플릭스 구조의 텀에 대해서는 저희가 사실 정확한 그 텀을 공개를 못한다는 점은 양해 부탁드리고요. 하지만 그 전에 저희가 티빙이라든지 다른 콘텐츠를 수급했을 때의 주요 조건과 크게 다르지가 않습니다.
가령 저희가 콘텐츠 취득을 위한 비용이 그동안 TVING이라든지 저희가 멤버십을 통해서 받을 수 있는 월정료랑 비교를 하면 더 크다고 볼 수가 없고요. 따라서 마진 임팩트는 과거 저희가 다른 종류의 콘텐츠를 제공했을 때랑 크게 다르지 않게 이것 때문에 유의미한 변화는 없을 거라고 저희는 생각을 하고 있습니다. Please understand that we won't be able to disclose the very detailed terms and conditions of the arrangement with Netflix, but I can tell you that the terms are not different from our previous sourcing arrangements with other companies like TVING and other entities. If you look at the content sourcing cost, I can tell you that it is not bigger than the monthly membership fee that we would be taking. This is in light of our past membership arrangements that we had with other entities like TVING.
I can tell you that the margin impact is not going to be any meaningfully different from our past practices. It will be about at the same level. 그리고 그 이 엔게이지먼트 기대 효과는 스탠리 위원님께서도 잘 아시는 것처럼 글로벌 저희가 다른 타사의 어떤 커머스 플랫폼들이 콘텐츠를 활용할 때 기대 효과가 뭐냐라고 생각했을 때 결국은 리텐션, 유저들의 스티키니스, 그리고 반복 구매를 유도하는 그러한 어떤 그 멤버들의 그 건강한 그 활동성 증가를 기대하는 바가 가장 크고요. 앞으로 네이버 커머스에도 그러한 긍정적인 영향을 줄 것으로 기대하고 있습니다. Stanley, you also asked about what outcome or impact we are looking forward to with these types of engagement. It's not different from what other global companies, the global companies of commerce platforms, would expect out of such arrangement.
It eventually would have to do with the retention of the user base, the stickiness, as well as the triggering of repeat purchases from the members. So we are looking forward to a healthy user activity-related metrics, and we expect that this will have a positive impact on our commerce business. 다음으로 질문하실 분은 삼성증권의 오동환 님입니다. Our next question comes from Donghwan Oh with Samsung Securities. Please ask your question. 네, 질문 기회 감사드립니다. 두 가지 질문이 있습니다. 첫 번째는 저희 홈피드와 클립 관련해서 출시되고 나서 개인적으로는 개인화 콘텐츠가 나오면서 네이버 앱에 대한 체류 시간이 많이 증가하고 있는데, 실제로 출시 이후에 홈피드와 클립의 저희들에게 트래픽 증가가 얼마만큼인지, 이거를 통한 광고 매출 증가가 어느 정도인지 객관적인 수치 공유해 주시면 감사하겠습니다. 두 번째는 지금 구글 같은 경우 검색에 Gemini가 전면적으로 도입이 됐는데요.
저희 NAVER 쪽에서는 HyperCLOVA X의 검색 전면 도입은 어느 정도 시기로 예상을 할 수 있는지, 그리고 만약에 그렇게 될 경우에 관련된 비용이 어느 정도 증가할 수 있는지 말씀해 주시면 감사하겠습니다. I have two questions that I would like to ask. I think that with the introduction of your Home Feed, forum, and Clip, and by providing a more personalized content, I personally spend more time on a Naver platform. So I would like to know what the specific metrics are in terms of the amount of traffic that you've seen, the upward trend that is, and also the advertisement revenue impact.
Second question is that companies like Google have fully incorporated Gemini into the AI engine, into the Google search. I would like to know as to when Naver will be full-fledgedly applying your HyperCLOVA X to Naver Search. When would that be, and what is the expected increase in expense?
