Wavve's 'Mideulman' Continues Under Lee Taehyun's Leadership for 3 More Years

Performance Upward Since Launch
Paid Subscribers Doubled
1 Trillion Won Invested Over 3 Years
Leap Toward Global Expansion

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] "We will leap forward as a global K-content platform."

CEO Lee Tae-hyun has succeeded in his reappointment and will lead the domestic online video (OTT) service 'Wavve' for three more years. Content Wave announced on the 30th that it held a board meeting yesterday afternoon and decided to reappoint CEO Lee Tae-hyun. SK Telecom, which holds the right to recommend the CEO, chose to support Lee's leadership on a magnanimous level instead of replacing the CEO.

Paid Subscribers Doubled, Revenue Increased 2.4 Times

CEO Lee Tae-hyun's term lasts until the regular shareholders' meeting in 2025. The Content Wave board decided on the CEO's reappointment to ensure Wavve's continued growth at a crucial time when it must concretize future visions such as global media business expansion and an initial public offering (IPO). Content Wave, a joint venture between the three terrestrial broadcasters and SK Telecom, agreed from its inception to alternate the CEO recommendation right every three years. Although it was SK Telecom's turn since the first CEO was Lee Tae-hyun, a nominee from the three terrestrial broadcasters, the decision was made considering Lee's achievements and sensitive circumstances.

CEO Lee Tae-hyun, who has been drawing the blueprint since the preparation of Content Wave's establishment, is a former KBS PD. He served as a New York PD correspondent, head of programming policy, and head of the content business department before becoming CEO of Content Union Platform, the provider of 'POOQ,' in May 2019. After his appointment, he launched Wavve, the leading domestic OTT platform integrating 'POOQ' and 'Oksusu,' in September of the same year.

Since its launch, performance has been on the rise. Compared to 2019, the number of paid subscribers has more than doubled. Revenue also grew about 2.4 times compared to 2019, Lee's first year in office. Revenue was 97.3 billion KRW in 2019 and 180.2 billion KRW in 2020. Monthly active users (MAU) recently increased to 4.92 million, reaching about half the size of Netflix, the domestic industry leader with over 10 million users.

1 Trillion KRW Investment Over 3 Years and Overseas Expansion

Wavve, which has secured the second position in the industry by differentiating itself with strong killer content and live broadcasting, also faces many challenges. Due to the borderless nature of OTT, major OTTs such as Netflix led the market last year, followed by massive entries of 'Disney Plus (+)' and 'Apple TV Plus (+)' into the domestic market. 'HBO Plus (+)' and China's 'iQIYI' are also reportedly considering entering the Korean market. CJ ENM's affiliate 'Tving' is also rapidly chasing in third place.

Content investment and cooperation must also increase. Previously, Content Wave announced plans to invest 1 trillion KRW by 2025. Following the announcement of a 300 billion KRW production investment plan by 2023, the scale has been increased by reinvesting content profits. This was made possible thanks to financial investors (FIs) who invested funds with the possibility of an IPO in mind. Although the timing is not specified this year, there are plans to expand the foothold overseas. It is difficult to bear the enormous content production costs with only the domestic market, and following K-pop, K-content is gaining favorable responses in the global market.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.