Donna Langley Is Here to Save NBCUniversal TV
Donna Langley: Now with TV!
The chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group has added television oversight as part of a Thursday restructuring at NBCUniversal; Langley’s title is now chairman, NBCUniversal Studio Group & chief content officer. Susan Rovner, who was chairman of entertainment content for NBCU’s television and streaming division, is leaving the company.
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Rovner’s counterpart, Frances Berwick, will be elevated to chairman, NBCUniversal Entertainment, a newly formed role reporting into both Langley and NBCUniversal Media Group Chairman Mark Lazarus.
The news was announced Thursday by Mike Cavanaugh, who took over in April after Jeff Shell exited following an investigation into sexual harassment. Cavanaugh’s restructure includes himself as president but no CEO; in place of that position are a hand-picked leadership team. In addition to Langley overseeing all content, Lazarus will lead Peacock, NBC Sports, and affiliates, Cesar Conde has the news division, and Mark Woodbury leads parks.
Langley, in addition to her continued oversight of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (which itself houses Universal Pictures, Focus Features, and DreamWorks Animation) will also oversee Universal Studio Group, (Universal Television, Universal Content Productions, Universal Television Alternative Studios, and Universal International Studios). Pearlena Igbokwe has direct oversight of those TV studios.
“Donna has been shaping the cultural conversation and creating the framework for what a modern-day studio can accomplish through bold content, impactful marketing and business model innovation,” Cavanaugh said on Thursday. “She will leverage her longstanding relationships with the creative community and ability to partner with the most prolific storytellers in our business to unlock a seamless cross-portfolio creative strategy including programming, distribution and marketing across Film, Television and Streaming.”
More specifically, here’s what Donna has done: She’s made Universal Pictures into a box-office juggernaut flush with franchises without relying on a single superhero, she’s made tight-knit relationships with talent like Jordan Peele, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” directors The Daniels, and even coaxed Christopher Nolan away from Warner Bros. And while it was Shell who forged the pact with AMC and other theater chains that changed the PVOD game during the pandemic, it is Langley movies that brought in the new revenue stream’s $1 billion (over three years).
Langley and Universal currently boast the highest grossing movie of 2023 with Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” a franchise in the making after decades of Nintendo sitting on the sidelines. But since taking over as chairwoman of Universal Pictures in 2013, then being elevated to sole chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group since 2019, she’s gotten creative in building franchises without the aid of slam-dunk IP like a Marvel, DC, or Star Wars.
You can look at “Fast & Furious,” “Jurassic World,” “Pitch Perfect,” and “Fifty Shades of Gray” to name just a few. Chris Meledandri’s Illumination has produced a continued string of hits well before “Super Mario” and is now the animation juggernaut to beat at the box office. Universal’s work with Blumhouse has birthed “The Purge,” “Halloween” and a burgeoning “M3GAN” franchise. And this year Universal is poised to release 26 movies in theaters, more than any other studio.
But Langley has also been a champion for talent and specialty programming, including overseeing Focus Features and notching a Best Picture win for “Green Book” in 2019. She also was in charge when Spike Lee won his first Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman” and helped turn Peele into a household name after releasing “Get Out,” “Us,” and “Nope.”
But film is film, and TV is TV — until now, at least. Langley has more work to do on the series side of the content coin. Berwick, whom a person with knowledge of the setup told IndieWire will have green-light authority, is there to help. Linda Yaccarino, NBCU’s rock star former ad-sales chief is not — she bolted to become CEO of Twitter. To some observers, that choice had a weird “abandon ship” vibe.
NBCU television is not quite sinking, but it certainly isn’t on the plane it once was. Broadcaster NBC is doing… OK. While CBS won another television season in terms of total viewers, Fox topped the key 18-49 demographic’s ratings — but that was mostly thanks to having Super Bowl LVII. If you strip away sports overall, well, ABC won in the demo. So NBC is in sort of a no-man’s land right now.
While NBCUniversal has a strong cable presence, cable is, well, cable. The entire medium is caught in cord-cutting purgatory, where it neither has the relevance of streaming or the lingering eyeballs of broadcast television. Oh how ironic for cable television, once the big disruptor itself.
Peacock, for which Langley will oversee the content but not the business (that’d be Matt Strauss and Kelly Campbell), is also famously struggling to find its footing. The relatively young streamer no longer has a free tier and not many people want its ad-free plan. Peacock has just 22 million paid subscribers and a relatively small presence in the originals space. Let’s hope Rian Johnson (“Poker Face”) admires Langley as much as other top creatives seem to.