네, 홈피드와 클립 이용자와 사용성이 굉장히 빠르게 확대하고 있고요. 앞서 컨콜에서 말씀드렸듯이 지금 모바일 메인의 일평균 체류 시간이 지난 분기에 이어서 연평균 10% 이상씩 성장을 하고 있습니다. 이에 따라서 지금 최근에 저희의 광고 성과도 사실 홈피드 지면과 클립 도입에 따른 그런 성과형 광고를 도입할 수 있는 지면이 확대되면서 나타난 것이라고 볼 수 있는데요. 그 많은 기여가 홈피드와 클립에서 있다고 보시면 좋을 것 같습니다. 예를 들어 일간 클립 재생수도 분기 대비해서 50% 성장하고, 인당 재생수도 연초 대비 거의 80% 이상 성장을 하고 있는데요. 앞으로 그 성장세는 계속 이어질 것으로 저희는 기대하고 있습니다. So you asked about the impact that we are seeing from Home Feed and Clip, and yes, they are driving all of the metrics quite rapidly upwards. The users are also growing, the traffic is growing as well.
As you have also mentioned, with our NAVER main, we are seeing a year-over-year growth of time spent by our users by, on average, about 10% growth. This is all driven thanks to the more inventory and basically more space where we are able to expose and implement performance-based advertisement. It is from also in that aspect that Home Feed and Clip is making a big contribution. Based off of many different metrics, we see that on average daily Clip play count has been up by about 50%. Also the number of counts per person on a daily basis also has gone up around by 80%. We are seeing improvements and increases in different metrics. 생성형 AI 검색의 경우에도 저희가 이제 작년에 소개드렸던 Q로 일정 부분 그 효과랑 어떻게 적용해야 될지 전략을 좀 세웠고요.
내년도에 모바일에서 생성형 AI를 직접 체험할 수 있는 AI 브리핑부터 본격적으로 적용을 할 예정입니다. 저희도 경쟁사 대비해서 크게 다르지 않는 그 생성형 검색의 효과를 느낄 수 있는 전략을 준비하고 있고요. 우선은 롱테일 검색어부터 네이버가 아직 그 숏테일에는 굉장히 강점을 가지고 있다고 판단하고 있기 때문에 이용자의 만족도가 상대적으로 낮은 롱테일 검색어라든지 외국어 검색어 등에 적용을 할 것을 예상을 하고 있습니다. 현재로서 예상되는 증가 비용은 구체적으로 밝히기는 어려울 것 같고 제한적일 것으로 저희는 생각은 하고 있지만 어느 정도 임팩트는 있을 것으로 생각합니다. Regarding the harnessing of our generative AI technology, as you know, our initiative first started with CUE, the search engine, and we are in the process of fine-tuning the strategies that we would implement. We have plans next year to first introduce AI Briefing on our mobile platform, and similar to what our competitors are doing, we have a solid strategy in place.
Because on the short-tail head side, NAVER already has strength there. Some of the weaknesses that we see where there could be some improvement is on the long-tail side of it, basically long-tail-based queries and also searches based off of the foreign language. Those are aspects that we would be bringing about an enhancement. Regarding the impact in terms of the expense, we think that it would be limited, but admittedly there would be some cost impact. 다음으로 질문하실 분은 키움증권의 김진구 님입니다. Our next question comes from the line of Jin-gu Kim with Kiwoom Securities. Please ask your question. 네, 질문 기회 감사드립니다. 두 가지 질문을 드리겠고요. 우선 광고 사업의 경우에는 AI 타겟팅이나 피드 크리팅 서비스 개편, 그리고 인게이지먼트 지표 개선에 대해서 언급을 해주셨는데요. 감사하고요.
근데 이제 이렇게 본다면 우리가 좀 어머니카게 중기 이상으로 성장에 대한 버퍼가 좀 있으실 것 같은데, 우선 아까 말씀하신 것처럼 마켓 컨디션 변수가 있지만, 그 내년 서치 플랫폼 매출 성장 잠재력에 대해서 현재 어떻게 좀 평가하고 분석하고 계신지 좀 말씀해 주시면 감사할 것 같고요. 두 번째는 커머스 관련 질의인데요. 노드 발언에서 커머스 관련해서 유저, 셀러, 파트너 대상의 다양한 플랜에 대해서 설명을 해주신 이 부분도 감사하게 생각을 하는데요. 이제 결론적으로 커머스 사업의 GMV 그로스를 좀 재차 높여야 될 것 같은데, 그를 위한 전략 우선순위, 그리고 이제 말씀하시지 않은 것 중에 현재 추가로 내부적으로 좀 검토하고 계신 부분이 있으시면 말씀해 주시면 좋을 것 같고, 그리고 이제 커머스 광고 매출 그로스가 좀 낮은데, 이 부분도 재차 검토를 다시 하실 수 있는 방안에 대해서도 말씀해 주시면 감사하겠습니다. 이상입니다. I want to ask you two questions.
