State Champ Radio earnings
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CTS Eventim, the German concert promoter and ticketing company, surpassed 2 billion euros in annual revenue for the first time in 2023. Revenue jumped 22% to 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion at the average exchange rate in 2023) while normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 32% to 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
Earnings per share increased by a third to 2.86 euros ($3.05) from 2.12 euros ($2.29) in 2022. In light of the record performance, the company’s executive board and supervisory board will propose at the annual shareholders meeting a dividend of 137.3 million euros ($148.7 million at the current exchange rate). The largest dividend payment in CTS Eventim history is equal to 50% of net income.
”These excellent results are proof that live entertainment is once again driving the arts and creative sectors,” said CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in a statement. “We owe this primarily to the creativity of the artists who delight their fans around the world day in, day out. It is also thanks to the countless promoters who, with their boldness and entrepreneurial spirit, stage events and create unforgettable experiences. And last but not least, our team and our technologies ensure that live cultural events can thrive and that everyone involved can make a living from their work.”
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Live entertainment revenue rose 18.9% to 1.68 billion euros ($1.82 billion). The company experienced higher costs in 2023 and “partially” passed on those costs to the market, Schulenberg wrote in the annual report. As a result, normalized EBITDA dropped 1.8% to 117.0 million euros ($126.6 million). The company cited a boost it received from new North American partnerships with Mammoth and AG Entertainment, created to sign international acts for U.S. and global tours. Another collaboration, The Touring Co, a partnership with promoter Walter McDonald announced in December 2023, will help CTS Eventim’s expansion in North America in 2024.
In the ticketing segment, revenue rose 32% to 717.3 million euros ($776.4 million) and EBITDA jumped 47% to 384.4 million ($416.1 million). The number of internet tickets sold rose 19.6% to 82.9 million from 69.3 million in 2022. The company touted its ticketing platform’s reliability in handling heavy demand for concerts by Taylor Swift, Rammstein, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Apache 207 and Paul McCartney. International expansion also provided a lift to ticketing growth: In 2023, CTS Eventim, along with Sony Music Latin Iberia, acquired ticketing companies Punto Ticket in Chile and Teleticket in Peru.
CTS Eventim’s annual results are further proof the concert business has been booming since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The company’s total revenue was 63.4% higher than in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic temporarily halted the touring industry. Last year’s live entertainment revenue was 70.1% above 2019 and ticketing revenue was 48.9% greater. While CTS Eventim has grown by nearly two-thirds since before the pandemic, its growth rate is about a third lower than Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter and ticketing company, which grew revenue by 93.9% from 2019 to 2023.
In 2024, CTS Eventim expects “a moderate rise” in total revenue and believes EBITDA will remain at the level seen in 2023. Demand is “rising continuously,” wrote Schulenberg, and the company expects the recent decline in inflation to provide “new, consumption-driven impetus for growth in the future.”
Shares of CTS Eventim rose 5.1% to 77.50 euros ($83.96) on Tuesday (Mar. 26). The stock gained 5.0% in 2023, slightly below the 8.0% increase of the MDAX, an index of stocks traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Here is a recap of some financial metrics for CTS Eventim’s 2023 earnings results:
Revenue of 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion)
Normalized EBITDA of 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
Ticketing revenue of 717.3 million euros ($776.4 million) and EBITDA of 384.4 million ($416.1 million).
Concert revenue of 1.68 billion euros ($1.82 billion) and EBITDA of 117.0 million euros ($126.6 million).
China‘s Tencent Music Entertainment Group saw its profit jump 36% to 5.22 billion yuan ($735 million) in 2023 as growth in paid subscriptions helped offset mixed results in its social media business, according to an earnings filing on Tuesday (Mar. 19). The leading music streaming company in China — Tencent Music operates QQ Music, Kugou […]
LONDON (AP) — Adidas said Wednesday that it’s donated or is planning to give away more than $150 million to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate from the sales of Yeezy shoes last year after it severed ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
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The German sportswear brand had 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) worth of popular Yeezy sneakers piled up in warehouses after it broke off its partnership with Ye in October 2022 over his antisemitic and other offensive comments on social media and in interviews.
Adidas decided to sell some of the remaining shoes in batches, with two releases last year and another that launched late last month, and donate a portion of the proceeds to anti-hate groups.
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The company has made donations to the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, run by social justice advocate Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd.
