The Phenomenon Behind 'A Letter to Grandma': DAMAI ENT (01060) Evokes Resonance with Premium Content, Redefining Long-Term Value Standards

Stock News05-29

A report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology indicates that by 2025, China's experience economy market size is approaching 20 trillion yuan. Behind this explosive growth, consumers are no longer paying just for "functionality" but are increasingly willing to pay for "emotion," "experience," and a sense of "presence." A prime example is the biggest surprise since the start of the year: the viewing frenzy sparked by the film "A Letter to Grandma," produced and distributed by DAMAI ENT. Audiences flocked to theaters not merely to watch a film in the Chaoshan dialect, but to embrace the precious emotions tied to family bonds, nostalgia, and memory. This "emotional consumption," driven by genuine feelings, is becoming the most profound and powerful growth engine within the experience economy. Traveling to a city for a concert, booking out all nearby hotels for a music festival, or making a cross-city trip for a LABUBU collectible—once considered niche behaviors—are now commonplace in the consumer market. This deep-seated shift in consumption patterns has also received clear policy support. At the beginning of the year, the State Council issued the "Work Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation of New Growth Points in Service Consumption," which lists emotional and experiential service consumption scenarios as key areas for support. As the blueprint for the experience economy becomes reality, who will emerge as the mainstay in this historical wave? On the evening of May 27, DAMAI ENT (01060) delivered a financial report showcasing sustainable growth momentum. In my view, neither the phenomenal success of the produced film "A Letter to Grandma" nor this impressive financial performance is accidental. Instead, it is the natural outcome of DAMAI ENT's long-term commitment to cultivating the value of premium content, resonating in sync with the broader trend of the experience economy. As a rare enterprise in the Hong Kong stock market with a core strategy centered on "real-life entertainment," DAMAI ENT has precisely captured consumers' craving for authentic connection and emotional experiences while deeply aligning with the policy direction of fostering new growth points in service consumption. The company's robust performance growth serves as clear evidence of the vast potential within the experience economy. From an investment perspective, DAMAI ENT can no longer be simply evaluated using the valuation logic of a traditional ticketing company or a single film studio. It more closely resembles a fusion of Live Nation and Pop Mart, and now stands at the starting point of a value reassessment.

A New "Locomotive" Drives Growth: The "Real-Life Entertainment" Strategy Resonates with the Times

For the 2026 fiscal year, DAMAI ENT achieved revenue of 8.024 billion yuan, a 20% year-on-year increase, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 705 million yuan, surging 94% year-on-year. Behind this leap in core financial data, a fundamental transformation is underway: evolving from a previous focus on film, DAMAI ENT is gradually entering a new phase where diversified business segments collectively form the foundation for growth. During the reporting period, revenue from performance content and technology business reached 2.276 billion yuan, an 11% year-on-year increase, while IP derivative business revenue was 2.17 billion yuan, a 60% year-on-year increase. These two segments, serving as new "locomotives" contributing incremental revenue for DAMAI ENT, together accounted for over 55% of the total revenue contribution during the period. Concurrently, DAMAI ENT's film content and technology business revenue was 2.178 billion yuan. This achievement was made against the backdrop of overall pressure in the film market, through timely strategic adjustments and a more cautious and steady approach to film content investment. During the period, films produced and distributed by DAMAI ENT, such as "Chasing Shadows" and "Awakening Silence," achieved commendable market performance. Following the May Day holiday, the film "A Letter to Grandma," in which DAMAI ENT participated as a producer and took the lead in promotion and distribution, sparked widespread discussion across different demographics. Its Douban rating continuously rose to 9.2 points, and total box office forecasts have been revised upwards to 1.8 billion yuan. This "surprise" confirms that in an era of scarce attention, premium content with genuine emotion at its core can still achieve a leap from the local market to global Chinese communities. Overall, the results presented in the financial report clearly indicate that diversified business operations have significantly enhanced the certainty and risk resilience of DAMAI ENT's fundamentals. When a company that consistently adheres to its original intent of humanistic creation possesses a stable commercial foundation, it lays solid groundwork for the continuous investment in premium content. In the future, the content market may witness more "miracle moments" akin to "A Letter to Grandma."

