News UK Commercial renamed The Bridge with restructure creating new roles
News UK Commercial is relaunching as The Bridge, a refocused commercial offering that puts data at the forefront of how the publisher works with advertisers, as well as with the rest of the business and its titles.
The restructure of News UK's commercial side is something the company has been working out since the tail end of last year, when it brought down The Sun’s paywall as part of a company-wide rethink on how it works with advertisers, responding to advertiser demand to buy audiences rather than impressions.
The refocused offering will bring together the company’s data, creativity and insight resources in one place to give a clients a more effective reach across the publisher’s audiences.
The launch coincides with a restructure of News UK’s commercial operations following a consultation programme with its clients and agencies.
The restructure comes with the creation of two new roles, chief customer officer and chief commercial officer, intended to lead a rearranged and integrated commercial, customer, creative, data and insight team in order to maximise the value that News UK can offer its clients.
A series of new and improved propositions in data, technology, measurement and audience are being developed for The Bridge in partnership with some of its clients and are set to be brought to market over the coming months.
A key aspect of The Bridge will be a change in the way that News UK works with its customers. It will transform News UK’s commercial offering into a consultative organisation, working with its clients in strategic partnership, rather than traditional vendor-customer relationships.
Dominic Carter, chief commercial officer of News UK, said: “Across all of our titles and services we’ve got rich data relationships with millions of UK consumers every day. These relationships are with an audience that trust our brands and return to them frequently. Advertising in this trusted context is proven to be more effective and our readers are influential, social and likely to recommend products.
“News UK has always been a link between brands and these audiences. The Bridge is refining that proposition by restructuring our business to bring together our data scientists and insight and analytics professionals in one place to better help our clients create bespoke, targeted and measurable campaigns that genuinely connect brands with their audiences.
“This isn’t just about a commercial reorganisation – this is a shift in the way we’re structured and the way we work. It’s part of a wider refocusing of our business as a whole, building a more integrated and effective media business that better serves readers and clients.”