Net sales of what’s left of Adidas’ former banner line of sneakers brought in about 750 million euros last year, compared with over 1.2 billion euros in 2022, the company reported.
Of the 300 million-euro profit it earned from the sales of Yeezy shoes last year, the company said it had given away or planned to donate over 140 million euros (about $152 million).
Adidas said deciding to sell a big chunk of its Yeezy inventory and improved operations helped it pull out operating profit of 268 million euros last year, a nearly 60% plunge from the previous year. It blamed a high tax rate for ending the year with a net loss of 58 million euros, a massive turnaround from net income of 254 million euros in 2022.
“Although by far not good enough, 2023 ended better than what I had expected at the beginning of the year,” said CEO Bjørn Gulden, who took over the top job last year.
Looking forward, Adidas expects to make about 250 million euros in sales of the remaining Yeezy shoes this year.
But the Herzogenaurach, Germany-based company points to North America as a persistent problem spot, expecting revenue to decline in the mid-single digits this year and grow everywhere else. It said that North America was “particularly affected by the negative Yeezy impact” and that revenue there dropped 16% last year.
Adidas expects to almost double operating profit to about 500 million euros this year despite “macroeconomic challenges and geopolitical tensions.” It plans to further scale up popular shoe lines like Samba that are seeing “extraordinary demand,” launch new ones and get a boost from major sports events like the Paris Olympics this summer.
Adidas shares were up slightly in late morning trading.
Believe benefitted from geographical expansion and strong streaming growth to post revenue of 880.3 million euros ($952.8 million at the average exchange rate) in 2023, up 15.7% from the prior year, the company announced Wednesday (Mar. 13). Organic growth was 14.4%, matching the guidance the company provided in October of organic growth exceeding 14%. After adjusting for foreign currency headwinds, Believe’s adjusted organic growth rate was 19.5% in 2023 and 21.8% in the fourth quarter.
The current growth rate should extend into the current year. Believe expects to achieve organic revenue growth in excess of 20% in 2024, adjusted to 18% to account for expected foreign currency headwinds. That high growth rate stems from a healthy paid streaming market and the belief that the ad-supported streaming market will rebound in the second half of the year. Believe also expects to make market share gains, especially in countries where it is not yet a top three company for local artists.
In 2023, Believe was helped by price increases at music streaming services in 2023 — Amazon Music in January, Spotify in July and Deezer in November. The company had market share gains in all key countries and with all key digital service providers, Xaiver Dumont, chief financial and operating officer, said during Wednesday’s earnings call.
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Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EDITDA) of 50.3 million euros ($54.4 million) was up 45%. Adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 5.7%, surpassing guidance of at least 5.5%. Free cash flow was -3.1 million euros (-$3.4 million), although free cash flow turned positive in the second half of the year.
The earnings release arrived as Believe is the subject of a bid to be taken private by a consortium led by CEO Denis Ladegaillerie and investment firms EQT X and TCV. Warner Music Group (WMG) revealed last week that it’s interested in pursuing Believe and willing to beat the consortium’s offer. Believe’s executives did not address questions about the take-private bid during Wednesday’s earnings call, however.
The publicly traded French music company’s business model is built around helping to develop artists and using digital marketing and distribution to impact local charts. That approach is increasingly relevant when any artist can go viral on social media. Case in point: Believe landed a hit in 2023 when a 2022 single, “Si No Estás’” by Iñigo Quintero, become a TikTok hit in Spain before topping charts in France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Austria and Belgium. “These success at the top are being achieved in a wider variety of genres of music” including hip-hop, pop and metal, Ladegaillerie said during the earnings call.
Believe also landed 42 albums in the top 200 in its home country and 48 singles in the Top 100 in its second-largest market, Germany. In the United Kingdom, consumption was up 394%. In China, Believe expanded to 80 staffers in five offices that serve 300 record labels. In India, where Believe acquired White Hill Music’s catalog in December, the company had 66 songs on local charts.
Revenue in France, where Believe is in the top three recorded music companies for local artists, rose 14.9% to 147.8 million euros ($160 million). Revenue in Germany dropped 2.4% to 110.9 million euros ($120 million), while revenue in Europe, excluding France and Germany, rose 25.9% to 264.6 million euros ($286.2 million). The Americas accounted for 128.1 million euros ($138.7 million), up 17.4% on strength in Brazil and Mexico. Asia-Pacific and Africa contributed 228.9 million euros ($247.8 million), up 14.9%, with China and Japan being particularly strong. India and Southeast Asia grew at slower paces due to those regions being affected by weakness in the ad-supported streaming market.
