JYP Entertainment Profits Slip on Lack of High-Profile Album Releases & Large Tours
Written by djfrosty on May 14, 2025
Profitability at K-pop company JYP Entertainment fell in the first quarter due to a lack of large tours and an album release schedule that favored young, developing artists. While revenue reached 140.8 billion KRW ($97 million), up 3% from the prior-year period, operating profit fell 42%.
Operating margin — operating income as a percentage of revenue — fell to 14% from 25% because of increased content production costs and artist fees. Content production jumped 53.8% as JYP Entertainment released albums by early-stage artists and experienced higher concert production costs in South Korea. Stray Kids‘ contract renewal was part of a 16.4% increase in artist fees.
Net profit more than doubled to 69.3 billion KRW ($48 million), however, thanks to 77.4 billion KRW ($53 million) of unspecified gains.
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Physical releases from young artists such as NMIXX, KickFlip and others generated 29.7 billion KRW ($20 million), down 3.8% year over year. Streaming revenue fell 5.5% to 15.0 billion KRW ($10 million). Concert revenue sank 26.3% to 21.7 billion KRW ($15 million) due to a dearth of large-scale tours.
There was plenty of growth elsewhere to compensate for weaker music and concert revenue, however. Merchandise revenue, up 37.1% to 32.7 billion KRW ($23 million), benefited from an expansion in Japan and a Stray Kids domestic fan meeting. Advertisements rose 15% to 9 billion KRW ($6.2 million) and appearances jumped 86% to 8.7 billion KRW ($6 million). YouTube revenue jumped 10% to 5.3 billion KRW ($4 million).
JYP Entertainment’s album release schedule looks bare in the second quarter. A mini-album by ITZY is the only release scheduled for an established artist. The third and fourth quarter schedules have not been announced, but given the company’s plan to release more than 20 physical albums in 2025, the second half of the year should see more than a dozen releases.
The current touring schedule for 2025 includes 32 Stray Kids concerts in 12 countries and performances in Japan by NEXZ and NiziU. Xdinary Heroes will perform 18 concerts in 7 countries in the second and third quarters. TWICE will be a headliner at Lollapalooza in Chicago on Aug. 2.