South Korea-based entertainment giant HYBE has published its earnings for Q4 and FY 2023.
According to the new investor filing, HYBE’s annual revenues grew 22.6% YoY to 2.178 trillion South Korea Won last year.
That total revenue haul for FY 2023 converts to USD $1.66 billion at the average annual exchange rate.
The company’s EBITDA in 2023 was 390 billion South Korean won (USD $298m).
Revenues generated by the company’s recorded music business grew 75.8% YoY, from 551.98 billion South Korea won ($427.31m) in 2022 to 970.46 billion South Korea Won (USD $742m) last year.
The biggest driver of HYBE’s revenues in 2023 however was its ‘Artist Direct Involvement‘ business line, which generated 1.471 trillion South Korea Won ($1.125bn) and was up 51.4% YoY (see below).
Meanwhile, HYBE’s Artist Indirect Involvement business line (its third-largest revenue source in 2023), which sees the company use the name and likeness of its artists such as BTS without requiring the band’s active participation, generated 706 billion South Korea Won ($540.29m), down 12.1% YoY.
The company’s ‘Concerts’ business, meanwhile, generated 359 billion South Korean won in 2023, which was up 39.1% YoY. That FY ‘Concerts’ revenue figure converts to $274.7 million at annual average exchange rates.
HYBE has also broken down the streaming revenues generated in 2023 by its Korea-based labels and US-based labels including Big Machine Label Group and QC.
HYBE acquired QC – best known as Quality Control (QC), the Atlanta-born hip-hop specialist created by local legends Pierre “P” Thomas and Kevin “Coach K” Lee – in February 2023.
HYBE acquired BMLG when Scooter Braun sold the entirety of his Ithaca Holdings – including SB Projects and Big Machine Label Group – to HYBE in April 2021 for $1.05 billion.
According to HYBE, its US-based labels, including Big Machine Label Group and QC, generated a combined 150 billion South Korean won ($114.79m) in streaming revenue in 2023 versus 88 billion ($68.12m) South Korea won in 2022 (see below).
The company’s Korea-based labels generated 107 billion South Korean won ($81.88m) in international streaming revenue in 2023 versus 53 million South Korean Won ($41m) in 2022.
HYBE’s domestic streaming revenues for its South Korea-based labels reached 41 billion South Korean won in 2023 ($31.37m), versus 25 billion ($19.35m) South Korean won in 2022, according to the company’s investor presentation.
Elsewhere in HYBE’s investor presentation, the company reports that the combined album units sold by all of its Korean artists in 2023 was 43.6 million.
That represented an increase of 96.36% YoY or 22.1 million album units versus 2022.
Seventeen was HYBE’s biggest seller domestically in 2023, according to data from South Korea’s Circle Chart (which tracks domestic sales in South Korea), achieving a combined 15.93 million physical album sales in 2023.
According to South Korea’s Hanteo chart platform, back in April 2023, SEVENTEEN’s FML racked up 4.64 million physical preorders worldwide to make it, at the time, the most pre-ordered K-Pop album of all time.
(This record was later pipped by JYP-signed Stray Kids, whose album 5-STAR surpassed 5.13 million preorders).
SEVENTEEN’s FML then went on to break BTS’ record for the biggest sales for an individual K-pop album ever, surpassing 6.2 million physical copies sold.
Tomorrow X Together were HYBE’s second-biggest selling act in 2023 with 6.5 million album units sold last year (see below).
Solo BTS stars Jung Kook, V and Jimin, sold 2.7 million, 2.24 million and 1.74 million album units respectively in 2023.
Breaking its revenues down geographically, HYBE reports that South Korea contributed 36% of the company’s total revenues in 2023.
Japan was HYBE’s second-largest market in 2023, contributing 31% of the company’s total revenues last year.
North America, meanwhile, contributed 26%, while China contributed 1% (see below).
All KRW-USD currency conversions in this report have been calculated at the average annual rate published by the IRS in the United States.Music Business Worldwide
