BlackPink is still YG Entertainment's "golden egg"
According to Newsis, the revenue and profit of the first quarter of 2023 of YG Entertainment reached 157,5 billion won (more than 2.750 billion VND) and 36,5 billion won (638 billion VND), respectively.
Revenue and profit increased by 108,6% and 497,6% respectively over the same period last year. This achievement far exceeded market expectations.
BlackPink makes world tour sales history
The company's stock value also hit a 52-week high. Statistics of Korea Exchange show that as of 9:35 a.m. on May 12, YG Entertainment is trading shares at 5 won (more than 75.600 million dong), an increase of 1,3 won (nearly 8.900 dong), an increase of 156.000% compared to the previous day's transaction.
Explaining this impressive growth, market researcher Park Soo-young shared on Newsis that this impressive achievement of YG is thanks to the skyrocketing value of the group BlackPink.
“BlackPink's concert revenue from last year has been recorded a large amount, and the group's standard pay per show has increased significantly compared to the fourth quarter. This can be considered as the main reason for the company's peak performance," said Park Soo-young.
Researcher Lee Seon-hwa further emphasized, "With BlackPink's 14 world tours and 10 Asia/Japan tours in the first quarter, concert-focused revenue growth continues."
BlackPink's Thailand concert attracts about 85.000 spectators
According to Touring Data, BlackPink's Born Pink world tour is currently the highest-grossing tour of all time among girl groups.
This record was previously held by the legendary British girl group - Spice Girls with Spice World tour (2019), revenue of 78,3 million USD (nearly 1.840 billion VND), with 697.357 attendees.
Meanwhile, only the first 26 shows, YG's girl group sold about 366.000 tickets, earning a revenue of 78,5 million USD.
It is predicted that the total revenue from the concert will increase even more when BlackPink has extended the tour until the end of 2023. The group has more than 10 concerts in big cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, New Jersey, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles...
Is the big man in K-pop "making money" for fans?
Besides sales from physical album sales, advertising contracts, fashion... concerts also bring huge profits to Korean entertainment companies.
Especially in the period when groups expand their international influence with a series of global tours and the economic crisis after the pandemic.
The rising concert prices make K-pop fans angry
Not only BlackPink, the data of the Korean Institute of Culture and Tourism shows, it is estimated that the cult group BTS can earn profits from 667,9 billion won (more than 11,6 trillion VND) to 1,22 trillion won (more than 21,3 trillion VND) with each concert held after the pandemic.
However, revenue increased sharply after the Covid-19 epidemic partly due to the increase in ticket prices for performances. This has also sparked a wave of controversy over the past several weeks.
According to data from MGR Online, ticket prices have increased by nearly 20% compared to the time before live shows were suspended in 2019. If comparing the current price with 10 years ago, this difference has increased to 60%.
Specifically, the average cost for a concert ticket of K-pop idols in Thailand is currently around 5.270 baht (3,6 million VND). MGR Online believes that the amount of money that fans have to spend is too high, because the cheapest ticket in 2013 fluctuated around 1.050 baht (726.000 VND), while the most expensive ticket at that time only touched 6.000 baht (4,1 million VND).
Currently, a VIP ticket for a K-pop concert sold by the organizer can be up to more than 10 million VND.
The situation in Korea is not too different. VIP tickets cost more than 200.000 won (about 3,5 million VND) for many K-pop concerts. "It's sad that we can't participate in activities if we don't have money," MGR Online quoted one fan as commenting.
Hybe's new business strategy caused a strong public reaction
Not only stopping at the increase in concert ticket prices, Hybe Entertainment's dynamic pricing strategy at the upcoming US concerts of rapper Suga (BTS) and group TXT are also in trouble.
As Allkpop explains, dynamic pricing is a way to price products and services that are flexible according to competitors' prices, peak seasons, and other factors. This pricing allows businesses to change their prices in line with what customers are willing to pay at the time.
This means that, the more famous the artist, the higher the ticket price for the shows will be, even much higher than the original price. With a group with a global fan base like BTS, an exponential increase in ticket prices is inevitable.
In addition, Hybe also changed the way to charge on Weverse, a social network where fans can directly interact with K-pop idols. Fans will have to pay an additional fee to access the subtitles, no ads, or earlier live replay features on Weverse DM and Weverse by Fans.
Therefore, the BTS fan community is calling for a boycott of Hybe's "dynamic pricing" strategy, because they feel they are the main target for this "money-making" business.
