South Korean leisure powerhouse HYBE has achieved its highest-ever first-quarter income haul, surpassing the five hundred billion South Korean gained mark within the three months to the top of March.
HYBE reported KRW 500.6 billion (approx. USD $348.4 million at present change charges) in first-quarter income on Tuesday (April 29), a 38.7% bounce from KRW 360.9 billion ($251m) final yr.
This marked a restoration from Q1 2024 when HYBE’s income dropped 12.1% YoY to KRW 360.92 billion ($251.7m).
Live performance income emerged because the standout performer, greater than tripling YoY to KRW 155.2 billion ($108m) from KRW 44 billion ($30.7m), defying the market’s forecast for a 48.6% drop in live performance income to KRW 74.6 billion ($52m).
HYBE’s live performance phase surpassed expectations following profitable solo and world excursions from j-hope of BTS, SEVENTEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN, and BOYNEXTDOOR. HYBE attributed the expansion to its multi-label system that allowed extra artist teams “to develop to the extent the place they’ll efficiently perform world excursions.”
The phase’s robust efficiency helped increase income for HYBE’s “artist direct-involvement” phase to KRW 322.5 billion ($225m) of whole income in Q1, accounting for 64% of the group’s whole. The determine was up 48.6% from final yr.
In the meantime, the corporate’s “artist indirect-involvement” phase, which incorporates merchandising and licensing, content material, and the Weverse fan platform, reported income of KRW 178.1 billion ($124m) up 23.7% YoY.
The expansion was pushed by a 75% YoY bounce in merchandise and licensing income to KRW 106.4 billion ($74m), in addition to robust gross sales of tour-related merchandise and character merchandise impressed by artists like SEVENTEEN’s MINITEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s PPULBATU, and LE SSERAFIM’s FIM’S CLUB.
Weverse posted 10 million month-to-month lively customers (MAUs) in Q1, up from 9.4 million in This fall 2024 and from 9.2 million MAUs in Q1 2024. Through the quarter, Weverse launched ‘Listening Celebration,’ a service permitting artists and followers to collect on-line for shared music experiences, powered by a Spotify integration. HYBE hinted that Apple Music help is coming quickly.
In the beginning of the yr, HYBE revealed that Weverse hit the milestone of 150 million cumulative world downloads in 2024. Weverse President Joon Choi advised MBW earlier this month that “90% of our site visitors comes from areas exterior of Korea, which signifies that most of our customers are world superfans.”
With Weverse’s development, HYBE’s income from fan golf equipment jumped 39% YoY to KRW 30.5 billion ($21m), offsetting the 32.7% YoY drop in income from content material to KRW 41.2 billion ($29m).
Total, HYBE’s working revenue jumped 50.3% YoY to KRW 21.6 billion ($15m) in Q1, falling in need of the market’s consensus forecast of KRW 53.1 billion ($37m). Kim Yoo-hyeok, a researcher at IBK Securities, had earlier attributed this to “the shortage of album releases aside from BSS, Hoshi, and Woosung, and LE SSERAFIM.”
Nevertheless, HYBE’s efficiency nonetheless marked a restoration from final yr when Q1 working revenue nosedived 72.6% YoY to KRW 14.34 billion ($10m). Internet revenue in Q1 2025 soared 398% YoY to KRW 55.3 billion ($39m).
Trying forward, HYBE expects the development to proceed for the remainder of the yr, with over 150 concert events that includes HYBE artists lined up and extra engagements anticipated to be added within the second half of 2025.
For Q2 2025, the corporate stated it expects “development in each income and working revenue” as most artists are anticipated to make comebacks and resume actions. BTS’s Jin is ready to drop his second solo album and launch his first-ever solo tour in June, whereas SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, and BOYNEXTDOOR are additionally set to launch new supplies.
Elsewhere, LE SSERAFIM just lately went on their first world tour in Asia and North America, whereas lady group KATSEYE are anticipated to return with a brand new single on April 30 and carry out on the 2025 Lollapalooza in Chicago.
HYBE can also be set to debut a J-pop boy band referred to as aoen in June. The seven-member boy band was fashioned through an audition aired on Japan’s Nippon TV that aired from February. Moreover, BIGHIT MUSIC, dwelling of BTS and TOMORROW X TOGETHER, can also be slated to introduce a brand new boy group in Q3 2025.
HYBE additionally continues to increase its presence globally. The corporate’s Latin America arm just lately teamed up with Spanish-language tv community Telemundo to launch Pase a la Fama, described as a first-of-its-kind music competitors collection centered on creating the subsequent nice Regional Mexican band.
HYBE stated “a whole bunch of artists auditioned” for the present, however solely 55 can be chosen to affix a “rigorous creative camp”.
Earlier this month, HYBE’s American arm signed a distribution partnership with So So Def Recordings, reuniting music government Scooter Braun with the label’s founder, Grammy Award-winning producer Jermaine Dupri. The settlement offers Atlanta-based So So Def Recordings entry to HYBE America‘s world distribution community and advertising and marketing sources, permitting it to launch new artists “with a contemporary world attain.”
Additionally in April, HYBE America partnered with YouTube star and Alan’s Universe creator Alan Chikin Chow to type a brand new enterprise referred to as HYBE AMERICA x AU, which HYBE described as “a first-of-its-kind label” that can launch a “groundbreaking franchise spanning each scripted content material and music.”
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