NBCU Restructures Ad Sales Team, Mark Marshall Will Lead Upfront Talks

NBCUniversal is restructuring its advertising and partnership sales team following the recent departure of president Laura Molen.

Top line

Several execs will expand their roles under the shakeup, including Mark Marshall, president, advertising sales and client partnerships, who will now take solo lead of NBCUniversal’s upfront negotiations. He previously shared upfront duties with Molen and Krishan Bhatia, president and chief business officer of global advertising and partnerships.

Linda Yaccarino, chairman, global advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal, announced the changes Tuesday ahead of the company’s One23 conference, which will take place on Feb. 8.

Between the lines

NBCU said the restructuring will streamline its business, create fewer touchpoints for agencies and clients and bring media and technology expertise across its teams, making it easier for any sized business to work with the company. 

“Ultimately, it’s more than just a structural shift: it’s a mind shift and a culture shift,” Yaccarino wrote in a blog post.

With the restructuring, several executives and team members are taking on expanded roles and responsibilities.

Among the changes, Marshall will lead a new, converged national sales team, serving all agency and client partners. The sales team updates include dedicate One Platform Account Directors and Client Partnership leaders to enable central contact points and develop customized solutions across NBCU assets.

With the promotion, Marshall will also lead all upfront activities.

The changes come following Molen’s departure. The former NBCU advertising and partnerships president stepped back from her role in December, and said she would only stay on through the first quarter.

Molen had co-led upfront negotiations with Marshall since 2019. The pair were joined by Bhatia, to head up the 2021 and 2022 talks.

Among the other notable role updates in the restructure, Bhatia will continue to lead and grow the streaming and data products teams, Maggy Chan will now lead global sales and partnerships teams and Frank Comerford will continue leading local strategy.

Josh Feldman, global chief marketing officer, NBCUniversal advertising sales and partnerships, is also building a new content and talent partnerships team responsible for evolving and maintaining advertising strategies and sponsorship opportunities while developing monetization around IP.  

To help smaller businesses advertise on its platform, the company is also creating an SMB Growth Team, which will work alongside Marshall.

Bottom line

Though Marshall is new to being the only lead at NBCU’s upfront activities, he should provide some stability to negotiations amid the restructuring.

NBCU was the first major media company to announce its upfront week presentation plans, with the company declaring in December that it would return to Radio City Music Hall on Monday, May 15. As usual, the company will kick off upfront week with the first presentation.

Outside of NBCU, upfront week presentations have already had several changes, including Paramount skipping its usual Carnegie Hall presentation in favor of smaller meetings with clients and partners. Both YouTube and Netflix announced their upfront presentations will take place during Paramount’s vacated Wednesday slot.