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Intrinsic Value is all-important and is the only logical way to evaluate the relative attractiveness of investments and businesses.
It is time. So let us begin CyberAgent's FY 2022 Third Quarter Earnings Briefing. This session is being live-streamed. With respect to the content we will share today, please refer to the disclaimer included in the presentation material.
Our CEO, Fujita, will take us through the results.
This is Fujita, CEO. I would like to take you through the results for the FY '22 third quarter from April to June. First of all, the third quarter overall.
The Game Business. Last year in February, we released Uma Musume. And so June -- April to June, we saw a huge peak last year. So of course, we expected a pullback in comparison to the previous year. So it's as we expected. And in terms of Advertising and Media Business, they remain strong.
With respect to the Media Business, Abema's -- especially pay-per-view and related businesses drove growth. And with respect to the Ad Business, third quarter usually tends to be quite a tough quarter. However, we were able to increase sales and profits.
And the Game Business, I talked about it peaking last year, and so there is a pullback from that -- reaction to that. But quarter-on-quarter -- if we look at quarter-on-quarter, last quarter, we had anniversary events for many titles last year. So we're seeing a reaction to that as well this quarter.
And this is the quarterly results, the consolidated sales by quarter. So of course, we talked about the peak last year. But -- because of that, right now, our challenge is to make sure that we have a soft landing, taking into account that we had the Game sales peak last year.
And this is the consolidated OP. And this is the SG&A.
So we spent a little bit more in advertising, so you see an increase there. And in the newspaper, we announced that the graduates will now receive JPY 420,000 as the first salary. So we're increasing our salaries as well. So this one enable us to hire better talent and motivate our employees. So we believe that it's a reasonable wage. And we believe that this is going to produce the results that we're hoping for, the change in wage. And in terms of the number of employees, April to June, we welcomed new graduates. And currently, our total head count is 6,406.
This is the P&L. And this is the balance sheet.
And in terms of the forecast for this fiscal year, we did announce the forecast as sales of JPY 700 billion, OP of JPY 70 billion. And with that in mind currently, we're -- we have achieved more than 3/4 as of the end of quarter, so we believe that we will be able to achieve the forecast that we have previously announced.
Moving on to the individual businesses.
First, starting with the Internet Ad Business. I say this every year, but end of March is usually a lot of -- the end of the fiscal year for many advertisers. So the second quarter tends to be the highest demand. And April to June tends to be a tougher quarter. However, this fiscal year, we're doing very well because we outperformed the second quarter.
This is the OP. So we have overall invested in Abema. But in terms of Advertising Business as well, we wanted to make sure that we create strength over the mid- to long term. So we are investing in new graduates as well as DX. So we have been making investments in these areas to invest in future growth, future profitability.
And one focal area is the data-driven Advertising Business with other partner companies. If we look at the U.S., 1% is basically the advertising business in markets like the U.S. of the overall retail business, so we believe that, in our case, JPY 1.5 trillion will be the market size. And we have announced recently the new collaboration with DOCOMO and MUFG Bank. But we have many alliances with other companies as well. So we want to expand the data-driven Advertising Business with these partners.
Moving on to the Game business. As I mentioned earlier, last year, we had a peak. And in comparison to the peak, of course, this will be lower. And also, we had adverse events last quarter. So the third quarter, we expected this to be lower. So it's per expectations.
And this is the OP.
Uma Musume is a key title that we currently have, a strong title. And we want to make sure that this is going to be a long-lasting title. So we're expanding the scale, especially animations, and also releasing overseas titles as well are some of the initiatives that we are undertaking to make sure that this will become a long-run title. Also, Final Fantasy and other releases, collaborating with huge IPs. They will be coming in the future as well. So please expect more from us.
Moving on to the Media business. With respect to the Media business, pay-per-view and related businesses grew, as I mentioned. So yes, we were able to increase sales. But we are -- still continue to make us aggressive investments, and we also have work upcoming next fiscal year. So we're not trying to make this business -- force it to become profitable. We want to make sure that we're making the necessary investments as we expand the business.
And this is the number of downloads.
We have news programs and also martial arts and fighting, sports. Live broadcasting content is actually becoming quite popular. And we also have drama and -- that we created on our own, and we are also airing popular animations.
And this quarter, we had THE MATCH. This is a match between Tenshin Nasukawa and Takeru, and we had an exclusive live broadcasting of this match. And we were able to sell over 50,000 tickets at JPY 5,500 per ticket in one night. So this has been much a long way to match up. And we will also be broadcasting these matches.
We will be broadcasting the World Cup this year, and we actually discover this content to make sure that we build up to the FIFA World Cup broadcasting. So we acquired these rights. So November, we will have the FIFA World Cup broadcasting, and we are using our collective power to get ready for this. So we are also preparing content related to that.
And this is the sales of Abema-related businesses. So we wanted to focus on ads and subscription, but this is the Internet business, so it doesn't matter where the profits or sales come from.
So over the mid- to long term, we have shown the related businesses can also grow. And we have introduced this in the presentation materials as well how -- what potential it had -- related businesses have, and we have demonstrated it. Related businesses are growing, especially the WINTICKET. It's continuing to grow in scale. It's not just because we're experiencing COVID.
So online -- betting has shifted online. So it's not just Keirin, but the other sports or other betting content is also growing. It's -- the market size is growing. And on the left, you see the Keirin market. Over the last 3 years, you've seen that it's growing significantly because the betting tickets are now -- betting has now moved online from off-line. And currently, we have 34% of the online betting market. So we created this service. And we have the ability to create and also operate. And Abema has the power to broadcast as well. So we've been able to demonstrate our progress.
And this is what I've described earlier. We wanted to launch the advertising subscription business and then add related businesses on top and to make -- to accelerate monetization through these pillars, and we are on track.
And this is something that I say each time as well. Currently, we still want to focus on Abema and growing its scale. And so we're still making large investments in Abema. And we also had a huge game hit amid that. But our thinking over the mid- to long term is not going to -- hasn't changed. The Media business will be key. In the Internet business, we want to make sure that we're expanding our market share. And we want Uma Musume to be a long-run hit for it to last over a decade.
So this was the direction of each business. That's it for myself. Thank you very much for listening.
We would like to now conclude the earnings briefing for CyberAgent FY '22 third quarter. Should you have any questions, please reach out to the IR contact. Thank you very much for watching today. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]