CyberAgent’s financial results, media business turns profitable for the first time since ABEMA launch – Impress Watch

CyberAgent announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2024 on the 24th. Sales were 215.1 billion yen, a record high for the second quarter, and operating income was 21.0 billion yen, an increase of 12.2% from the previous year. ABEMA-related businesses performed well, with the media business turning a quarterly profit for the first time since the launch of ABEMA, the advertising business reaching a record high, and the game business increasing both sales and profits.

ABEMA and other media businesses had sales of 42 billion yen and operating income of 160 million yen, an improvement of 700 million yen from the previous year. This is the first time since we started investing in ABEMA (service launched in April 2016) that our media business has become profitable. ABEMA alone is not yet profitable, but advertising and peripheral businesses are doing well, with ABEMA-related sales of 26.2 billion yen (22.6% increase compared to the same period last year).

ABEMA’s WAU (monthly active users) was 23.64 million, 1.2 times higher than last year. It was the highest ever outside of the Soccer World Cup period. A major reason for the growth is the popularity of highly topical content such as MLB (Major League Baseball), and the growth in sports-related content is said to be large. In addition, we have launched “ABEMA de DAZN” (4,200 yen per month) where you can watch DAZN on ABEMA and “ABEMA de WOWSPO” (1,920 yen per month) where you can watch WOWOW, realizing an expansion of sports content through external collaboration. “The number of soccer fans is steadily increasing at ABEMA. It’s off to a good start,” said President Susumu Fujita.

Internet advertising also achieved record high sales of 107.3 billion yen (7.1% increase from the previous year) and operating income of 5.9 billion yen (19.6% from the previous year). The company is also proactively using generative AI to improve productivity, and says that “technology is a clear strength in the advertising business.”

The game business had sales of 67.1 billion yen (up 49.1% year-on-year) and operating income of 18.2 billion yen (up 19.8% year-on-year). “Granblue Fantasy: Relink” achieved 1 million sales worldwide in 11 days after its release, with 80% of the buyers being overseas. “We aim to create an IP that can be used around the world.” “Uma Musume” is also about to be made into a movie, and its anniversary events are also doing well, so it will continue to grow as a long-lived IP.

As for the future, ABEMA will continue to invest in the company’s aim to create “social infrastructure that connects everywhere.” In the advertising business, the company aims to expand its share based on its technological superiority, and in the game business, it aims to strengthen its own IP such as “Granblue Fantasy” and “Uma Musume” to create a stable business structure.