Read Cavanaugh’s Thursday note to employees, obtained by IndieWire, below. Warning: it’s a lot.
Dear Colleagues,
It has been two and a half months since I stepped in to lead NBCUniversal, and I want to thank all of you and the leadership team for keeping the business humming during this time. I’ve had the privilege of spending time with many of you as I visited with all of our businesses. I’ve been deeply immersed in the day-to-day business of NBCU, which has reinforced what I already knew – that NBCU is a very special place with tremendous opportunities ahead.
Here are some of my specific observations:
We have an incredible depth of talent and a strong leadership team. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been inspired by our people. Individuals at all levels of the company have stepped up, filled voids, and enabled NBCU to continue operating seamlessly. We have not missed a beat. I’m grateful to the entire leadership team for the stability and strength they bring to this company.
NBCU benefits from a diverse array of businesses, each with leading market positions. We have the best, most innovative creative capabilities, which have developed powerful franchises, attracting large audiences and delivering premium monetization. We are the #2 Film studio in global market share this year, with nearly $3 billion in box office receipts to date. Our five global theme parks are firing on all cylinders with exceptional demand. We have the #1 TV portfolio by total audience with the largest reach of any media company. Our TV studio is award winning and prolific. We’re the #1 most watched News organization in the U.S. And sports is a huge driver with the NFL, Premiere League, a record-breaking World Cup on Telemundo, Big 10 debuting this fall and the Paris Olympics coming up next year.
We have the right business strategy for the future. We produce premium content through our studios, distribute it through our TV networks, Peacock and third parties, and further monetize this content with our theme parks and consumer products. This strategy, combined with our superior execution, differentiates us from our competitors. We are also able to pivot as needed to adapt to market conditions and an evolving media and technology landscape. Peacock is a good example. We launched Peacock with a different thesis than most: an ad supported model that is an extension of our existing business. We set out a plan, which we have adapted as needed, and we have great momentum. Peacock is strong and growing, more than doubling our paid subscriber base in 2022 to more than 22 million, with over $2 billion in annual revenue.
We are stronger together, both across NBCUniversal and as a part of Comcast. Our ability to take advantage of being one company sets us apart. First, the diversity of businesses within NBCU strengthen each other. Symphony – and the philosophy that we are better together– is core to how we operate. We also have the strength and benefit of being part of Comcast. We have $120 billion in revenue, the majority of which is in growth categories, including broadband, wireless, business services, parks, streaming and studios, and this is growing nearly 10 percent year over year. And we have the strongest balance sheet in the industry. Together this gives us the capacity to continue investing in our future. Our position of strength is an advantage for every part of this company.
Without a doubt, consumer trends such as cord cutting and new competitors, particularly from the technology sector, present challenges for us. But I firmly believe that we have the business strategy, management depth, and financial strength to emerge as long-term winners and value creators as the media landscape evolves.
With that goal in mind, I’m pleased to announce a new leadership structure for NBCU that takes advantage of the strengths of our leadership team and the power of the business as a whole. I will continue to lead NBCU as President of Comcast and will not name a new CEO. Instead, I will hand responsibility to a core leadership team to work with me in pursuit of the opportunities outlined above. The new leadership team will be made up of four operational heads: Donna Langley, Mark Lazarus, Cesar Conde and Mark Woodbury; and four key corporate leaders: Kimberley Harris, Anand Kini, Adam Miller and Craig Robinson. This new structure will facilitate a streamlined decision-making process and foster even more collaboration across our company.
As part of this new structure, we will create the NBCUniversal Studio Group led by Donna Langley, the NBCUniversal Media Group led by Mark Lazarus, and a broadly expanded NBCU News Group led by Cesar Conde – plus the rapidly growing Universal Destinations & Experiences Group led by Mark Woodbury.
