Yaccarino Adds Data Strategy Unit, Local & Regional Sports Network Sales, and Cross-Company Strategic Initiatives to Her Purview, in Addition to Global and National Sales
NBCUniversal announced that Linda Yaccarino has been elevated to Chairman, Global Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal. She will continue to report directly to Jeff Shell, CEO, NBCUniversal.
In this expanded role, Yaccarino will continue to oversee all National Advertising Sales, Ad Sales Marketing, and Global Partnerships, and will now include Local Advertising Sales and Strategic Initiatives teams in that offering, as well as spearhead a new cross-functional Data Strategy effort across the company.
With this move, NBCUniversal’s continued focus on serving all audiences on all screens takes another step forward, creating a single, scaled advertising offering for clients of all sizes, no matter where they operate — locally, nationally, or globally.
Earlier this year, NBCUniversal unified its linear and digital assets as One Platform and introduced ad-supported streaming with Peacock. This new structure announced today is an extension of the One Platform strategy. It allows the company to strengthen its already robust local ad sales operation by tying it more closely to the company’s global sales efforts and provides additional resources to build growing areas like data and information strategy.
“Linda has done a fantastic job moving the advertising business forward, not just for NBCUniversal, but the industry at large,” said Jeff Shell, CEO, NBCUniversal. “I’m excited for her to continue architecting the future of the ad-supported ecosystem and uniting all assets of this company to make us the best possible partner for our customers around the world.”
Since joining NBCUniversal in 2011, Yaccarino has led the growth of the company’s advertising sales efforts both nationally and globally to a $10+ billion dollar business annually, while developing new opportunities with expanded creative and technological resources to better serve NBCUniversal’s partners. Now, with the addition of Local Sales, NBCUniversal will offer a streamlined, scaled ad solution for small businesses to global enterprises via One Platform. Frank Comerford, Chief Revenue Officer for Local Sales, will continue to oversee all commercial efforts for NBCUniversal’s local TV stations, multicast networks and regional sports networks. He will report to Yaccarino and continue to partner closely with Valari Staab, President of NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations.
Yaccarino’s role will also include the oversight of a new initiative and another division. She will lead an effort to create a unified, privacy safe identity vision at NBCUniversal as head of the company’s new Data Strategy unit. This team, under a soon-to-be-named Chief Data Officer, will map out a strategic plan for information development across the organization, driving revenue generation and building deeper pathways into commerce. Strategic Initiatives, led by Senior Vice President Kathy Kelly-Brown, will also join Yaccarino’s team, uniting Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal’s Symphony efforts under the broader Advertising and Partnerships mantle.