HYBE releases 2021 and Q4/2021 earnings report, announcing its income surpasses $836 million and its next steps forward

HYBE, the entertainment company behind BTS, on 22 February during an investor meeting released its 2021 and Q4 earnings report. The company's Q4 net income reached ₩53.8 billion ($45.1 million), up 106.1%. Its earnings surpassed the ₩1 trillion mark, up 58% (yoy). With this performance, HYBE joined the 1 trillion won company club in South Korea, making it the first ever South Korean music company to do so.

Despite the pandemic, HYBE in 2021 saw a 980.5% (yoy) increase in concert sales, earning ₩49.7 billion ($41,672,605).  The majority of those earnings came from Q4/2021 alone, with BTS' "Permission to Dance" concerts in Los Angeles as the largest contributor. 

The report notes that the company’s album sales growth in 2021 was mainly driven by two factors, namely the organic growth of its Korean artist and the inorganic growth through the Ithaca Holdings acquisition (including Scooter Braun’s SB Projects and Big Machine Label Group Records).

It consists of HYBE’s non-Korean artists’ performances throughout the year, including Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Dan + Shay, Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts. Citing MRC data, the report states the Ithaca Holdings artists recorded 12.3 million album sales. 

In terms of its Korean artists’ organic growth, K-Pop boy groups BTS and SEVENTEEN were the major contributors. According to Gaon Chart data, although BTS sold less albums compared to 2020 (9.4 million albums), the group still managed to sell up to 7.4 million albums last year. 

Meanwhile, SEVENTEEN sold 3.7 million albums last year, much higher compared to 2020 when they sold 2.6 million albums. TXT and ENHYPEN are also noted in the report, as they managed to sell 1.8 million and 2.2 million albums, respectively. 

Despite it all, one interesting point that should be noted is that according to the earnings summary, HYBE's artist indirect involvement (which made up to ₩524 billion) contributed more than artist direct involvement through albums, concerts, management and ads appearances (₩733 billion). Artist indirect involvement is measured through the number of merchandising and licensing, contents and fan clubs. 

As reported by BBC, HYBE Chief Executive Park Jiwon also mentioned during the investors meeting that the company plans to invest in game developers and provide a variety of entertainment in the soon-to-be-unfold metaverse given the great performances of the artist indirect involvement through content. 

Currently, Hybe generates quite a great revenue through its Weverse platform that allows fans to connect with artists and buy exclusive content.

In terms of licensing, HYBE’s mobile game Rhythm Hive where players could tap along to music by BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT and ENHYPEN has gained prominence among fans. Fans collect and buy “gems” that could be used for virtual purchases. HYBE also have released three webtoons - each webtoon’s characters are based on BTS, TXT and ENHYPEN members. 

Lastly, the company also mentioned that they are currently in the process of launching NFTs that have been touted as the digital answer to collectables, despite fans’ sceptical takes and concerns towards the NFT plans.