Jihee Nam has been named Vice President and General Manager for Nickelodeon Networks Australia and New Zealand.
Nam replaces Ben Richardson, who was recently promoted to the role of Sr. Vice President and General Manager, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Australia and New Zealand.
Currently based in Singapore, Nam says she is looking forward to returning to her home soil and engaging with new markets.
“I have been thinking about coming home for a while now,” she tells IF. “I’ve always wanted to go back to Sydney, I love Sydney. That’s home.”
She returns to Australia after a lengthy career in Asia having held positions with Viacom International Media Networks, CNET Networks, online gaming company CCR and Korean news platform, Hankook Ilbo. In 2009, she was promoted to Vice President / Head of Digital Media where she oversaw all of VIMN’s digital businesses in Japan, China, Korea and Southeast Asia.
Nam believes her wealth of digital experience overseas will assist her in her new role.
“Part of the reason why I was hired, I would think, is because of my digital experience,” she says. “I’ve been working in the digital space in Asia for over 15 years and I was very lucky to have been in Korea when html was just starting and the internet was just starting to boom. I think I was in the right place at the right time so I got to see and experience all of that and it felt like, the last two or three years to me, Australia has been going through a growth spurt in that digital area. That’s an area I’m going to be looking into. Our audience is, I think, where digital is at the moment. Their lives revolve around digital and that whole ecosystem.”
"Because Australia is probably going through what Asia – especially Korea and Japan – were going through two, three five years ago. I mean obviously there will be differences but the world is so small now, that I’m sure a lot of that can resonate with Australian kids as well.
As a brand, Nam says she was attracted to Nickelodeon because of the 360 degree nature of the business and the opportunities that presented.
“I love Nickelodeon because of the 360 effect that it has. It has everything from consumer product to curating the shows to games to IP to everything else. I think it’s pretty endless really,” she says.
"“The audience is going to be a new audience, the market is going to be a new market, the industry is going to be new to me. So I think fitting all that together and coming up with some really great products potentially, working with what we have already and growing them into something better is something I’m really looking forward to.”
Nickelodeon Networks Australia is a joint venture between Viacom International Media Networks and Foxtel.
Nam commences her role on June 16.