[Click eStock] "DearU, From Artist Lineup to Monetization Model... A Promising Growth Phase"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Leading Investment & Securities evaluated DearU as "a platform for integrated fan communities of various K-pop artists, expected to grow significantly." With the globalization of K-pop creating an urgent need for real-time fandom communication, DearU's proportion of foreign paid subscribers is approaching 70-80%, highlighting the value of a K-pop artist-based communication platform that enables private communication with fans.

DearU plans to add new services such as 'Live Talk (video function)' in Q3 and 'My Home' in Q4 this year, in addition to the existing chat features. Most importantly, a fandom-based profitability model will also be introduced, expected to resemble B-Live's 'Cheering Hearts' model. Additionally, there is a high possibility that DearU will be serviced on China's 'Android' platform in Q3, raising expectations for increased sales targeting the Chinese market.

Currently, DearU's platform consists of intellectual property (IP) from K-pop artists, sports stars, and actors. The plan is to accelerate the influx of fandoms with strong purchasing power by acquiring powerful artist IPs in the future. Domestically, to target the 'Generation A' (approximately ages 45-64), which has recently emerged as a consumer group with strong purchasing power in the entertainment industry, DearU is pursuing the acquisition of strong IPs such as famous trot artists. Overseas, efforts are being intensified to attract overseas fandoms by adding global top artist IPs. In this case, the synergy effect with the fandom-based monetization business model starting in Q3 is expected to significantly contribute to profitability improvement.

Based on this, DearU's expected consolidated sales for this year are 75.1 billion KRW, and operating profit is 38.4 billion KRW, representing increases of 87.8% and 191%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Fixed costs will not increase significantly despite the overall expansion of paid subscribers and the addition of new services, resulting in a profitability increase that outpaces sales growth. The recent rise in exchange rates is also expected to favor entertainment-based businesses with a high proportion of overseas sales.

Yoo Sung-man, a researcher at Leading Investment & Securities, said, "With the anticipation of major artists joining and the establishment of monetization models on existing services, DearU's growth as an integrated fan community platform is expected."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.