Korea’s HYBE, the company behind K-pop superstars BTS, has posted its financial results for Q3 2021 (the three months to the end of September).
According to a filing published today (November 4), HYBE generated revenues of 341 billion South Korea Won (approximately $288m at current exchange rates) in Q3, an increase of 79.5% or 151 billion South Korea Won ($127m) compared to the same quarter in 2020.
HYBE’s Q3 2021 revenues of 341 billion South Korea Won was up 22.4% compared to the prior quarter (Q2 2021), when HYBE posted revenues of 278.6 billion South Korea Won ($235m).
HYBE’s net profit in Q3 was 49.5 billion South Korea Won ($41.7m), marking growth of 81.9%, or 22 billion South Korea Won ($18.5m) YoY.
Digging deeper into the company’s financial results reveals that HYBE’s album sales saw 176.8% YoY growth to hit 129.6 billion South Korea Won (approx. $109m) in Q3 (see below).
That figure was up 21.2% compared to the prior quarter (Q2 2021), when HYBE posted album sales of 107 billion South Korea Won ($90m).
HYBE’s biggest revenue driver in Q3 was its Artist Indirect-involvement business, which generated 177.5 billion South Korea Won ($150m), an increase of 40.9% YoY.
That figure was up 18.4% compared to the prior quarter (Q2 2021), when HYBE posted Artist Indirect-involvement revenues of 149.9 billion South Korea Won ($126m).
HYBE’s “Artist Indirect-Involvement” business line sees it use the name and likeness of its artists, such as BTS, for advertising and branding exercises without requiring the band’s active participation.
HYBE’s second biggest revenue driver was its ‘Artist Direct-involvement’ business, which generated revenues of 163.4 billion South Korea Won ($138m) in Q3, an increase of 155.5% YoY.
The company’s Q3 2021 Artist Direct-involvement revenues of 163.4 billion South Korea Won was up 27.1% compared to the prior quarter (Q2 2021), when HYBE generated revenues of 128.6 billion South Korea Won ($108m) from this business line.
Elsewhere, HYBE’s revenues from merchandising and licensing fell 23.5% YoY to 76.7 billion South Korea Won ($64m), down from 100.2 billion South Korea Won ($84m) in the same quarter last year.
The company’s revenues from merchandising and licensing grew 53.2% compared to the prior quarter (Q2) however, when HYBE generated revenues of 50 billion South Korea won ($42.1bn) from merchandising and licensing.
Meanwhile, Weverse, HYBE’s fan-community app that pulls together content made by and for Big Hit artists including music videos, teasers, movies, merch sales and live streams, grew to 6.4m Monthly Active Users in Q3 2021, which was up 20% compared to the prior quarter (Q2).
The average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) for Weverse fell by 14% compared to the prior quarter (see above).Music Business Worldwide