Donna Langley will become Chairman, NBCUniversal Studio Group & Chief Content Officer. In this role, Donna will oversee a unified content strategy across the broad NBCUniversal portfolio, bringing together our Film and Television Studios. Donna will oversee NBCU’s suite of creative teams including Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation) and Universal Studio Group (Universal Television, Universal Content Productions, Universal Television Alternative Studios, Universal International Studios). Donna has been shaping the cultural conversation and creating the framework for what a modern-day studio can accomplish through bold content, impactful marketing and business model innovation. She will leverage her longstanding relationships with the creative community and ability to partner with the most prolific storytellers in our business to unlock a seamless cross-portfolio creative strategy including programming, distribution and marketing across Film, Television and Streaming. Pearlena Igbokwe, will continue to lead our four powerhouse TV studios under the Universal Studio Group umbrella. Under Pearlena’s three-year tenure, Universal Studio Group has seen an impressive revenue increase and year-over-year volume growth. The studio, which has 108 active series currently airing or streaming globally, is consistently responsible for 5 of the top 10 broadcast series and several #1 series across multiple streaming platforms. This unique combination will leverage the creative power, talent relationships, and valuable IP from both film and TV.
Mark Lazarus will become Chairman, NBCUniversal Media Group. In this role, Mark will run the company’s TV and Streaming platforms, distribution and monetization. He will continue to run our television networks, Direct to Consumer business, including Peacock, as well as the NBC Sports Group and NBC affiliate relations. Mark will permanently oversee advertising sales, which will continue to report to Mark Marshall, Interim Chairman, Global Advertising and Partnerships. He will now also oversee our content distribution business, which will continue to report to Matt Bond, Chairman, Content Distribution. Together, these businesses comprised more than $20 billion in revenue last year. Mark’s decades of experience running television, sports and advertising sales – both within NBCUniversal and earlier in his career – will be critical to the long-term growth of NBCUniversal’s media business.
As part of this restructure, Susan Rovner has decided to step down, and Frances Berwick will be elevated to Chairman, NBCUniversal Entertainment, a newly formed role reporting into both Mark Lazarus and Donna Langley. In this role, Frances will add original content across broadcast, cable and Peacock to her current responsibilities running our linear entertainment networks. Susan has agreed to remain with us for a bit to help ensure a smooth transition for her team and our creative partners. During her time here, Susan and her team have played an integral role in developing and greenlighting hit programming across NBCU’s entertainment portfolio, including brand-defining series for Peacock as well as breakout hits for NBC and the continued success of our Bravo franchises, almost all of which have seen year over year growth under her leadership. We appreciate all of Susan’s valuable contributions and thank her for all she’s done during her time at NBCU.
Cesar Conde will expand his role as Chairman, NBCUniversal News Group (NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC, NBC News NOW) to include overseeing NBCUniversal Local, which will continue to report to Valari Staab, Chairman, NBCUniversal Local; and the NBCU Telemundo Enterprises Group, which will continue to report to Beau Ferrari, Chairman, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Under Cesar’s leadership, the NBCU News Group became the most-watched news organization in the country across all platforms and created the largest and fastest growing streaming news network. In his expanded role, Cesar will oversee NBCUniversal Local, which includes among other businesses 43 NBC/Telemundo stations across the country. He will also oversee Telemundo Enterprises, which includes its Entertainment, News, Sports and Studio operations. Cesar previously led NBCU International and Telemundo when it became the number one Spanish-language network in prime time for the first time in history. Based on that experience as well as his excellent record leading the News Group, he is the ideal person to take on this expanded role. NBCUniversal Local and Telemundo Enterprises Group will fit seamlessly with our News Group and will enable even more growth and collaboration across the division.
Mark Woodbury will continue to be Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Universal Destinations & Experiences, where he oversees the company’s destinations worldwide, including Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Studios Japan and Universal Beijing Resort, as well as the company’s growing consumer products and merchandise group. Mark will lead the charge as we continue to expand our growing Destinations & Experiences business. This includes projects such as Epic Universe, opening in 2025, as well as new experiences in the works, such as the recently announced park specifically for younger audiences in Frisco, TX, and the first year-round horror entertainment experience in Las Vegas, NV. Mark and his team will continue to bring our unique content and IP to life, and to be trusted stewards of great IP from external partners as well, such as the recently opened Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood.
This core leadership team will also include: Kimberley Harris, Executive Vice President of Comcast Corporation and General Counsel of NBCUniversal; Anand Kini, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Comcast Corporation and Chief Financial Officer, NBCUniversal; Adam Miller, Executive Vice President, NBCUniversal, who oversees Communications, Human Resources, Operations and Technology; and Craig Robinson, Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer.
I’m very excited to work with this team to build on our great momentum and drive NBCU forward. Thank you to all for your efforts and hard work.
Mike
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