Katie Vanneck, currently interim managing director of digital and new business, has been appointed to the new role of managing director, Customer Direct.
The move comes as newspaper groups come to rely more heavily on revenue from direct-to-consumer commercial activities as newspaper sales decline.
Customer Direct will unite the digital and enterprise teams, embracing Times Online, Sun Online, Digital Solutions and now customer data, Times Plus and CRM.
"News International has been looking at ways of tying up all its marketing divisions and adding data," said one observer with knowledge of News International.
"The problem was that the marketing teams sat away from the data people, but a single structure makes things more cohesive and puts the customers at the heart of what News International does."
News International's affinity activities include the Sunday Times Wine Club.
The company has a marketing database as well as a prospect database, featuring Electoral Roll and lifestyle data.
Vanneck, a former marketing director at The Daily Telegraph, will report directly to James Murdoch, News Corp's chairman and chief executive. She returned to NI from The Daily Telegraph two years ago.
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