First of all, thank you very much for giving us that specific information and detail on different measures and indicators, including the user engagement. For the organic, I see that there is an organic growth for your search platform business, and I do see that there is still some potential for you to trigger further growth for your search platform business next year. So if you could tell us and give us what your outlook is as we go into the future? Second question is on your commerce business. Once again, thank you for that specific explanation from the perspective of the users as well as the vendors and the sellers. But I believe that you would need to retrigger the growth for your GMV. I would like to know as to what your strategic priorities are in order to make that possible?
And if you have also other plans, which you haven't yet mentioned, that will help with that growth, that would also be appreciated. And your commerce advertisement revenue is still quite low. Do you also have plans to lead a rebound in that measure? 네, 질문 감사합니다. 말씀 주신 대로 사실 내년도 광고 시장 전망에 대해서는 저희도 아직 구체적으로 알기 어렵고, 또 대외적으로 좀 불확실성인 요인이 많다고 생각을 하고 있습니다. 다만 계속해서 지금 광고 시장을 보시면 올해도 성과형이나 피드형 광고 시장이 다른 시장에 비해서 굉장히 높은 성장률, 올해 같은 경우에는 약 한 21% 정도의 성장률을 기록할 것으로 저희는 예상을 하고 있는데요. 저희가 지금 집중하고 있는 부분이나 성과를 나타내고 있는 부분이 사실 이 부분이고, 저희가 지금 판단하기로는 경쟁사 대비 저희가 가장 높은 성장률을 지금 보이고 있고, 앞으로도 그럴 가능성이 있다고 생각하고 있습니다.
또한 저희의 프로덕트 계획도 이러한 변동 추이를 관찰하면서 저희의 서비스 내 피드를 계속해서 확대해 나가면서 지면과 체류 시간을 늘리고, 또 AI 기술을 도입을 해서 타겟팅이나 입찰을 최적화하고, 그리고 광고 플랫폼을 더욱 개선함으로써 신규 광고주들을 더욱더 유입할 수 있고, 시장에서 저희는 유의미한 성장률을 계속해서 보일 것으로 생각하고 목표로 하고 있습니다. It is very difficult for us to actually predict what's going to happen in the ad market. Very difficult for us to know the forecast of the advertisement market because there's a lot of uncertainties that are embedded in this market. Now, having said that, if you look at the advertisement market, the segment that's actually growing quite rapidly is in the areas of performance ad and in-feed advertisement. Actually, we are expecting about 21% growth as we close this year.
This is the very domain that we as a company are focusing on and where we are driving performance and good results from. And compared to our peers, we believe that our growth rate is more elevated. It's higher. And I think going forward, we also have more potential for us to trigger that additional growth. And also from the product planning side, we are planning to expand the feed inventory and also increase on the scene and the areas, and also further trigger time spent by the users, and also incorporate the use of AI technology to further scale up our targeting capabilities and to improve on the bidding process. And we think that through these efforts, we will be able to acquire and onboard new advertisers and will be able to bring about meaningful growth.
쇼핑 GMV 성장성을 높일 수 있는 전략에 대해서도 질문을 하셨는데요. 먼저 올해 이커머스 시장 자체가 굉장히 재편되는 시기에 있다고 저희는 판단을 하고 있습니다. 팬데믹 이후에 여러 가지 금리 인상이라든지 경기 침체 우려 등으로 국내 시장 자체의 성장률이 둔화되었고, 올해의 경우에는 일부 업체의 부도 같은 환경으로 인해서 시장 성장률 자체는 더 감소를 했는데요. 네이버 쇼핑은 오늘 저희가 공유드리기도 했지만, 저희의 쇼핑 검색이나 스마트 스토어 확장을 통해 시장 성장률 대비해서는 고성장을 했지만, 필수 소비재의 중심에 이제 경쟁사 대비해서는 제한적인 성장을 기록하고 있는 것으로 판단을 하고 있습니다. 앞으로 저희는 저희의 강점은 더욱 강화하는 한편, 경쟁사 대비 저희가 약점을 보이고 있는 부분에 대해서도 이를 경쟁력을 끌어올릴 수 있는 전략을 준비하고 있는데요. 먼저 상대적으로 좀 약한 재구매율 강화를 위해서는 물류나 멤버십 혜택을 더욱 강화하려고 하고 있습니다. 오늘 발표드린 의류 배송이라든지 도착 보장이라든지 멤버십의 무료 배송과 무료 반품을 적용한다든지 하는 노력 외에도 다양한 전략적인 투자나 협력을 통해서 더 공격적인 물류 서비스를 제공하기 위한 방안을 준비하고 있고요.