Revenue for the company’s premium solutions division rose 15.8% to 825.1 million euros ($893.1 million), while the division’s adjusted EBITDA improved 16.8% to 118.3 million euros ($128 million). Premium solutions mainly consists of the sale, promotion, marketing and delivery of digital content for artists and labels. It also includes some physical sales, synchronization services, neighboring rights and music publishing.
In the automated solutions division, revenue increased 14.6% to 55.2 million euros ($59.7 million), and adjusted EBITDA rose 53% to 10.1 million euros ($10.9 million). The slower growth rate was expected, said Dumont, because of lower ad-supported monetization and a new TuneCore pricing structure launched in 2022 that led to lower average revenue per client and was “not yet compensated by the ramp-up in new clients.”
Ladegaillerie has formed a consortium with two of its shareholders, investment firms EQT X and TCV, to take the company private at 15 euros ($16.43) per share. That offer ran into competition last week when WMG revealed its interest in Believe and said it might be willing to pay at least 17 euros ($18.62) per share. The consortium has attempted to speed the process and waive the board’s condition that an independent expert provide a report to Believe’s ad-hoc committee on the offer’s fairness from a financial viewpoint. The parties are now waiting for French financial regulators to say if the consortium can unilaterally waive the independent expert’s report and whether WMG’s preliminary proposal prevents the waiver of the board’s condition.
The radio business’ slog through a slow advertising market appears to be improving in 2024. “As we look to the year ahead, we see 2024 as a recovery year and we expect a return-to-growth mode,” iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman said during the company’s Thursday (Feb. 29) earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2023. Explore […]
French streaming company Deezer‘s revenue grew 12.1% to 130.7 million euros ($141 million) in the fourth quarter, bringing its full-year revenue to 484.7 million euros ($524 million), up 7.4% year over year, the company announced Wednesday (Feb. 28).
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Full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (ABITDA) was roughly halved to -28.8 million euros (-$31 million) and net loss was cut by almost two-thirds to 59.6 million euros ($64 million).
This year, Deezer expects to achieve a 10% growth in revenue — to roughly 533 million euros ($575 million) — and again halve adjusted ABITDA to -15 million euros (-$16.2 million) behind improved gross margins and cost controls.
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Deezer’s subscriber count grew 11.5% to 10.5 million from 9.4 million at the end of 2022. The entire gain in subscriptions came from business-to-business partnerships, which grew by 1 million to 4.8 million. Last year, Deezer launched new partnerships with home audio company Sonos, media company RTL in Germany and e-commerce company Mercado Libre in Brazil and Mexico to power those companies’ branded music streaming services. It also renewed partnerships with mobile carrier TIM in Brazil, retailer Fnac Darty in France and mobile carrier Orange in France.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) from B2B subscribers rose from 2.6 euros ($2.81) to 2.8 euros ($3.03) per month. “Our partnership strategy is bearing fruit, driving our overall growth and helping us win market share outside France,” CEO Jeronimo Folgueira said in a statement.
Deezer’s direct subscribers remained flat at 5.6 million but those user’s ARPU increased from 4.7 euros ($5.09) to 4.9 ($5.31) euros per month. Last year, the company raised monthly subscription fees in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands from 10.99 euros to 11.99 euros with “minimal churn” on its subscriber case, according to the earnings release.
The company also announced Wednesday that Folgueira is stepping down “to pursue personal projects.” Folgueira joined Deezer as CEO in 2021. During his tenure, Deezer went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, I2PO, in 2022, and forged a partnership with Universal Music Group in 2023 to introduce an artist-centric model for royalty calculations.
Shares of Deezer rose 0.5% to 2.18 euros ($2.36) Wednesday before the company released earnings results. The stock has almost doubled its 52-week low of 1.19 euros ($1.29) on April, 2023, 13 but is well below its 52-week high of 3.19 euros ($3.46) set on Nov. 2, 2023.
Universal Music Group’s revenue reached 3.21 billion euros ($3.45 billion) in the final period of 2023, up 9% year-over-year (up 15.6% in constant currency) as the company’s non-subscription streaming growth slowed again and its record labels got a boost from strong physical sales and licensing.
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Spotify’s price increase helped drive the recorded music division’s subscription revenue up 8.9% (up 15% at constant currency, which removes the effects of foreign exchange rates) to 1.14 billion euros ($1.22 billion). As a percent of recorded music revenue, subscription revenue increased to 47% from 46.7% in the prior-year quarter.
