Jon Lloyd has joined The Sun as director of video, as part of a raft of new hires which includes Kate Chaplin arriving as head of news video, and Laura Payne coming on board as head of video production. The appointments come as the popular tabloid brand continues to invest in its video operation to engage new audiences.
Lloyd will be responsible for driving a video-first commissioning strategy, creating brand new agenda-setting video output and premium original formats and series. His team will also be responsible for bringing The Sun’s journalism to life in video form.
Victoria Newton, editor-in-chief of The Sun, said: “With his track record of producing quality programming, allied with Kate and Laura’s expertise, Jon is perfectly placed to lead The Sun’s video output as we add another dimension to our digital journalism.”
Lloyd is a senior creative leader with two decades experience building and running content agencies and production companies. His track record includes a range of long-running factual and entertainment hits and branded content series, across UK & International broadcasters, YouTube and social platforms.
He said: “It’s an incredible time to be joining The Sun as we increase our video content, putting it at the heart of our story-telling, and transform this UK institution into a ground-breaking audio & visual content producer and platform.”
The Sun reaches 19.9m digital users each month in the UK on Sun-owned platforms, and 40m off-platform followers across digital platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook). In the last quarter, it has driven more than 1.7 billion video views on original programming and news video including Never Mind The Ballots, Tactics Exposed, The Frontline, and its latest show Weekend Wager.
Payne arrives from News Broadcasting Digital where she has been head of production since 2022. Chaplin, meanwhile, is currently head of video news at The Telegraph, where she leads the video strategy across all digital platforms, responsible for commissioning engaging original content tailored to both the website and social channels. Prior to this, she was a TV producer for Sky News.