조만간 시장에도 얘기해 드릴 수 있을 것으로 기대하고 있습니다. 또한 시장이 재편되면서 저희가 가장 강점을 보이고 있는 가격 비교 트래픽이 감소를 하고 있다는 점이 언급 주신 쇼핑 검색 광고의 약화라든지 이런 부분에서 저희에게 영향을 주고 있는데요. 이 부분에서는 저희가 더욱더 쇼핑 경험과 접근성을 향상시키기 위해서 올해 저희 말에 10월 말에 저희가 런치했던 네이버 플러스 스토어와 마찬가지로 이제 개인화된 경험을 제공한다든지 저희가 가지고 있는 스마트 스토어 셀러들과 저희의 고객들을 직접 연결시켜 드리고 단골로 만들어 드리는 경험을 통해서 기존의 저희의 쇼핑의 단점 보완과 앞으로 장점을 더욱 강화하는 방안을 준비하고 있습니다. 이 외에도 저희가 멤버십에 추가되는 혜택이라든지 물류 부분에 대해서 그리고 저희가 상대적으로 약한 그로서리 카테고리에 대한 전략 등에 대해서도 저희가 전략을 더욱더 구체화하고 시장에 말씀드릴 수 있는 시기에 커뮤니케이션을 할 수 있도록 하겠습니다.
Regarding your question on our strategy for further bringing about a rebound in our shopping GMV, as we've mentioned during the presentation, we believe that the e-commerce market backdrop is being reshaped. After the pandemic, there's been a higher interest rate environment, as well as a bit of a difficulty that really suppressed the growth rate in the domestic market, and some of the companies were pushed to the verge of bankruptcy and default, and that had an impact on lowering the market growth rate as well. NAVER Shopping, basically in terms of the search domain as well as through the Smart Stores, we were able to bring about a good and robust growth. However, in some other segments compared to our peers, especially in the daily necessity segment, the growth was limited, and we admittedly understand that.
There are areas where NAVER has very strong strength in, but also compared to our peers, we do have certain weaknesses, and in those areas, we are very much focused on enhancing the competitiveness. So the area that we need to work on is further increasing the repeat purchase rate. In order to do that, we will be strengthening our logistics base as well as providing better benefits and more rewards through the membership program. And some of the examples that I can cite are Sunday delivery and guaranteed delivery, as well as free shipping and free returns and exchanges. On top of that, we will make more strategic investment, especially very aggressively in terms of reinforcing the logistical capability that we have. And in the near future, we will be able to come back to you with more details on that.
Also, there's concern that because we've seen some decline in the price comparison traffic, which was considered to be our key capabilities, we want to be able to further enhance experience there and improve on the accessibility, and that is in line with our launch of, at the end of October, NAVER Plus Store, providing more personalized information as well as directly connecting the purchasers and the consumers with the sellers and making these consumers more frequent visitors to a certain vendor, so those aspects are some of the endeavors that we're putting in so that we can improve on the weakness that we have.
And also, when the time comes, we will be able to communicate to you more detailed and fine-tuned strategies with regards to the benefits that we provide under our membership program and also ways for us to strengthen our weakness that currently we have on the grocery side. 추가로 부연 설명을 조금만 드리면, 전 세계에 특히 검색 위주 또는 좋은 입지를 가지고 있는 디스플레이 광고 플랫폼들의 힘은 점점 강력해지고 있다고 보시면 굉장히 견조하거든요. 글로벌 환경 자체가. 그래서 네이버 또한 그러한 프리빌리지된 위치에 입지에 있기 때문에 저희의 앞으로의 특히 서치 플랫폼의 전망은 굉장히 지금까지 보신 가속이 최소한 내년까지 우리는 유지하는 것을 목표로 삼고 있다라고 말씀드리고 싶고요.
