• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 4, 2008

Beth Comstock, president of NBC Universal Integrated Media for the past two years, is heading back to parent General Electric as its senior vice president and chief marketing officer.

In her place, Salil Mehta, NBCU's president of business operations, strategy and development, will oversee the company's digital media team, while Jeff Gaspin, president and chief operating officer of the Universal Television Group, will watch over iVillage on an interim basis.

In addition, Mike Pilot, NBCU's existing president of sales and marketing, will now oversee the company's research department, including planning, development and analysis of all audience, program and marketing research.

GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt on Monday gave Comstock credit for helping NBCU to reach its $1 billion goal for digital revenues in 2008, a year ahead of schedule.

Rather than a target sum, however, Comstock said her real achievement was setting a strong precedent for growth in the digital arena.

"That says we can do it, and that's just the beginning for digital," Comstock said.

Among her other achievements at NBC, Comstock listed the creation of a digital production studio to complement the work of marketers and their agencies, and better measurement systems like NBCU's Total Audience Media Interactive, which gives advertisers total viewer numbers across all media platforms, along with more customized and innovative media placement for advertisers.

"I'm really happy with what we accomplished," she said.

At NBC, Comstock was criticized for her lack of prowess in the area of emerging digital technologies--something Comstock insisted was never in her job description.

"It was not my job to know all things digital," Comstock said. "We hired great people, like George Kliavkoff, to make that happen," she added, referring to NBCU's chief digital officer (who will now report directly to Mehta.)

Comstock's latest move was first reported Monday by the New York Post, which first broke the story back in September that Immelt was planning to bring Comstock back into the fold.

It is too early to judge the soundness of Comstock's boldest decisions at NBC, like the acquisition of iVillage.com for $600 million in 2006. The women's network has seen 18 months of year-over-year growth since then, yet a cable show based on the site received poor ratings and was just cancelled for the second time.

Hulu, the joint video venture between NBC and News Corp.--and another venture in which Comstock had a hand--has not yet had time to prove itself.

Comstock served as GE's first chief marketing officer from 2003 to 2005, during which time she spearheaded the conglomerate's broad-reaching "ecomagination" campaign.

In her second stint as GE's CMO, beginning March 10, Comstock will be in charge of marketing, sales and communications, in addition to strategic growth initiatives.

"I don't come with an agenda," Comstock said of her return.

Reporting directly to Immelt, she will focus on cross-business digital initiatives related to consumer health, and create a network of external partners in environmental technologies.

GE's present chief marketing officer, Dan Henson, is being repositioned as president and CEO of GE Capital Solutions, a global provider of leasing, lending, and capital investment products.

As part of the realignment, NBC is launching a virtual women's network, which at its core will include Bravo Media, Oxygen Media and iVillage, and will be supported by the entire range of NBC Universal assets.