HYBE exceeded 2 trillion won in annual revenue for the second consecutive year, thanks to solid album sales and remarkable growth in the performance and institutional sector. Following its milestone of surpassing 2 trillion won in annual revenue in 2023 as the first domestic entertainment corporation, performance continued to rise in 2024, hitting a new peak. Even with members of BTS fulfilling their military duties last year, various HYBE music group artists continued to perform actively.

HYBE's consolidated revenue for 2024 reached approximately 2.25 trillion won, an increase of about 4% compared to the previous year, marking the highest figure since its founding. Direct participation revenue fell 1.8% year on year to 1.44 trillion won, while indirect participation revenue rose 14.5% to 809.3 billion won during the same period. Although direct participation revenue, mainly driven by the album sector, declined by 11.3% compared to the previous year, the significant growth of 25.6% in the performance sector offset the losses. Following the end of the pandemic, it appears that fans' consumption patterns have diversified, focusing on offline events.

In the album sector, HYBE's domestic artists recorded a 40% market share on the annual Circle Chart, up from 38% the previous year. Seventeen achieved a remarkable record of selling over 10 million albums for the second consecutive year in 2023. Tomorrow X Together had two albums make it into the annual Circle Chart Top 10, with all three albums released last year ranking on the Japan Oricon year-end chart. ENHYPEN recorded cumulative sales of 5.45 million copies and made its mark on annual album charts in the U.S. and Japan at 8th and 9th places, respectively, proving their global popularity. New Jeans sold over 3 million albums, achieving the largest market share among K-pop female artists. BOYNEXTDOOR, gaining popularity with their recent release "Today Only I LOVE YOU," became a million seller just a year and a half after their debut.

HYBE music group artists shone in the digital music sector as well. A total of 15 songs by HYBE artists entered the Circle Chart "Global K-Pop Chart" Top 20, demonstrating strong content competitiveness across domestic and international streaming platforms. BTS members Jin, Jimin, V, and Jungkook had their solo songs and RM featured in Megan Thee Stallion's "Neva Play," both of which entered the Billboard Hot 100. LE SSERAFIM charted with "EASY" and "CRAZY" on the Billboard Hot 100 in the first and second halves of last year, respectively. TWS, which debuted last year, topped the Melon annual chart with their debut song "The First Meeting Did Not Go As Planned," while ILYT made history by becoming the first K-Pop debut song to enter both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Official Singles Top 100.

Last year, HYBE music group artists performed a total of 147 concerts and 25 fan meetings, achieving the highest performance revenue since the company was founded. According to Billboard's "2024 K-Pop Performance Revenue Chart," Seventeen, ENHYPEN, and Tomorrow X Together claimed the Top 3 spots. Notably, Q4 performance revenue reached 188.9 billion won, more than double that of the same period the previous year.

Looking at the indirect participation revenue, the sales from the performance sector and the synergistic effects in the MD and licensing sectors recorded a historical high of 420 billion won, an increase of 29.1% compared to the previous year. As HYBE music group artists undertook massive world tours, significant sales of performance-related MD and light sticks surged, and character products inspired by members of groups like BTS, Seventeen, and Tomorrow X Together garnered much love.

HYBE America also achieved notable results. Artists from the Big Machine Label Group, a subsidiary of HYBE America, topped 10 Billboard charts, with Carly Pearce being nominated for the Grammy Awards for the second consecutive year. Another HYBE America label, Quality Control Music, has continued to feature key artists like Quavo, Lil Baby, and Lil Yachty. Lil Baby's song "WHAM," released in early January, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, setting a record by having all four of his recent albums reach No. 1 on that chart. The management division of HYBE America, SB Projects, recently strengthened its artist management capabilities by recruiting Cade Hudson, who was responsible for major U.S. artists such as Britney Spears, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, and Selena Gomez at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

HYBE's consolidated operating profit for 2024 was 184.8 billion won, a decrease of 38% compared to the previous year. The decline in operating profit was influenced by the hiatus in team activities due to BTS fulfilling their military duties and changes in revenue shares among artists due to the debut of several new groups. Expenses related to investments for the debut of Cat's Eye in the U.S. and the establishment of HYBE Latin America contributed to the reduction in profitability. Additionally, as new growth businesses such as Weverse and gaming have intensified, upfront investment costs for securing medium- to long-term growth engines were incurred.

HYBE's profitability is expected to improve this year. Most notably, the comeback of BTS, the economic scale effects generated by the steady growth of HYBE music group artists, strengthened artist management capabilities through the recruitment of Cade Hudson, and revenue generation from the HYBE Latin America branch are anticipated to drive profitability improvements.

The performance of the new growth business sector is also considered a factor improving profitability. Revenue related to the Weverse digital membership service, which started in December last year, is expected to reflect in the results beginning January this year, after the free usage period ends. HYBE IM plans to enhance its publishing lineup through notable games that garnered attention from many gamers at "2024 G-Star," such as "Architect: Land of Exile" and a new work from Bonfire Studio. Furthermore, several self-developed titles, including the mobile puzzle game "Puzzle Seventeen," are set to be sequentially introduced. The AI audio company Supertone has consecutively launched "Supertone Shift" and "Supertone Play." Supertone Shift is a service that transforms a user's voice into character voices and currently has around 350,000 subscribers. Supertone Play applies TTS technology that converts text to speech, supporting 150 voices in three languages, with B2B deliveries ongoing in the form of AI chatbots.

Additionally, new team projects will be underway this year in regions like the U.S., Japan, and Latin America. HYBE aims to drive market innovation with a “multi-home, multi-genre” strategy, integrating the K-pop system and know-how with local cultures and characteristics. In the U.S., they plan to kick off a new boy group project with producer Ryan Tedder, known for collaborating with global musicians like Beyoncé, Adele, and Ed Sheeran. In Japan, YX LABELS will introduce a new generation J-pop group following &TEAM.

[Photo] HYBE