Also to add on top of that, I just want to highlight the fact that if you look at the display ad platform and the positioning that they wield on the global environment that has a focus on the search aspect, they still enjoy a very solid and robust footing. And NAVER, I can tell you, in terms of that positioning, enjoys that privilege. So from a search platform outlook perspective, we are planning at least up until next year to maintain this trend of acceleration.
커머스 같은 경우 혹시나 앞으로 우리가 혜택 제공만 증가해서 마진만 악화되는 거 아니냐라는 우려를 하실 수가 있는데, 그게 아니라 조금 더 종합적으로 말씀을 드리면, 그동안 네이버는 굉장히 패시브한, 어떻게 보면 가격 비교 위주의 어떤 그런 마켓플레이스였는데, 방금 최수연 대표님께서 설명해 주신 것은 앞으로 점점 더 많이 일부 경쟁사처럼 풀리 매니지드는 아니더라도 저희가 더 많은 관여를 하는, 그리고 더 많은 종합적인 어떤 소비자 가치를 제공하는 그러한 쪽으로 전략의 변화가 있을 것이다라는 말씀을 암시를 드린 거고, 두 번째는 우리가 아직까지 아까도 지적이 한 번 나오셨는데, 커머스 광고에 집중을 지금 우선순위가 아니었습니다. 지금까지는 커머스 자체의 거래 향상을 위한 사용성 개선을 위한 노력을 기울였는데, 이 커머스 쇼핑 광고가 사실은 네이버가 어떻게 보면 가장 훌륭한 리테일 미디어 플랫폼이 될 수 있는 입지에 있는 만큼, 여기 또한 우리가 이제 내년에 더 많이 집중을 함으로써 훨씬 더 많은 업사이드 기회가 있다라고 말씀드리고 싶습니다.
So I want to make sure that you do not misunderstand that we are just playing to give out more benefits and rewards and that may erode our margin. No, that is not our approach. What we were trying to say is that NAVER in the past was mostly just a very passive marketplace providing price comparison features. Although we may not go fully, we may not go the direction of some of our competitors are taking onto a fully managed model, we are going to increase the level of engagement and so engagement and level of involvement that is so that we may be more actively be able to provide that consumer value. So I think that was what was being alluded to when our CEO was responding to your question. And second aspect is that up until this point, commerce ad wasn't one of our priorities.
We were focused more on enhancing the usability of the commerce service per se but NAVER is at a very unique positioning whereas it could truly become a retail media platform supported by this commerce ad as a very important pillar so what I'm trying to tell you is that there's quite a bit of upside potential when you think about the commerce ad pillar. 마지막으로 질문하실 분은 HSBC의 김준현 님입니다. We'll now take our last question from the line of Junhyun Kim with HSBC. Your line is now open. 준현 님 감사드립니다. 그 하나 질문이 있는데요. 이번 분기에 좀 마진 개선이 큰 폭으로 있었는데, 저희가 2023년 1분기부터 분기 단위로 계속 확대가 되었는데, 그럼 이번 분기에는 이게 비용 절감과 아니면 마진 높은 좀 코어 비즈니스 성장으로 좀 레버리지 효과 중에서 좀 어떤 부분이 더 좀 비중이 컸는지 설명해 주시면 감사하겠습니다.
그래서 이게 앞으로는 좀 최근에 좀 커머스 전략 이런 변경도 있었고, 이렇게 되다 보면 향후 마진 전망에 좀 어떻게 영향을 미칠지, 그리고 좀 예전에 주셨던 그런 가이던스를 분기 단위로 봤을 때는 이미 조기 달성을 하신 만큼 추가적으로 좀 더 빠른 마진 개선 폭이 중장기적으로 있을 건지, 거기에 대한 좀 전망을 공유해 주시면 감사하겠습니다. Just have one question we'd like to ask. There was a significant improvement on a quarterly margin basis, and since first quarter of 2023, that margin trajectory was upward and was expansionary. We'd like to know as to what was the key lever behind this quarter's impact or earnings. Was it the reduction in cost or the leverage impact that you're enjoying from higher level of margin? And also, can you provide us with what you're with us as to what your margin outlook is?
