HYBE is “incubating” certain markets in Southeast Asia, according to the company’s CFO, Kyung-Jun Lee.
Lee made the comments on HYBE‘s Q3 2026 earnings call on Tuesday (November 3), speaking through an interpreter.
He did not name the markets, but said that when HYBE‘s local artists gain popularity in a market with “huge growth potential,” it is “a signal for us to build a localization production base.”
The call followed HYBE’s Q3 results, in which the company posted record quarterly revenues of KRW 1.53 trillion (approximately USD $1.08 billion).
Lee’s comments came in response to a question from Junhyun Kim, an analyst at HSBC, about other entertainment companies launching local acts, particularly in Southeast Asia.
Kim said that, as a result of those launches, “there tends to be an understanding in the market that HYBE’s unique IP production system is not as valuable as before.”
In his answer, Lee pointed to popular acts in Indonesia and the Philippines, and said they are on Weverse, HYBE’s superfan platform.
Weverse added communities for P-pop acts BINI and SB19 in the second quarter of 2026.
“As you mentioned, not only major companies, but also smaller companies have had some success cases of launching their successful artists’ IPs,” said Lee. “And also, there are some rising artists in Southeast Asia, and I believe that these are all very positive trends.
“What I’d like to emphasize from this perspective is that there is a difference between gaining popularity among the public to grow their visibility and the ability to create value added by creating a fan economy based on IP – artist IP…
“We are fully aware of these popular artists in Southeast Asia, including no na in Indonesia and SB19 in the Philippines. And indeed, these artists are actually on Weverse. So I believe that these are quite positive trends.”
“We are fully aware of these popular artists in Southeast Asia, including no na in Indonesia and SB19 in the Philippines. And indeed, these artists are actually on Weverse. So I believe that these are quite positive trends.”
Kyung-Jun Lee, HYBE
He added: “And I’d also like to mention that we will not go into any local market where there’s not enough local entertainment or artist industry in place, because it’s quite challenging to grow local artists and grow the market all at the same time.
“However, if we see that there are certain signals in a market with huge growth potential where our local artist IPs gain popularity and create enough markets, this is a signal for us to build a localization production base, not necessarily a multi-home… So I won’t be able to give you any details, but there are certain Southeast Asian market[s] that we’re incubating right now.”
Lee added that, for artists to grow globally, “they need infrastructure,” pointing to HYBE‘s “bases in the US, Japan, India, Latin America and others.”
He also said that HYBE is “the only company that has such a global IP portfolio, and… the only company that has 360-degree rights for [these] artist IPs.”
When HYBE opened its subsidiary in Mumbai in September 2025, it became the company’s fifth international headquarters, joining bases in Japan, the US, Latin America, and China.
On the call, HYBE CEO Jason Jaesang Lee cited KATSEYE in the US and &TEAM in Japan as examples of what the company calls its “multi-home, multi-genre” strategy.
The CEO said HYBE is expanding its pipeline to “key next-generation markets, including Latin America and India.”
Rival K-pop company SM Entertainment announced a Southeast Asian headquarters in Singapore in late 2022.
In March 2025, SM was reported to be launching a K-pop training academy in Singapore through its subsidiary SM Universe.
Elsewhere on the call, an analyst also asked HYBE about BTS‘s plans beyond the group’s ARIRANG world tour, which HYBE says will run through the first half of 2027.
Ki-hoon Lee of Hana Securities asked whether BTS has group or solo activities planned for the second half of 2027 and how long remains on the members’ contracts.
HYBE‘s executives did not address the contract question.
When HYBE disclosed the BTS members’ contract renewals in a regulatory filing in September 2023, it did not specify the duration of the new contracts.
CEO Jason Jaesang Lee said that more shows will be added to the ARIRANG world tour.
“Currently, we are discussing with BTS members about diverse activities, including solo and group activities,” said the CEO. “…And after this ARIRANG tour is over, we’re preparing for group and solo activities. And I hope that you will take them into account.
“Even though I cannot give you any specifics right now, please trust in us and what we can offer in the future.”
The CEO also told analysts that “there is no company in the global music market that would announce any specific activities that will happen one year or longer from this point on,” adding that tours give visibility six to nine months in advance.
He recalled that, when BTS members were due to begin their military service, “a lot of people said that HYBE won’t be able to sustain its business because of its dependency on BTS for 80% of its revenue.”
HYBE‘s shares fell by nearly 25% on June 15, 2022, after BTS announced a break to pursue solo projects, but rose when the group confirmed its military service plans that October.
HYBE’s CFO also said that spending on Weverse fell in Q3.
“As major artists focused on large-scale offline tours in Q3, total paying amount and monthly ARPU fell 19% and 10%, respectively, on a quarter-over-quarter basis,” said Kyung-Jun Lee.
In Q2, those metrics rose 12% and 24% QoQ, respectively.
Weverse averaged 14.22 million monthly active users in Q3, down from a record 14.43 million in Q2.
On costs, an analyst from NH Investment & Securities noted that HYBE’s labor costs have run at around KRW 150 billion per quarter since Q2.
The CFO said HYBE‘s headcount is not very different from the end of 2025.
“However, there was an increase in the labor cost mainly because of additional and conservative reserving for incentive payments because of solid earnings,” said the CFO. “And so this portion of labor cost increase will not be incurred when we have lower performances in the future, if that becomes the case.”Music Business Worldwide
