Amazon snags NBCU exec as hiring spree continues

Bosch Legacy

Amazon has appointed NBCUniversal (NBCU) exec Jessica Morganroth as senior content acquisitions manager for its streaming services Prime Video and Freevee.

New York-based Morganroth returns to the company following a previous three-month stint in acquisitions for Prime Video in 2018, with the exec having more recently served a two-and-a-half-year tenure as director of content acquisition and strategy, streaming & television, for NBCU.

Jessica Morganroth

Prior to that, she spent a year as senior manager of content strategy and acquisition for sports-focused streamer fuboTV, and more than four years at Disney-owned ABC TV Group.

She was latterly senior manager of pricing and planning for ABC News, having started out in 2013 as a cross-platform sales planner.

Hiring spree

Morganroth’s appointment comes as the latest in a string of new hires and promotions at Amazon, with A+E Networks’ Edward Guerron also named as senior content acquisition manager last week, covering the UK & Germany for Freevee.

HBO Asia veteran David Simonsen has also been named as director of Southeast Asia for Prime Video in recent days, while last month Amazon Studios restructured the unscripted operations of its Prime Video and Freevee teams in the US last month.

Amazon Studios also made several new appointments across its newly established local originals development team for South Africa and Nigeria last week.

This came soon after Amazon promoted Ryan Pirozzi to head of ad-supported streaming service Freevee and Lauren Anderson to head of AVOD original content and programming at Amazon Studios and Freevee.

Amazon has been increasing investment in Freevee over the past 12 months, spending on US originals such as Bosch: Legacy and saving Jeff Daniels-starring American Rust, following its cancellation by Showtime.

The streamer also rolled out in Germany earlier this month, its second international launch following the UK last year. The service initially launched in the US in 2019 as IMDb Freedive, before rebranding to IMDb TV, and eventually Freevee in April.

Prime Video, meanwhile, recently reported that its new epic fantasy series, The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, attracted more than 25 million global viewers on its first day, breaking all previous records for the retailer’s streamer.

Another of its new launches has fared less well, however, with Prime Video cancelling sci-fi drama Paper Girls after one season. The eight-part series, from Amazon Studios and Legendary Television in association with Plan B, launched in July and is based on the graphic novel series of the same name.