{"id":8089715,"date":"2026-10-02T11:12:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=8089715"},"modified":"2026-10-02T11:12:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:12:54","slug":"nbcuniversal-comcast-spinoff-future-mark-marshall-thegrill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/media-platforms\/tv\/nbcuniversal-comcast-spinoff-future-mark-marshall-thegrill\/","title":{"rendered":"NBCUniversal\u2019s Mark Marshall Sidesteps Sale Question, Says Comcast Spinoff Is Focused on Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

NBCUniversal\u2019s head of advertising is feeling optimistic about the company\u2019s upcoming spinoff from Comcast, even if he won\u2019t speculate too specifically on the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media company\u2019s chairman of global advertising and partnerships avoided a direct answer when asked about whether the spinoff of the media company \u2014 which houses Universal Pictures, Peacock, Sky, Bravo and other key film and TV assets, along with a lucrative theme park business \u2014 from its cable parent was a sign of preparing to sell elsewhere to another giant like Netflix or Apple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not his job to tell the world, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you could talk to Mike Cavanagh and ask him, my boss. I\u2019m not dumb enough to answer that one,\u201d Marshall jokingly told TheWrap during TheWrap\u2019s annual business conference TheGrill. \u201cMike has said we\u2019re not doing this spinoff to merge or to be sold. The idea for us is to take all the assets I just went through and grow. Growth is the focus for our company as we move forward with those assets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kayla Cobb, TheWrap Senior Reporter, and Mark Marshall, Chairman, NBCUniversal Global Advertising & Partnerships, speak onstage at \u201cThe Business of Big Moments in a Fragmented Media Landscape\u201d panel at TheGrill 2026. (Photo by Randy Shropshire for TheWrap)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, NBCUniversal has been shedding assets for a while as it sets itself up for future success, whether via M&A or not. The company spun off its cable assets into Versant, a separate publicly traded company that still operates closely with NBCU through commercial, advertising and operational service agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going through that spinoff makes the next one more of a promising development than a frightening one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Versant spun, and if you watch CNBC, they were crabby. They were like, \u201cWe don\u2019t want to leave the mothership.\u2019 I think if you ask them today, they are like, ‘This was the right move for them longterm,’\u201d Marshall said. \u201cChange is hard. Spinning out of something is a big change. But we\u2019re 100 years old, and our 100th year is our best year we\u2019ve ever had. We feel pretty good about heading into the next century.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tHow Versant Is Letting Its 'Entrepreneurial' Spirit Take the Lead Post-Comcast<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Part of that new direction involves a new partnership with YouTube<\/a> that includes bundling streaming service Peacock with YouTube premium starting in early 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marshall said the bundle allows for the advertising team to sell off of the strong performance of shows like late night staples like \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d or \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d on YouTube, the top TV distributor for the last three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll have 4 million people that watch [\u2018SNL\u2019] live on Saturday night. You\u2019ll have another couple million that will watch it the next day on streaming, and then you have hundreds of millions that watch clips. Now you\u2019ll be able to have all of that in one buy,\u201d Marshall boasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there\u2019s at least one frontman who is happy about getting better at monetizing on YouTube: Jimmy Fallon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJimmy sends me lots of texts about how many people saw his videos<\/a>. He\u2019s like, \u2018Go make more money on that,\u2019 \u201d Marshall added. \u201cWe\u2019re trying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Rob\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tParamount's Makan Delrahim, California AG Rob Bonta Get Candid on Warner Bros. Merger Settlement<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Such partnerships also help with big milestone events, of which NBCU houses many. The company is celebrating 100 years of NBC, currently the No. 1 broadcast network after hosting this year\u2019s Super Bowl and the Milano-Cortina Olympics. The company will again host the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, and this year also celebrates 100 years of the Macy\u2019s Day Parade and 75 years of the \u201cToday\u201d show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in a TV marketplace where viewers get to choose their own schedules, Marshall says it\u2019s time to revolutionize how we measure success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do these big events become everyday business opportunities? That\u2019s what we have to be talking about, not as focused on what last night\u2019s overnight rating was,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tYouTube Head Warns Creators to 'Not Sleep on Live,' Noting That it 'Supercharges' Fandoms<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TheGrill 2026: The company\u2019s chairman of global advertising and partnerships also tells TheWrap about partnering with YouTube to make more money off late night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10142,"featured_media":8089671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-full-width-with-ads","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":504728,"post_id":7303342}}]},"_links_to":"","_links_to_type":0,"nb_breaking_email_type":"20ea2010-a7ac-4136-bfc8-12173d880a45","nb_breaking_template":"pro-single-story.html","nb_breaking_from_name":"WrapPRO","nb_breaking_subject":"","nb_breaking_preview":"","nb_breaking_list":[],"nb_breaking_header_img":7562034,"nb_breaking_should_send":false,"nb_breaking_content":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n
\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"WrapPRO<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Discover why entertainment executives and professionals rely on the WrapPRO platform daily for exclusive coverage, analysis, deeper reporting, and access to VIP events & screenings throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","nb_newsletter_sent_breaking_post_id":[8089829],"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-10-02T18:12:52Z","apple_news_api_id":"a905e11c-4986-49a7-9745-6eafc5a8dfb3","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-10-02T18:12:52Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AqQXhHEmGSaeXRW6vxajfsw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"hide_featured_image":false,"the_wrap_post_enable_full_width_featured_image":false,"the_wrap_post_enable_featured_video":false,"the_wrap_post_featured_video":"","the_wrap_post_disable_read_more":false,"wp_curate_deduplication":false,"wp_curate_unique_pinned_posts":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[279383,514408,411758,13950],"tags":[502422,1045,401075,20839,264848,433226],"tw_data_partners":[],"columns":[],"byline":[504728],"class_list":["post-8089715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-industry-trends","category-streaming","category-tv","tag-freemium","tag-jimmy-fallon","tag-mark-marshall","tag-nbcuniversal","tag-thegrill-2","tag-wrappro"],"newsletter_builder_byline":"Jose Alejandro Bastidas","is_pro_article":true,"apple_news_notices":[],"eyebrow":{"link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/media-platforms\/tv\/","text":"TV"},"tw_schema_org_review":{"name":"","type":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8089715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8089715"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8089715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8089828,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8089715\/revisions\/8089828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8089671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8089715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8089715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8089715"},{"taxonomy":"tw_data_partners","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tw_data_partners?post=8089715"},{"taxonomy":"tw_column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/columns?post=8089715"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=8089715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}