NBCU Realigns Ad Sales Division

NBCUniversal today announced promotions within its advertising sales division, creating a new structure it says is “designed to strengthen portfolio-wide opportunities for advertising clients.”

The ad sales division now will be organized around four content areas: entertainment, live programming, lifestyle and digital video. The company also is creating a center for marketing excellence by bringing the sales marketing teams under one umbrella — the Client Solutions Group.

Serving as executive vice presidents in the company’s ad sales division, Dan Lovinger, Seth Winter, Laura Molen, Scott Schiller, Alison Tarrant and John Shea all will take on expanded roles within each of the four content areas and sales marketing. Additionally, Trish Frohman is stepping into the role of EVP, strategy and operations, assisting Linda Yaccarino, president, advertising sales, NBCUniversal across the portfolio on strategic operations. These executives will oversee the ad sales activities for the entire organization including the broadcast network, 17 cable networks and more than 50 digital properties.

“In an effort to maximize the power and potential of our portfolio, now we are putting in place the strategic leaders who will continue to position us for growth and provide opportunities for our customers like no other media company can,” said Yaccarino. “In a world of growing fragmentation and as scale has become more and more elusive, we’ve clustered our networks to capitalize on the strength of our assets. Also, I’m excited to expand our creative marketing offerings by developing a new center of marketing excellence and innovation for our clients.”

Reporting to Yaccarino, the following executives will take on new roles.

Entertainment: Dan Lovinger has been promoted to EVP, ad sales entertainment group. Expanding his current role, Lovinger now will have oversight of the combined advertising sales for NBC Broadcast Entertainment, USA, Syfy and WWE. This promotion brings together the company’s big reach assets of broadcast and cable properties.

Live Programming: Seth Winter has been promoted to EVP of the ad sales news and sports group, adding ad sales oversight for the NBCUniversal News Group in addition to continuing his leadership of the NBC Sports Group ad sales teams.

Lifestyle: Laura Molen has been elevated to EVP of the ad sales lifestyle group, leading advertising sales for Bravo, Oxygen, E!, Esquire, Cloo and Chiller.

Digital Video: Scott Schiller will expand his role as EVP, digital ad sales to oversee the NBCUniversal News Group’s digital ad sales on an interim basis as well as Digital Entertainment ad sales.

Client Solutions Group: Alison Tarrant, EVP of the client solutions group, now will oversee all sales marketing for NBCUniversal’s networks and properties. The integration of the sales marketing teams within the Client Solutions Group creates a single place for clients to access marketing and sponsorship capabilities across the entire NBCUniversal portfolio. In partnership with the Client Solutions Group, John Shea will continue as chief marketing officer, now leading the new Content Innovation and Creative Marketing team dedicated to being the creative resource for the entire NBCUniversal portfolio and its clients.