MSNBC is poaching a CNN executive to help build out its new digital presence as the left-leaning cable network decouples from NBC News.
In a note to network employees first shared with Semafor on Tuesday, MSNBC said that it was hiring CNN’s Marcus Mabry to serve as its Senior Vice President of Content Strategy. According to the note, Mabry is expected to help rethink how MSNBC’s audiences experience the network online. The network also said Mabry would develop new online projects for MSNBC, expanding the brand’s digital audience and business. That could eventually mean a suite of new digital revenue products, including e-commerce.
“Marcus joins us in a pivotal moment when MSNBC is seeing across-the-board growth in non-linear spaces, and I’m thrilled to have him join our leadership team,” network chief Rebecca Kutler said in a memo reviewed by Semafor.
Mabry was previously CNN Worldwide’s Senior Vice President of Digital Editorial and Programming, where he oversaw teams responsible for running the CNN.com homepage, as well as audio, features, and commerce initiatives.
The hire comes as Kutler, the new MSNBC network president and a CNN alum, begins to put her stamp on the left-leaning cable news network.
Last week, MSNBC announced it was hiring former Politico editor Sudeep Reddy to help establish its presence in Washington, DC, apart from NBC News; Reddy is one of the first of an estimated 100 new roles intended to replace reporting resources that were previously performed by NBC News. It also brought in media veteran Madeleine Haeringer to run MSNBC’s digital operation, filling a role previously held by Kutler.
MSNBC is beginning to carve out its own digital identity as one of the flagship properties of Versant, the collective of cable television networks that NBCUniversal is in the process of spinning off from its primary business.
While most industry experts view the spinoff as a way for Comcast to isolate its profitable but declining linear television assets away from its more stable studio, telecom, and theme parks business, Versant has set out to demonstrate that some of the cable TV brands could have greater longevity than some skeptics believe.
In an onstage interview earlier this month, Comcast Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said that the company had digital opportunities that the telecommunication giant was not as focused on before the spinoff.
“For Versant, their opportunity is going to be a well capitalized company, a very strong management team, a lot of free cash flow, and the ability to do some things in digital that we weren’t necessarily thinking of,” Armstrong said.