BTS Album and BLACKPINK Weverse Entry Seen as Key Factors for HYBE's Growth in the Second Half of 2021
BTS's album release and BLACKPINK's entry into Weverse are considered the major factors for HYBE's improvement when it comes to sales and operating profit in the second half of the year.
On Aug. 7, Korean analysts from different local securities exchange companies shared their expectations on HYBE's performance in the second half of 2021, citing BTS and BLACKPINK as the key aspects of the company's growth.
BTS Album Release Regarded as One Main Factor for HYBE's Sales and Profit Growth
According to Korean securities analysts, they would be paying attention to HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment) in the second half of 2021 as they expect the company to see striking growth in sales and operating profit.
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The analysts stated that while resuming offline concerts remains difficult at this time due to the re-spreading of COVID-19 in South Korea, HYBE is projected to see significant improvement due to two main factors: the release of BTS's album and BLACKPINK's entry to Weverse.
Park Ha Kyung, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities said, "BTS's album and TXT's repackaged album will be sold in the third quarter, hence, HYBE's sales volume is expected to increase by 27% from the previous quarter, reaching 4.3 million copies.
Lee Seonhwa, a researcher at KB Securities, said that HYBE's sales of merchandise and licenses in the second quarter decreased by 12.5% compared to the first quarter since some of the sales were delayed to the third quarter due to the pre-order post-delivery system.
Because of this, HYBE's sales in the third quarter of 2021 are projected to be higher than in the previous quarters.
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BTS's albums usually sell millions of copies in just a few weeks after release. In fact, the boy group recently set the record for the highest first-week sales of any 2021 album on the Hanteo Chart.
BTS's "Butter" CD sold almost two million copies in the first week of sales alone, a total of 1,975,364 copies to be exact.
This sales figure is also the fourth-highest first-week sales record on the Hanteo Chart in history. The first four places on the list are now claimed by BTS: "Map of the Soul: 7" (3,370,000), "BE" (2,270,000), "Map of the Soul: Persona" (2,130,000), and "Butter."
As BTS is yet to drop a regular album this year, it is predicted that HYBE's sales would see much growth in the second half of 2021.
BLACKPINK Weverse Entry Considered as One Main Factor for HYBE's Sales and Profit Growth
Apart from BTS's album, the effect of BLACKPINK's Weverse entry is also another main factor for HYBE's improvement in sales and operating profit.
Lee Ki Hoon, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said that Weverse's monthly active users (MAU) for the second quarter were 5.3 million.
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But after BLACKPINK joined Weverse on Aug. 2, a total of 1.5 million MAU were recorded in just three days. Compared to the result in the second quarter (which was accumulated for three months), more than five million active users might be seen in just a month due to the upcoming content of BLACKPINK.
Lee Ki Hoon added that BLACKPINK's Weverse entry is predicted to contribute to the increase in revenues of HYBE.
According to Hana Financial Investment, HYBE's sales and operating profit in the third quarter of 2021 are expected to record high results of 342.6 billion won and 72 billion won, respectively.
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Written by Mhaliya Scott
