Mark Marshall has been named chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal after filling in on an interim basis. Marshall has been acting as interim chairman since May, when Linda Yaccarino departed the company to serve as CEO of Twitter. He stepped in to lead the team through its upfront, a day after Yaccarino’s departure, which NBCUniversal said resulted in cash commitments roughly in line with last year’s upfront, which was the company’s highest grossing to date, in the midst of a tough advertising environment.
NBCUniversal shook up its ad-sales executive suite with just days to go before the company is slated to present its next slate of programing to advertisers. Linda Yaccarino, the company’s longtime chairman of advertising and partnerships, is leaving the company. She has entered talks to become CEO of Twitter, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mark Marshall, a veteran executive who leads advertising sales for all of NBCU’s national media properties, has been named interim chairman of ad sales for the company. He will report to Mark Lazarus who oversees NBCU’s TV and streaming businesses.
Ad sales president Mark Marshall (pictured) touts scale and precision.
Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit announced a reorganization of its ad sales unit under Linda Yaccarino, chairman of global advertising sales and partnerships. One big change puts ad sales president Mark Marshall in charge of converged teams responsible for selling the company’s linear, digital and streaming inventory. Marshall will also oversee a new unit looking to sell ads to small and midsized businesses. The SMB unit will work closely with NBCU’s local sales division.
NBCUniversal said it would rejigger the executive team overseeing its advertising sales, elevating two executives and parting ways with two others as traditional media sellers grapple with new demands from a Madison Avenue increasingly focused on buying broader packages of commercial time across many different outlets. Laura Molen and Mark Marshall were each named a president of NBCU’s ad sales division.
Mark Marshall will succeed Lovinger atop ad sales for entertainment networks.
