Kelly Campbell, the president of Peacock and direct-to-consumer at NBCUniversal, is reportedly leaving the company, according to a new report from Matthew Belloni of Puck News. Campbell first joined the media company in 2021 and has been at the helm during a stretch of growth as Peacock has proliferated its total user base to 36 million subscribers while diminishing overall losses. Throughout the last several years, Peacock has become more involved in the sports space, including an exclusive NFL Wild Card game last season that averaged 23 million viewers. Peacock had exclusive coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and has also had several other sports-related ventures in the last year surrounding studio programming and documentaries.
Campbell’s exit takes place as Comcast prepares to execute a $7 billion spin-off of its cable networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, USA and Golf Channel, into a new public company to be headed by Mark Lazarus. Brian Roberts, the chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast, will own a one-third voting stake within this new company, which is expected to be fully created before the end of the year. Lazarus formerly served as chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, a role that granted him oversight of the NBC Sports division and Peacock. Donna Langley and Matt Strauss received new roles within NBCUniversal as the company prepares for this shift to take place.
The company will reportedly not hire a replacement in the exact role Campbell has had, through which she has reported to Strauss. Sources divulged to Belloni that this is the first move in a remaking of the television and streaming business under new leadership. NBCUniversal will commence broadcasts of the National Basketball Association next season under a new 11-year media rights deal with the league. Furthermore, the media subsidiary continues to present games in the NFL, Big Ten Conference, Olympic Games, Big East Conference, NASCAR and PGA Tour.
Prior to joining NBCUniversal and Peacock, Campbell worked as the president of Hulu where she oversaw the streaming outlet. Moreover, she spent 12 years at Google where she held leadership roles in its advertising and cloud businesses. Campbell started her career working at JPMorgan Chase as an investment banking analyst after her graduation from Vanderbilt University. In 2003, she enrolled at Harvard Business School where she earned her MBA.
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