Non-subscription streaming revenue declined 1.3% as reported (increased 5.6% at constant currency) in the quarter, however. That followed a 1.4% decline (a 5% gain at constant currency) in ad-supported streaming revenue in the third quarter. Ad-supported streaming “remains strong” but the ad market recovery “has not been uniform” and UMG is “cautious” about near-term growth, CFO Boyd Muir said during Wednesday’s earnings call. The soft streaming revenue was not affected by UMG’s decision in early February to pull its catalog from TikTok, which accounts for 1% of UMG’s annual revenue.
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Sales were strong elsewhere in the recorded music division, though. Physical revenue of 447 million euros ($481 million) was up 10.6% (up 17.0% at constant currency). Licensing and other revenue of 410 million euros ($441 million) was up 26.5% (up 34.0% at constant currency). Downloads and other digital revenue declined by 49.2% (45.8% at constant currency), but at 32 million euros ($34) accounted for just 1.3% of recorded music revenue in the quarter.
Universal Music Publishing Group’s fourth-quarter revenue of 576 million euros ($620 million) was up 8.7% (up 15.4% at constant currency). Digital revenue of 339 million euros ($365 million) was up 26.0% (36.1% at constant currency). Sync revenue of 70 million euros ($75 million) was up 18.6% (up 25.0% at constant currency). Mechanical revenue of 31 million euros ($33 million) was up 24.0% (up 29.2%). Performance revenue fell 19.1% (15.8%) to 123 million euros ($132 million).
Top sellers in the quarter were Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Drake, Jung Kook and Stray Kids.
For the full year, UMG’s revenue of 11.1 billion euros ($12 billion at the average exchange rate for the year), up 7.4% as reported and a 11.1% increase at constant currency that removes the effects of foreign exchange rates. That’s similar to the 13.6% revenue growth at constant currency reported in 2022, but well below the as-reported growth of 21.6% that includes foreign currency exchange.
Adjusted EBITDA of 2.37 billion euros ($2.6 billion) was up 11% (up 14.6% at constant currency). Unadjusted EBITDA of 1.81 billion euros ($2 billion) was down 10.8% (down 7.8% at constant currency.) Unadjusted EBITDA eliminates the effects of the Copyright Royalty Board’s Phonorecords III ruling and a 15-million euro ($16 million) legal provision.
In the recorded music division, full-year revenue of 5.7 billion euros ($6.2 billion) was up 6.6% (up 10.2% at constant currency) and physical revenue of 1.38 billion euros ($1.49 billion) was up 14.3% (up 19.4% at constant currency). Licensing revenue of 1.17 billion euros ($1.27 billion) was up 9.5% (up 13.6% at constant currency).
Full-year publishing revenue of 1.96 billion euros ($2.12 billion) was up 8.7% (up 12.3% at constant currency). Digital revenue of 1.13 billion euros ($1.22 billion) was up 8.5% (up 12.5% at constant currency). Mechanical revenue of 108 million euros ($117 million) was up 11.3% (up 14.9% at constant currency). Performance revenue of 416 million euros ($450 million) was up 12.1% (up 15.9% at constant currency).
At constant currency, UMG’s fourth quarter improvement was similar to the other two major music groups. Warner Music Group was up 17.5% to $1.75 billion and Sony Music was up 16% to 358.2 billion yen ($2.5 billion). Smaller companies have also posted similar growth rates.
Strong album sales by K-pop groups Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together and New Jeans helped Korean music company HYBE enjoy record revenue of 2.18 trillion won ($1.67 billion), up 22.6%, in 2023, according to the company’s latest earnings report.
HYBE’s album sales from its Korean artists nearly doubled to 43.6 million last year from 22.2 million in 2022, while album sales accounted for 44.6% of total revenue, up from 31.1% the prior year. In Korea, Seventeen led the way with 15.9 million album sales (HYBE’s earnings release cited numbers from Circle Chart, which tracks sales only in Korea). Tomorrow X Together sold 6.5 million albums and NewJeans sold 4.3 million albums.
Streaming revenue got a boost from the company’s acquisition of Atlanta-based hip-hop label Quality Control in February 2023. Revenue from HYBE’s U.S. record labels — Quality Control as well as Big Machine Label Group — grew 70% to 150 billion won ($114.9 million) and accounted for nearly half of HYBE’s streaming revenue growth for the year. Streaming revenue from the company’s Korean labels outside Korea also performed well last year, increasing 102% to 107 billion won ($81.9 million). Within Korea, streaming revenue from those labels increased only 64%, however, to 41 billion won ($31.4 million).