The change in DAMAI ENT's revenue structure can, to a certain extent, be viewed as a direct projection of the experience economy's macro trend into micro-level implementation. As mentioned at the beginning, by 2025, China's experience economy market size is nearing 20 trillion yuan. The deep-seated logic behind this rapid market expansion is consumers' increasing willingness to pay for "emotion," "experience," and a sense of "presence." Taking the most直观的 performance market as an example,公开数据显示,今年一季度,全国超五千座大型演唱会市场量效齐增,举办场次同比增加27.3%至359场,观影人数同比增加77.2%至536.2万人,票房收入同比增加74.2%至41.07亿元。Against the backdrop of continuously rising industry prosperity, leveraging its deep network of upstream and downstream cooperative relationships and the solid trust established with consumers, DAMAI ENT has effectively captured market opportunities. On the ticketing front, the DAMAI platform boasts a user base of 300 million, covers over 40 verticals of live entertainment content categories, and holds a commanding lead in coverage for top-tier large-scale concerts. Long-term collaborations with top artists, organizers, and key venues have built a strong trust barrier. Furthermore, DAMAI has evolved from a ticketing platform to a deep participant in performance content, with its six content investment and production labels covering various categories such as concerts, music festivals, plays, exhibitions, and stand-up comedy. The synergistic effect between ticketing and content continues to strengthen. During the period, DAMAI演出成功主办了易烊千玺2025演唱会“𬒈峃”、2025阿那亚·虾米音乐节等多场大型演唱会与音乐节,并积极参与脱口秀、沉浸式演出等多元化内容的制作与运营。

With the accelerated expansion of the IP industry, DAMAI ENT's IP derivative business has also entered a window of explosive growth. During the reporting period, the derivative business centered on Aliyu continued to gain momentum. For upstream copyright holders, Aliyu implements localization strategies for introduced overseas IPs to expand their commercial value in the local market. Its portfolio of优质IP includes Sanrio characters, Chiikawa, Pokémon, and more. For downstream brand partners, Aliyu has reached授权项目合作 agreements with brands such as野兽派, L'Oréal Paris, Chow Tai Fook, Miniso, Pop Mart, KAYOU, Yadea, and others, providing comprehensive IP licensing solutions. Simultaneously, Aliyu has gradually ventured into IP brand retail, collaborating with upstream copyright holders to open several Chiikawa city flagship stores and pop-up stores.

Dual Coordinates for DAMAI's Long-Term Value: From Live Nation to Pop Mart

The capital market has habitually categorized DAMAI ENT as a ticketing company. However, the company's latest disclosed financial report恰恰向外界提供了一个重新审视DAMAI的契机。Whether examining its business composition or potential development paths, DAMAI is not merely China's Ticketmaster. It more closely resembles a fusion of Live Nation and Pop Mart. Perhaps only by understanding this point can one accurately assess the coordinates of DAMAI's long-term value.

As the global leader in live entertainment, Live Nation exhibits a stable "triangular" structure comprising concerts/events, ticketing, and sponsorship & advertising. These three businesses form a closed loop from content production to channel distribution and commercial monetization. In comparison, while DAMAI ENT's scale is relatively smaller, its business structure is highly similar. On the ticketing front, DAMAI already holds a dominant领先覆盖率 for top-tier concert projects domestically. On the content front, its six content investment and production labels engage deeply in planning and investment, forming strategic synergies with ticketing. Regarding sponsorship and advertising, the commercial potential of various sponsorship collaborations is being systematically unlocked. Drawing from Live Nation's development experience, the subsequent value enhancement path is quite clear: vertically, by leading collaborations with top artists, investing in优质内容IP, and signing long-term exclusive operation agreements with core venues to strengthen control over稀缺资源 and increase its share of value distribution in the industry chain; horizontally, by actively expanding into diverse categories such as "variety shows + performances," electronic music festivals, and sports events; externally, in November 2025, DAMAI ENT officially launched a new business brand, "DAMAI INTERNATIONAL (MAISEAT)," providing global users with one-stop ticketing and viewing services for popular domestic and international performances like concerts, music festivals, sports events, and theater, while also offering comprehensive performance service guarantees for domestic and international performing troupes needing overseas演出服务. Currently, MAISEAT has覆盖 Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, and other key markets, with rapid growth in the number of projects available for sale and ticket-buying users. This move marks a关键一步 for DAMAI ENT in building a global "real-life entertainment" ecosystem.

Pop Mart, on the other hand, serves as a vivid example of a local IP enterprise continuously achieving self-breakthrough and evolution. With such a precedent, investors can reasonably hold higher expectations for DAMAI ENT's deep operational capabilities in its IP business and the replicability of its platform model. Under the精细化运营 of its subsidiary Aliyu, Sanrio China has sustained rapid growth in recent years, and newly introduced IPs like Chiikawa have also scaled quickly. In the future, as Aliyu's core IP2B2C capabilities are successfully replicated across a broader IP matrix, Aliyu is expected to continuously capture and amplify IP value.

As the dual engines of performances and IP derivatives substantively grow into new pillars of growth for the company, the effectiveness of DAMAI ENT's diversified business布局 is finally beginning to accelerate and manifest. Shifting to an investment perspective, using the globally diversified leader Live Nation as an锚点, DAMAI ENT's current valuation level显然远未充分反映 its diversified, full-chain synergistic growth and intrinsic value. Meanwhile, the implied valuation elasticity of its IP derivative business, when benchmarked against Pop Mart, adds further想象空间 for its long-term future development.

Looking ahead, as the results of the company's diversified布局 become more evident in its financial reports, DAMAI ENT, which is effectively capturing the确定性红利 of the experience economy era, may see its value reassessment process set in motion.

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

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