Friendly place but slow and bureaucratic - Director, Business Development NBCUniversal Employee Review

4.0
Feb 11, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It' s a real Hollywood company, there's a certain glamour and prestige from working at a company that makes major films and TV shows. The offices are generally in nice locations and well outfitted and the travel and conference perks are a plus. On the work side, there's quite a lot of potential deals coming through and the management within the business are generally smart, on the ball and co-operate with the central strategy and business development teams. The level of thinking and the way the work is presented is of a high quality, lots of smart people running around the business.

Cons

Highly bureaucratic and tiered - first there's the nesting of NBCU within Comcast, then within NBCU there's divisional tiering with multiple managers and senior executives (often on parallel tracks) in the decision path of any new initiative. Lots of mid-career managers looking to "shine" and end up using their teams to do the slogging and hard yards but without giving them the spotlight. For all the high quality work done, tough decisions are often dodged, and some necessary risks not taken. While Comcast has a name for focusing on long-term value from placing a few big bets, recent big bets have been reactive (not proactive) and sensible smaller bets are left by the wayside.

Explore other reviews about NBCUniversal

5.0
Mar 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Take care of employees and has a positive work culture.

Cons

Could have better pay and benefits

3.0
Jun 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

NBCUniversal is full of smart, funny, talented people who genuinely care about the work. I learned a tremendous amount there, especially about programming, production, audience strategy, brand management, budgets, talent, internal politics, and how a major media company actually functions when the glossy press release meets the spreadsheet. The brands are still powerful. NBC, Peacock, Bravo, USA, SYFY, E!, and the broader portfolio have real history, real audiences, and real cultural weight. When the company is aligned, it can move beautifully. You get exposure to major shows, high-level conversations, complex productions, and the kind of institutional knowledge you cannot really get anywhere smaller. It is also a place where you can build real taste and real judgment. You see what works, what almost works, what dies in a conference room, and what somehow survives three leadership changes and a budget cut.

Cons

The biggest downside is instability. NBCUniversal has been through major structural change, including the cable network spinoff into Versant, divestitures, reorganizations, and significant layoffs. That kind of uncertainty changes the job. You are not just doing the work. You are trying to understand which version of the company you work for this quarter. Decision-making can also be slow and heavily layered. There are a lot of smart people, but sometimes too many of them need to bless the same sentence, deck, cut, budget, or idea. The result is that good work can get sanded down, delayed, or rerouted through a maze wearing a lanyard. The company also asks people to do more with less, then less with less, then somehow make it feel premium. That is exhausting. Especially for employees who care deeply and are trying to protect the creative, the business, and their own sanity without being handed a map.

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