BTS label logs all-time high earnings in Q4 2020

Big Hit Entertainment Co., the label behind global sensation BTS, reported all-time high earnings for last year's fourth quarter despite the drop in offline concert profits amid the COVID-19 crisis. 

The K-pop label reported 312.3 billion won ($280 million) in revenue and 52.5 billion won in operating profit during the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the company's regulatory filing on Feb. 23. Both revenue and operating profit reached an all-time high, up by 117% and 122%, respectively.

The company’s operating profit hovered about 5.57% below the market consensus, but still showed favorable performance overall, according to market watchers.

For the entire year of 2020, Big Hit logged 796.3 billion won in revenue and 142.4 billion won in operating profit, up by 36% and 44% from the year-earlier period, respectively. The company also saw its net profit climb by 19% to 86.2 billion won.

The company's impressive performance is largely owing to BTS' continued surging popularity and Big Hit's successful transition to offering contactless services, such as online concerts and more frequent album releases.

Last year, BTS doubled the frequency of its album releases compared to other years. The group rolled out three albums in Korea and a single album in Japan. 

The group's paid online concert was also a huge hit. Last June, BTS held its first paid online exclusive concert: Bang Bang Con: The Live in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The concert pulled in 750,000 viewers from 107 countries.

In October 2020, another BTS concert, the Map of the Soul On:E attracted almost 1 million viewers globally.

Besides BTS' successful concerts, Big Hit also began to expand the scope of its online operations. The label focused on fostering its online fan club platform, Weverse, as a new source of revenue growth.

"The strong album sales from BTS, and well-balanced growth in new businesses helped push the company's revenue," said a Big Hit official. "We plan to continue to drive growth via partnerships, such as our collaboration with Universal Music Group and Naver Corp.'s fan community platform, V Live operation," the official said. 

Write to Soo-young Seong and Bum-jin Chun at syoung@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.