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Concert revenue increased 39.1% to 359.1 billion won ($275 million) and accounted for 16.5% of total revenue, up from 14.5% in 2022. Much of that was due to volume, as HYBE had 125 concerts from seven touring artists in 2023 compared to 78 concerts from four touring artists in 2022.
Most other revenue sources declined year-over-year. Ads and appearances fell 12.3% to 141.9 billion won ($109 million). Merchandise and licensing dropped 17.7% to 325.6 billion won ($249 million). Content sank 15.1% to 289.9 billion won ($222 million). One bright spot was fan clubs, which increased 35.9% to 91.2 billion won ($70 billion).
Company-wide gross profit improved 19.7% to 1 trillion won ($773 million), lower than revenue’s 22.6% growth rate because cost of sales rose 25.2% (gross profit is sales minus cost of sales). Sales, general and administrative expenses increased only 17.7%, however, which helped operating profit improve 24.9% to 295.8 billion won ($227 million). Net profit soared 288% to 186.5 billion won ($143 million).
Korea’s share of HYBE’s revenue increased from 33% in 2022 to 36% in 2023. Japan’s share of revenue also increased, from 28% to 31%. North America fell from 32% to 26% despite the addition of Quality Control.
The Weverse social media platform ended the year with 10.1 million monthly active users (MAUs) in the fourth quarter, down from an all-time high of 10.6 million MAUs in the third quarter but well above the 8.5 million MAUs in the fourth quarter of 2022. Weverse finished the year with 122 artist communities, up from 71 at the end of 2022.
Live Nation had another record year in 2023, topping the all-time highs reached in 2022 when artists hit the road in heavy numbers after COVID-19 restrictions shut down the touring business for most of 2020 and 2021.
The concert promoter and ticketing giant had revenue of $22.7 billion in 2023, up 36% from the prior year, thanks to record levels of attendance, ticket sales and sponsorships. Adjusted operating income (AOI) was $1.86 billion, up 32% year-over-year and double the AOI from 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.
As artists went on tour in record numbers, there was ample fan demand to soak up the increased supply of live music. Concert attendance climbed 20.3% to 145.8 million. Attendance in North America rose 16.6% to 81.3 million and international attendance spiked 25.4% to 64.5 million. The biggest attendance gains came from stadium shows — notably Metallica, Beyonce and Luke Combs — which grew 60% to 29 million. The number of concerts — individual shows and festivals — rose 15.3% to 33,629 in North America and 13.5% to 16,430 internationally.
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The rise of K-pop and Latin music, along with Live Nation’s Dec. 2021 acquisition of Mexican promoter OCESA, led to an increasingly international concert business. Live Nation’s top 50 tours had 50% more international acts in 2023 than five years ago, and additional international dates meant tours had 15% more shows on average.
“Our digital world empowers artists to develop global followings, while inspiring fans to crave in-person experiences more than ever,” said president/CEO Michael Rapino in a statement. “At the same time, the industry is delivering a wider variety of concerts which draws in new audiences, and developing more venues to support a larger show pipeline.
The concerts division’s full-year revenue increased 39% to $18.76 billion as demand increased across markets and venue types. At Live Nation’s owned and operated venues — branded as Venue Nation — attendance increased 13% to 55 million and ancillary per-person revenue had double-digit growth. At its amphitheaters, per-person spending increased 10% to over $40. Because Live Nation owns and operates those venues, its bottom line benefits from increased fan spending on items such as beverages, food and merchandise.
At Ticketmaster, revenue rose 32% to $2.96 billion and AOI improved 35% to $1.12 billion. Total fee-bearing gross-transaction value (GTV) rose 30% to $36 billion — North America GTV rose 26% while international GTV jumped 42%. The number of fee-bearing tickets sold increased 17% to over 329 million. New clients accounted for 21 million additional tickets old, with about 80% of those coming from international markets.
The sponsorship and advertising division’s revenue increased 13% to $1.1 billion and its AOI rose 14% to $675.1 million. Led by growth in beverage, technology and financial services sectors, Live Nation’s sponsorship business had over 100 partners with multi-million-dollar, multi-year commitments.
