YG recorded poor performance due to BLACKPINK and G-Dragon’s hiatus. Will TREASURE’s comeback in 2022 revive YG’s pride?
YG physical sales seem to have decreased sharply due to the delay in comebacks of their major artists, such as BLACKPINK, Big Bang, and G-Dragon.
On January 17th, the stock market reported that YG’s recent performance fell significantly compared to the previous quarter. At this shocking news, YG hurriedly announced boy group Treasure’s first comeback this year, which will take place on February 15th.
Last year, YG’s operating profit exceeded 25% compared to that of the same time of the year before. However, its performance in the 4th quarter fell about 10%. While other agencies made a surplus despite the pandemic situation, YG was left behind. Hana Financial Investment said, “Except for Song Min-ho, other artists were absent from the music industry. Therefore, the overall sales only reached 200,000 albums. We will lower the annual average operating growth target from 23.1% to 22.2 % by 2023.”
YG’s juniors cannot cross the “big mountains” Big Bang and BLACKPINK
YG has decided to make a breakthrough from their poor performance with TREASURE. YG released a group teaser for TREASURE’s comeback on January 17th and announced that the boy group will return with a mini-album called “THE SECOND STEP: CHAPTER ONE”. Therefore, YG’s performance in the first half of this year will depend on TREASURE’s promotion.
In particular, 2022 is also expected to be an important year for TREASURE. Although TREASURE achieved the “million-seller” title, it was the result of cumulative sales contributed by several single albums. This achievement is said to be somewhat lower than that of their rival boy groups, which quickly earned millions of albums with only one album. Unlike other agencies that have strong boy groups, YG’s profit last year mainly came from BLACKPINK. Therefore, analysts believed YG’s poor sales in the 4th quarter of last year were due to BLACKPINK’s absence.
TREASURE, which was introduced through JTBC’s audition program “YG TREASURE BOX” in 2018, went through many ups and downs before its debut. YG put a lot of effort into forming a boy group that would play a key role in sales like other entertainment agencies. iKON and WINNER tried to inherit BIGBANG‘s popularity, but they failed to become as famous as their seniors.
BIGBANG still has a wide fan base, but their comeback seems far away. There is no specific comeback news, especially Seungri, who left the entertainment industry due to his scandal, and T.O.P, who said “I have no plans to work in Korea.” From YG’s point of view, the growth of rookie group TREASURE is more important than BIGBANG’s comeback.
Contrary to YG’s expectations, “YG TREASURE BOX” recorded unexpectedly low ratings. After TREASURE’s debut date was confirmed, its debut was postponed indefinitely due to the outbreak of Burning Sun Gate. Despite YG’s active strategies and promotions, TREASURE had to hold a somewhat discouraging debut ceremony.
Since it made its face known to the public for the first time in 2018, TREASURE is now like an “used rookie group”. BLACKPINK has risen to the top and it is considered one of YG’s momentums, but in the end, the company’s sales still rely on boy groups. This means that TREASURE’s success is important.
