Publishers and media owners · Episode 41 · Season 3 · ·
How First-Party Data Is Reshaping Commercial Media at Scale
Owen Griffiths, Commercial Revenue Director at The Sun, on building the Nucleus first-party data platform to make 140 sub-channels coherent for advertisers, why a 10-year partnership with Tesco grew brand recall from 45% to 51%, and what brand synergy means as a commercial philosophy.
Owen Griffiths, Commercial Revenue Director, The Sun. In conversation with Justin Cooke.
How First-Party Data Is Reshaping Commercial Media at Scale
0:0028:00How The Sun built a first-party data platform to connect 41 million monthly users to brands across 140 sub-channels
Owen Griffiths oversees the entire commercialisation of The Sun across all its platforms and portfolios. The Sun has 41 million monthly users globally, a growing US presence alongside its UK core, and a 140 sub-channel estate spanning nine platforms from print to YouTube.
In this conversation Griffiths explains how The Sun built Nucleus, its first-party data platform, to make that complexity commercially viable, how a decade-long partnership with Tesco grew brand recall by 6 percentage points through creative evolution from print to digital, and why brand synergy is the commercial principle that drives The Sun's most valuable relationships.
Tell us about the scale of The Sun today
“My role is to look after the entire commercialisation of The Sun. On our video offering alone we have something like 140 different sub-channels across nine different platforms. Getting my own head around that takes a lot. Globally we are reaching around 41 million users per month.”
Griffiths describes a commercial role spanning a genuinely complex media operation. The challenge of presenting 140 sub-channels coherently drives the importance of Nucleus.
Tell me about Nucleus
“We worked quite hard to have all the first-party data that we have on our consumers across all platforms come together. We packaged it up in a format which we call Nucleus, our data platform. We have tools within that that help connect advertisers to those different communities.”
Nucleus translates audience data into targeting opportunities that advertisers can act on, shifting the conversation from volume of inventory to precision of audience.
Tell me about the Tesco partnership
“We have worked with Tesco for forever now. A partnership hopefully moving into its 10th year. The creative idea was to be front of mind, literally the first thing readers see whenever they come to our products. Over 10 years we evolved from a print front page ad to the first digital ad on the website to a splash screen on app launch. Brand recall has grown from around 45% to around 51%.”
The example shows how creative brand synergy compounds over time when the fit between brand and audience is genuine.
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“For Paramount+ launching an 80s-themed show, we turned the newspaper and parts of the website into a mock 1980s version incorporating characters from the show in Sun-style headlines. We even changed the masthead from The Sun to The Current Bun. That creativity and humour shining through is what makes the partnership feel authentic rather than forced.”
The Paramount+ example shows how editorial integration creates genuine brand association rather than standard advertising.
What makes a great partner?
“A willingness to work with us and evolve over time. Being clear on your KPIs. And making sure everyone feels involved in a constant dialogue. That four-way communication between us, the agency, editorial, and client going on daily is what makes these long-term partnerships work.”
Griffiths frames great partnership as a communication and evolution discipline more than a transaction.
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Read the full transcript
Lightly edited for readability
Justin Cooke Tell us about your role and The Sun today.
Owen Griffiths Commercial Revenue Director at The Sun, part of News UK. 140 different sub-channels across nine platforms. 41 million monthly users globally. We built Nucleus, our first-party data platform, to make that coherent for advertisers.
Justin Cooke Tell me about the Tesco partnership.
Owen Griffiths 10 years, almost. The creative brief has always been to be front of mind, the first thing readers see. Evolved from print front page to first digital ad on website to app splash screen. Brand recall grew from 45% to 51%. Brand synergy: does this brand speak to our audience and can we speak to theirs? With Tesco, bang on.
