Former Manulife SG marketer Cheryl Lim joins OTT player Viu

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Former Manulife marketer Cheryl Lim has joined online streaming platform Viu Singapore as country head of marketing. In an exclusive statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Lim said she will be leading a multidisciplinary suite of functions, including brand, digital, performance marketing and communications to drive key business objectives. 

“I am happy to begin a new adventure as country head of marketing in the over-the-top (OTT) industry, at Viu Singapore. Together with the team, I look forward to helping grow Viu’s growth momentum of Asian content, with Korean entertainment at the heart of our pan-regional strategy," she added. Lim leads a team of eight, and reports to Anson Tan, country head of Viu Singapore.

Prior to joining Viu, Lim helmed the role of VP, head of branding, communications and sponsorships, at Manulife Singapore. In her role, she was in charge of branding, marketing, internal, external and transformation communications, social and digital content, corporate social responsibility, and sponsorship partnerships. She exited the company after over four years with the team. During her time there, she was involved with many bold campaigns including #adulting, Stop the Drama, Statues Protection, #Unbroken, and Life Goes On: sneaker drop.  Last year at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Marketing Excellence Awards 2020, Manulife Singapore took home the coveted title of "Marketer of the Year". The company won four gold awards, claiming the top spot for excellence in brand strategy, digital marketing, performance marketing, and programmatic marketing. On an individual level, Lim also bagged the silver award for Marketing Innovator of the Year. Aside from Manulife, Lim also had previous stints with AXA Singapore, DBS, and HSBC. 

Lim joins Viu at a time where the streaming platform sees a growing presence in the OTT industry. Earlier in February, the platform said in its financial report that it has achieved 45 million monthly active users and 5.3 million paid subscribers as of December 2020. Additionally, Viu was ranked first in terms of number of users and second in terms of both paid subscribers and streaming minutes amongst major video streaming platforms in Southeast Asia, according to the latest Media Partners Asia AMPD report.

In 2020, Viu's paid subscribers grew by 47% year-on-year. It also said to have seen high growth in monetisation, with overall revenue up by 30%. Subscription revenue was the key driver of its growth, which saw an increase of 62% year-on-year. According to Viu, it has also beat the Greater Southeast Asia OTT video market growth rate with 63% revenue growth as compared to the overall GSEA market revenue growth of 17%.  Janice Lee, chief executive officer of Viu and managing director of PCCW Media Group, said: “Our learnings from the engagement and interactions with our Viu-ers across our 16 markets have been tremendous and have helped us continually improve our service. We are grateful for our Viu-ers’ support and are excited to bring even more of the best content to them in 2021.”

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