Because you've already achieved more than the guidance that you have guided us at the beginning of the year. 사실 저희의 마진 개선은 이번 분기만이 아니라 지난 분기에 웹툰의 성장 비용을 만약에 제거를 했다면, 그 지금보다 사실은 마진율은 더 높았을 거고요. 그 원인은 그 비용 절감도 아니고 오퍼레이팅 레버리지도 아직은 아니다라는 일단 말씀부터 드리고 싶습니다. Just to clarify the improvement in margin that we are seeing, actually, if you go back to the previous quarter, when you take out the listing-related cost for our Webtoon business, the margin actually was higher previous quarter. So I can tell you right on that it is not due to cost reduction nor operating leverage. 사실 우리 그 뭐 일부 공시도 되었지만, 우리 본연의 핵심 사업의 비용은 꽤 많이 증가했습니다.
저희가 그 건축 말고 장비 CAPEX에만 들어간 게 올해 작년보다 한 35%나 무려 매출 성장률이 3배 이상 늘어났고, 본업에 특히 커머스와 페이먼츠 관련된 마케팅 예산 또한 프로모션 또한 저희 성장률이 한 2배 이상 20몇 % 성장했습니다. As per our disclosure, basically if you look at our core businesses, the expenses and the cost that has been put in has actually gone up quite significantly. So in terms of CapEx investment, aside from the construction-related investment, our CapEx into equipment and machinery went up by 35%, which is three times the revenue growth level. And looking at the core business of commerce and payments, including the marketing and promotional costs, that budget actually went up by 20%, so more than the revenue. 따라서 이 마진 개선은 사실은 구조적인 변화였다고 말씀드리고 싶은데요.
지난 몇 년간 저희가 경영진으로서 언프라피터블한 그로스에 투입되던 상당한 예산을 프라피터블 그로스, 즉 핵심 사업이 성장을 함으로써 이익을 더 낼 수 있는 그 곳으로 재배치했다고 보시면 될 것 같고요. 가령 웹툰이 성장하면서 이제 상장사로서 프라피터블 그로스를 찾아갈 수 있는 동기를 내재화했다는 것이 저희가 사실은 웹툰을 상장을 하려고 했던 또 그 본사 경영진의 목표이기도 했습니다. So the margin improvement that you're seeing is structural. Over the past couple of years, the management team has focused on reallocating the budget, moving it away from unprofitable growth to profitable growth, investing it into our core business where more profit can be generated. And the decision by the headquarters office to list and go public with Webtoon basically is because of that very reason. We wanted to internalize the motivation behind the profitable growth of this business. 적자가 많았던 스노우 계열에도 일부 포트폴리오 재조정도 있었고요.
따라서 그 앞으로 우리는 이번 분기에서도 쇼핑 같은 경우 마케팅 지출이 늘어서 아까도 말씀드렸지만 그쪽의 수익성이 조금 떨어졌지만, 그 저희 검색 광고 플랫폼이 앞으로 계속 매출이 늘 경우에, 그리고 그 매출의 증가세가 우리의 헤드카운트 등 인건비의 증가세보다 높을 경우, 당연히 오퍼레이팅 레버리지는 앞으로 충분히 기회가 더 많이 남아 있고, 그러한 재원을 가지고 우리가 보다 많은 그 커머스에서 보다 많은 소비자 가치를 제공할 수 있는 것들에 재투자를 함으로써 그 훨씬 더 견고한 그 수익성 기반의 비즈니스 모델을 이어갈도록 노력을 할 것입니다. Also, we realigned the portfolio from our Snow business, which was deficit-making. Also, if you look at this quarter, because the marketing spend had gone up for the shopping business, that had pushed down on the profitability slightly.
But going forward, as we are able to generate more revenue from our search ad platform above and beyond the spending that is required in terms of labor cost, etc., then I believe that there will be greater opportunity for us to benefit from operating leverage going forward. And with the resources that we secure, we will be making reinvestments into the commerce business, thereby providing more and highly enhanced value offerings to our consumer base. So these types of investments into the with this type of an approach will help us solidify our business model underpinned by margin and profitability. 네, 시간 관계상 이걸 마지막으로 3분기 실적 발표를 마치겠습니다. 오늘 참석해 주신 투자자 여러분, 애널리스트 여러분, 감사 말씀드리면서 앞으로 많은 격려와 성원 부탁드립니다. Thank you. This brings us to the end of NAVER's third quarter 2024 earnings release.
Investors and analysts, thank you for joining us, and we look forward to your continued support.