Netflix Names a New Marketing Chief, Replacing Bozoma Saint John

Netflix has promoted Marian Lee to Chief Marketing Officer following the sudden exit of Bozoma Saint John, who had held the role since June 2020.

Until now, Lee had been the streaming giant’s VP of U.S. and Canada Marketing, but she will now take over leadership of the company’s global marketing teams—the fourth person to do so since 2019.

Before Lee joined Netflix in July 2021, she had spent eight years at Spotify. While at the music streaming behemoth, she climbed her way up from Head of U.S. Consumer Marketing to VP and Global Co-Head of Music. Before that, Lee was the Director of Marketing at J.Crew and held marketing and operations roles at Gilt and Condé Nast.

“Marian is a strategic marketer with deep experience not just in entertainment but also more broadly having worked at fashion and media brands,” co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a company statement. "When she joined Netflix last year, she had an immediate impact on the marketing team and has demonstrated that she’s an exceptional leader, who understands how to drive conversations around brands and popular culture.”

Lee takes over as Netflix increasingly comes under siege from a new crop of streaming services from legacy rivals. For instance, Disney launched Disney+ in November 2019, and ViacomCBS debuted Paramount+ in March 2021.

However, Lee has some new tools to help her fight for the consumers’ attention in an increasingly saturated market. Last year, under Saint John, Netflix poached Allure Editor-in-Chief Michelle Lee and Apple podcast leader N’Jeri Eaton to give the company more touchpoints with consumers. The company also doubled down on content marketing in December 2021 and launched a news website, called Tudum, to cover its new releases, renewals and conduct exclusive interviews.