Has KQ Entertainment Been Saved By ATEEZ?

There’s no doubt that rookie group ATEEZ has taken the world by storm, with a quickly-growing international fandom despite not being as popular in South Korea. Their incredible charisma on stage and entertaining personalities have made people everywhere become ATINYs.

What’s unusual about ATEEZ’s success is that they come from a fairly unknown company.

KQ Entertainment, ATEEZ’s company, was established in June 2016 by Kim Kyu Wook, who is also known for creating Seven Seasons Entertainment. This is the company that was made specifically for Block B after they filed a lawsuit against their former company – Stardom Entertainment – and left to join this new one. Through this process, Seven Seasons Entertainment is considered a sub-company of KQ Entertainment.

Because of this, some people might argue that Block B made the company successful before ATEEZ’s debut, and helped to propel the rookie group into fame. And while it’s no doubt that Block B has been pretty successful, the company itself has never been ranked close to the top ten companies in the industry. In terms of sales, while Block B has a loyal fanbase, it isn’t huge – between 2013 and 2018, their total album sales (for 27 albums total) was only 769,340, and their total concert ticket sales were only around 107,000 for 46 events.

However, Block B does do well in digital sales, which was where a large portion of their profit came from. And, since a larger portion of sales from digital downloads goes to the producers instead of companies, and since member Zico is the major producer for Block B, the group itself actually made more money than Seven Seasons Entertainment.

So what does that mean for ATEEZ and their company? Since KQ Entertainment runs Seven Seasons, they were the group that suffered from lack of profit. Given ATEEZ’s rising success, however, it’s quite likely that the rookie group will end up boosting the company’s profits and making them more visible in the entertainment industry. This is impressive, especially given that ATEEZ was never advertised as Block B’s “younger brother group” and most people don’t even know the companies’ relations!