In the fourth quarter, historically a slow period compared to the spring and summer months, Live Nation’s revenue rose 36% to $5.8 billion. The concerts division’s revenue soared 44% to $4.87 billion. The company’s AOI rose 20% to $116.9 million in the quarter.
Looking ahead, “we expect all our businesses to continue growing and adding value to artists and fans as we deliver double-digit operating income and AOI growth again this year, with our profitability compounding by double-digits over the next several years,” Rapino added. Through mid-February, Live Nation has sold 57 million concert tickets, up 6% year-over-year, and Ticketmaster had $13 billion in fee-bearing gross-transaction-volume for events so far in 2024, a double-digit increase. In addition, the company has booked 75% of its expected sponsorship commitments, also a double-digit increase from the prior-year period.
With SZA’s album SOS leading the way and the market enjoying more growth in streaming royalties, Sony Music’s revenue grew 16.0% to 422.1 billion yen ($2.85 billion at the period’s average exchange rate) in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, the company announced Wednesday (Feb. 14).
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Other top releases for the quarter were Travis Scott’s Utopia, Rod Wave’s Nostalgia, Doja Cat’s Scarlet, Blink-182’s One More Time…, Tate McRae’s Think Later, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House and Fuerza Regida’s Pa Las Baby’s Y Belikeada. A couple holiday classics were amongst Sony’s top albums in the Christmas quarter: Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas and Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector.
Streaming fueled growth in both the recorded music and music publishing segments of the business. Paid subscriptions were a major factor in the first full quarter after Spotify raised prices in roughly 50 markets, including the U.S., in July. Favorable foreign exchange rates accounted for about 24% of the quarter’s 58.4 billion yen ($394.9 million) revenue increase.
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Its double-digit revenue growth was comparable on a percentage basis to other music companies that have released earnings. In the same quarter, Warner Music Group’s revenue grew 17.5% to $1.75 billion and Reservoir Media revenue improved 19% to $35.5 million. Spotify, the largest single source for music royalties globally, grew revenue by 16% to 3.67 billion euros ($4.05 billion).
Sony Music’s margins improved across the board, too. Operating income improved 20.8% to 76.1 billion yen ($514.4 million) and adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization jumped 25.3% to 98.5 billion yen ($666.2 million). Adjusted OIBDA margin improved nearly two percentage points to 23.3% from 21.6% in the prior-year quarter.
The strong quarter led Sony Music to raise its full-year forecasts for the third consecutive quarter. On Wednesday, the company raised the forecasts for both revenue and adjusted OIBDA by 10 billion yen ($68 million) — revenue from 1.56 trillion yen ($10.37 billion at the current exchange rate) to 1.57 trillion yen ($10.43 billion) and adjusted OIBDA from 350 billion yen ($2.33 billion) to 360 million yen ($2.39 billion). When the company released its fiscal second quarter earnings in November, it increased its revenue guidance by 5% to 70 billion yen ($485 million) and adjusted OIBDA by 4%, or 15 billion yen ($104 million). In August, it raised its revenue forecast by 6%.
Both music divisions each posted solid year-over-year gains in the quarter. Recorded music revenues jumped 19.9% to 286.5 billion yen ($1.94 billion). Streaming revenue rose 17.2% to 186.5 billion yen ($1.26 billion) and accounted for about 58% of the segment’s improvement. Physical revenue gained just 1.5% to 31.5 billion yen ($213.2 million). The “other” category — including merchandise, live performances and licensing revenue from synch, public performance and broadcast — jumped 45.9% to 59.7 billion yen ($403.9 million).
Music publishing revenue rose 16.1% to 86.1 billion yen ($582 million). Streaming revenue climbed 22.4% to 50.9 billion yen ($343.9 million) and accounted for 78% of the segment’s year-over-year gain. Publishing’s “other” category grew 8% to 35.2 billion yen ($238.1 million).
Visual media and platform revenue declined 5.1% to 45 billion yen ($304.4 million). The segment includes mobile gaming, software for PCs and game consoles, and software development contracts.
Financial metrics for Sony Music’s fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023:
Revenue of 422.1 billion yen ($2.85 billion), up 16.0% year over year.
Adjusted operating income of 98.5 billion yen ($666.2 million), up 25.3% year over year.
Recorded music of 286.5 billion yen ($1.94 million), up 19.9% year over year.
Music publishing revenue of 86.1 billion yen ($582 million), up 16.1% year over year.
Visual media and platform revenue of 45 billion yen ($304.4 million), down 5.1% year over year.
