K-Pop World Tours Boost Entertainment Stocks and Revenue Projections

《Lee Min-kyung's Siren》
Lee Min-kyung from TenAsia sounds the alarm on the rapidly evolving entertainment industry, highlighting unseen issues and alerting to threats and changes surrounding the entertainment world.

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K-Pop artists are embarking on world tours this month, which not only generate concert revenue but also significant local merchandise (MD) sales. Financial analysts are optimistic about the entertainment sector's performance in the latter half of the year.

SM Entertainment has announced world tours for artists like NCT DREAM, aespa, Super Junior, and Onew. As a result, the consensus for their annual revenue in 2025 has increased by approximately 3.2% compared to three months ago. The stock price, which hit a low of 55,000 KRW last September, surged to a high of 152,500 KRW on the 2nd of this month and is currently at 133,900 KRW as of 3:30 PM on the 9th.

YG Entertainment's stock has also seen a significant rise, driven by tours from BLACKPINK, BABYMONSTER, and TREASURE. Comparing the lowest point last September to the peak on the 2nd of this month, the stock has jumped by about 223%, currently maintaining around 85,000 KRW.

Hana Securities analysts Ki-hoon Lee and Hyun-soo Kim have highlighted YG Entertainment's MD strategy for the latter half of the year. They predict MD sales to reach approximately 80 billion KRW in the second half of 2025, surpassing the annual performance of 2023. They also estimate that over 60% of total revenue will be concentrated in the latter half of the year due to ongoing tours. According to the same report, annual concert revenue from BLACKPINK, BABYMONSTER, and TREASURE's tours is estimated at 12.6 billion KRW.

JYP Entertainment is also experiencing positive projections. Their leading artists, Stray Kids, are currently on a world tour, and TWICE has announced new tour dates. This has led to optimistic forecasts for JYP's performance in the latter half of the year.

According to KB Securities analyst Sun-hwa Lee, Stray Kids' 'dominATE' second tour is expected to attract a total of 1.4 million attendees across 33 shows annually. She noted that the average attendance per show has increased by 1.4 times compared to the first tour, and the overseas MD sales, produced under a local IP royalty model, are highly profitable.

The annual revenue consensus in the financial sector has risen by approximately 9.65% compared to a year ago and by 3.75% compared to three months ago. JYP's stock, which was at 43,100 KRW last September, has risen by about 64% to 70,700 KRW.

HYBE is expected to secure an audience of around 1.1 million for concerts featuring TXT, BTS's J-Hope, LE SSERAFIM, and ENHYPEN this year. Hana Securities analyst Ki-hoon Lee forecasts concert attendance to reach approximately 1.1 million, with MD and licensing revenue exceeding 140 billion KRW.

Despite the anticipation surrounding BTS's activities post-military service, the consensus remains stable, yet the stock price continues to rise. Starting from a low of 157,700 KRW last September, it climbed to 323,000 KRW on the 2nd of this month, marking a 105% increase. The current stock price is around 270,000 KRW.

Beyond the major four companies, numerous renowned domestic artists, including ATEEZ, ZEROBASEONE, and THE BOYZ, are either on world tours or planning them. BIGBANG's G-Dragon is also touring globally. Interest in the Netflix animation 'K-Pop Demon Hunters,' which features K-Pop as its theme, is growing, leading financial analysts to maintain an optimistic outlook for the entertainment industry.

Meritz Securities analyst Min-young Kim noted that K-Pop MD spending in the US and China has increased, with the US recording an all-time high of $281 in per capita concert spending. He added that positive effects are expected across the performance, MD, and streaming markets.

Lee Min-kyung, TenAsia Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr