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Mark Marshall on NBCU’s Post-Linda Yaccarino Upfront Event

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2 years ago

May 18, 2023

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Mark Marshall on NBCU's Post-Linda Yaccarino Upfront Event

Now that upfront week events have concluded, Adweek is sitting down for upfront postmortem interviews with each of the presenting ad sales chiefs—and there’s plenty to talk about.

Between the Writers Guild of America strike keeping some major talent from hitting the stage to last-minute changes and major executive departures, it was an upfront week like no other. And no publisher had to deal with more challenges than NBCUniversal.

That’s because, in addition to being without upfront staples like Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers (NBC News’ talent handled the bulk of the presenting duties instead), the company had another glaring absence on the Radio City stage: longtime ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino, who left the company to become Twitter CEO just three days before the upfront presentation.

Yaccarino’s abrupt exit also gave added meaning to a joke from the event’s video kick-off, in which Seth MacFarlane’s foul-mouthed, talking animated bear, Ted, performed a song and dance about the importance of TV ads and joked, “Twitter may seem like the place to begin/but Twitter just let all the crazies back in.”

Mark Marshall, named interim chairman of NBCUniversal’s advertising and partnerships group on Friday, spoke with Adweek about the event’s quick changes, Yaccarino’s departure and, yes, that provocative Twitter joke.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Adweek: You made it through upfront week. Looking back on the event, what are you proudest of?
Marshall: I’m probably most proud of the quality of the show that was put on. It showed the breadth of our content, everything from unscripted to clips of the dramas and comedies. You’re able to see the news talent. We got to introduce the Big Ten on Saturday night, and then the Spanish-language [programming] and Peacock, so I think it was the breadth. That’s probably what I was most excited about.

With Linda Yaccarino heading to Twitter, a particular Twitter-themed joke from your Ted opening took on a double meaning and got a huge laugh from the crowd. How long was that joke in there? Were you expecting that reaction?
It had been in there for months, so it was not added in. And Linda was well aware of that line in there. So it was funny. I know people made some jokes about it, but it was in good fun. It had been in there for months.