Jason Seiken, Telegraph Media Group editor-in-chief, has urged UK newspapers to move beyond their "imperial editor" culture, saying data and knowing the customer are as important in the transition to digital.

Seiken, who joined the publisher in September from US public service broadcaster PBS with no previous UK newspaper experience, also said he would not be abandoning the Telegraph titles' "right-of-centre, conservative with a small 'c'" political orientation.

However, he added that while this political orientation might work to sufficiently differentiate the Daily and Sunday Telegraph from rival titles in the UK newspaper sector, it was not enough to rely on for the company to stand out against "almost infinite competitors" in a global digital market.

Seiken, who came out on top in an internal power struggle in January when Daily Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher was controversially sacked, said Telegraph Media Group was in the process of becoming a "digital native news, entertainment and information organisation", and as a result some of the traditional culture of newspapers needed to be rethought.

"We are proud of our heritage as a newspaper, but we are really no longer just a newspaper," he told a session at the Advertising Week Europe conference in London on Wednesday. "In a way, for traditional news organisations, particularly newspaper organisations, really we've traditionally had a culture of the imperial editor who divines what the audience, the customer, wants and acts on that through the editor's vision. What is just as important these days is data, information, knowing the customer, making sure the customer has a voice in the coverage."

Seiken added: "Political orientation is a defensible differentiator in a world where there are a half-dozen to a dozen competitors, such as the traditional newspaper market in the UK. When you are in a world of almost infinite competitors, [our] political orientation being right-of-centre conservative with a small 'c' place to go, it is hard to define yourself in that way.

"We are never going to be Fox News or the Guardian when it comes to politics, but [our positioning] is probably not sufficient going forward, now that we are a global brand. We are not moving away from our traditional political positioning. We just need to enhance it, do more, we can't rely on that as our only differentiator."

He pointed out that recently appointed TMG digital content director Kate Day – who focuses on multi-platform strategy – has the same level of seniority as the print newspaper editors. "It is a first for Fleet Street, I believe," he said.

Seiken outlined parts of a new content strategy to increase focus on entertainment, perhaps a nod to success the genre has been in building the Mail Online globally, "me" stories and news.

He said that "me" stories are those that "help our audience and families navigate through this increasingly complex world. Rather than just a budget story, we will dissect what it means to the various personas of our audience".

Seiken echoed the now common refrain in the newspaper industry of upping a focus on mobile, video and social, but that print was not yet at the end of its lifespan.

"I'm a digital guy, but I'm also a strong believer in print," he said. "There is a hardcore audience that likes that format, a format that has survived the test of time. We want to be world-class in digital and we can't unless we are world-class in print too, it is not a zero-sum game."

Taking questions from the floor ,Seiken was asked about his view of the BBC.

He pointed out that he has previously worked at PBS, which he said was a relative minnow versus its rivals with funding of about just $2 per year per US citizen, a far different scenario from the billions of pounds the BBC receives.

"The BBC obviously creates competitive challenges for everyone," he said. "The distinctions between platforms have broken down. Everyone can be in video, text, audio, those traditional silos of radio, newspapers, magazines don't make sense anymore. So it is difficult to have a fully-fledged competitor so heartily funded that doesn't have the commercial pressures that a company like the Telegraph does."

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