2024.08.07. The Fair Economy — Hybe announced on the 7th that it posted consolidated revenue of 640.5 billion won in the second quarter of 2024. This surpasses the previous record of 621 billion won set in the second quarter of last year.
According to Hybe, first-half revenue totaled 1.0014 trillion won. Following last year's 1.0316 trillion won, this marks the second consecutive year that first-half revenue has surpassed 1 trillion won. This was achieved even without group activities from BTS, as members were fulfilling their mandatory military service.
The record-breaking Q2 performance was driven by direct participation-type revenue of 423.9 billion won, including album sales. Despite an industry-wide decline in album sales across the K-pop market that began in the second half of last year, comeback albums from Hybe's major artists received strong responses one after another, keeping direct participation-type revenue at a level similar to last year.
Album sales, which account for the largest share of direct participation revenue, rose 1.5% year-on-year to 249.5 billion won in the second quarter. In the first half, albums by Hybe Music Group artists sold over 15 million copies, accounting for 34% of total domestic album sales. The music streaming sector also showed strong performance. According to Spotify, eight of the top 10 most-streamed K-pop songs worldwide (excluding Korea) in the first half were by Hybe Music Group artists.
The performances of Hybe Music Group artists were reflected in impressive achievements across various charts. In the first half, five songs charted on the Billboard Hot 100, and a total of 12 albums entered the Billboard 200. Additionally, three teams ranked in the top 10 for album sales in the United States. In Japan, the world's second-largest music market, a total of five teams made it onto the Oricon Chart's first-half album ranking.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) for the superfan platform Weverse also showed an upward trend. In Q2, Weverse's average monthly active users (MAU) grew 4% quarter-on-quarter to approximately 9.6 million. The increase in MAU was driven by artist comebacks and a growing number of artists joining Weverse. Many fans revisited Weverse to mark Jin's discharge from the military and BTS's '2024 FESTA,' pushing June's MAU past 10 million. In addition, as Weverse DM usage gradually increased, purchases of Weverse's in-app digital currency 'Jelly' also rose, with average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) and payment amounts both increasing. In particular, total payments made on Weverse this quarter reached their highest level since the service's launch.
Q2 consolidated operating profit fell 37% year-on-year to 50.9 billion won. The decline in operating profit was affected by initial costs incurred from the full-scale launch of various new businesses and an expanded lineup of rookie artists. Specifically, this reflected ▲initial marketing costs for the publishing game "Become a Star 2: Knights of Veda," which launched service on April 2; ▲Binary Korea, which opened the creator fandom platform "THEUS" in June; ▲Supertone, which released the AI-based real-time voice conversion service "Supertone Shift"; and ▲operating expenses from new business segments including Hybe's Latin American subsidiary. Hybe is investing in "tech-based future growth businesses" for sustainable growth, and as its businesses are proceeding smoothly as originally planned, with numerous domestic and international artist activities scheduled, profitability is expected to improve starting in the third quarter.
Hybe's music group artists will continue active promotions in the second half as well. Jin plans to release a solo album in the second half, while Seventeen will meet fans around the world with a new album and a world tour spanning Korea, the U.S. and Japan. ENHYPEN is set to hold its first-ever 'The City' concert in Jakarta since its debut, along with encore performances in two Japanese cities. LE SSERAFIM plans to make a comeback with its fourth mini album 'CRAZY' on the 30th. NewJeans, meanwhile, has announced a world tour for next year, raising expectations among global fans.
Lee Jae-sang, CEO of Hybe, said, "The second half of 2024 marks the beginning of a new era led by new leadership, a time to lay the foundation for mid-to-long-term growth by fostering music, platform, and tech-based future growth businesses. Hybe will further solidify its core capabilities and design future IP and future fandom business models that take into account the changing market environment."
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