Wave Preparing for Overseas Expansion, Recruiting External Talent and Restructuring Organization

Recruitment of Woo Seung-hyun, Former Smart Media Lab CEO
Sojung Choi Appointed as SK Square Executive Director and Head of Strategy Division

Woo Seung-hyun CFO, Choi So-jeong CSO. Photo by Contents Wave

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] Domestic online video service (OTT) Wavve has begun preparing for overseas expansion by appointing external talents to key positions. To enhance content and production competitiveness, related organizations have also been reorganized under CEO Taehyun Lee's direct supervision, tightening the reins on the business.

Content Wavve, the operator of Wavve, announced on the 1st that it had carried out new key executive personnel appointments. There are a total of six appointees, half of whom are external talents. The new Head of the Management Planning Division (CFO), Seunghyun Woo, former CEO of Smart Media Lab (SMR), was recommended by the three terrestrial broadcasters who are shareholders of Wavve. According to the articles of incorporation, the CEO and CFO of Wavve are appointed alternately by SK Telecom and the three terrestrial broadcasters. The market expects that Woo's recruitment will lead to new subscription models such as video-linked advertising.

Sojung Choi, Executive Director at SK Square, who has been concurrently serving as Wavve's Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) since last year, will take charge of the Strategy Division in this personnel reshuffle and work on establishing global expansion strategies. Born in 1982, Executive Director Choi is the first female executive and has been concurrently responsible for SK Square's subscription services but plans to focus on Wavve's operations going forward.

Content Wavve has been continuously recruiting external talents since last year to enhance organizational expertise. This includes Chanho Lee, Chief Content Officer (COO) and CEO of subsidiary Studio Wavve, as well as Wonsik Han, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), who also joined Wavve last year. CEO Lee has led Studio Wavve, which specializes in producing Wavve's original content, and made a smooth debut with the drama "Tracer."

A large-scale organizational restructuring was also carried out. Content acquisition and distribution, production investment, scheduling and operations, and service planning teams, which were scattered across the company, will be reorganized into four groups: A·D, Programming, Content Investment, and Product. The countries targeted for overseas expansion include the United States, Japan, and Southeast Asia.