NBCU to Lose Chief Digital Officer, George Kliavkoff

George Kliavkoff, NBC Universal’s Chief Digital officer, has announced he will be leaving his position at the end of the year. In a memo sent to NBCU staff last week, Kliavkoff said he had achieved all he wanted to in his current role, and that he feels much of his work at NBC is done. “I believe in my heart that this is a best time to start, run or invest in digital companies and I am very excited about moving on,” he said.

NBC President and CEO, Jeff Zucker said, “George came to NBC Universal when we were nowhere in digital. We asked him to help us change the fundamental orientation of a traditional media company from an analogue to a digital mindset. George did that, and did an outstanding job for us.”

During his spell at NBC, Kliavkoff acted as Hulu’s first CEO, and oversaw the online distribution of NBC’s Olympics coverage this summer, which delivered 1.3 billion pageviews and streamed 10 million hours of video to 52 million unique users, according to Kliavkoff. He will leave using an option in his contract, but says he will remain available to President and CEO Jeff Zucker during and after his departure.

“These accomplishments, and many others too numerous to mention, are an indication that a digital mindset has in fact taken hold throughout NBCU, in every business unit. I am perhaps most proud of this, because it means that NBCU will continue to grow in our increasingly digital media future,” his memo stated.

He added that he expects the firm’s digital revenues to exceed $1 billion in 2009.

Prior to joining NBC in August 2006, Kliavkoff was Senior Vice President of Business Development at Major League Baseball Advance Media.