HYBE, the South Korean entertainment giant behind BTS, has reported its strongest-ever quarterly revenue performance, driven by a dramatic rise in concert earnings. For Q3 2025, the company posted a 37.8% year-on-year (YoY) increase in revenue, reaching 727.2 billion South Korean won (USD $524.7 million).
This marks a new record for HYBE, surpassing its previous best in Q4 2024, and bringing the total revenue for the first nine months of 2025 to 1.93 trillion won (USD $1.39 billion).
Concert revenue saw the most significant growth, soaring 231% YoY to 245 billion won (USD $176.8 million). This surge was largely driven by global tours and fan events by BTS’s Jin, SEVENTEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, and ENHYPEN.
Direct artist activities—covering both recorded music and concerts—accounted for 66% of HYBE’s total revenue, generating 477.4 billion won (USD $344.5 million). However, recorded music revenue decreased by 11.5% YoY to 189.8 billion won (USD $137 million), a result of fewer album releases during the quarter.
Meanwhile, indirect revenue sources, including official merchandise, intellectual property licensing, content, and fan club memberships, grew by 22% YoY to 249.8 billion won (USD $180.2 million). Merchandise and IP licensing revenue surged 70% YoY to 168.3 billion won (USD $121.4 million), largely driven by tour merchandise and IP-based products.
Despite the revenue growth, HYBE reported an operating loss of 42.2 billion won (USD $30.4 million), a sharp contrast to last year’s operating profit of 54.2 billion won (USD $37 million). The loss was attributed to significant strategic investments in expanding global intellectual property (IP), including early-stage investments in CORTIS and two teams from HYBE Latin America’s audition programme, Pase a la Fama, as well as restructuring costs tied to its North American business.
HYBE’s CFO, Kyung Jun Lee, explained: “While the debut of multiple teams has temporarily absorbed short-term profitability, HYBE’s growth structure will be strengthened in the mid-to-long term through global fandom expansion and revenue base stabilisation.”
He added: “The transition of our North American business to a label-centric, IP-integrated structure is expected to stabilise the P&L next year, with the effects of this restructuring becoming more apparent.”
