8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Elevating performance: Tactical mastery in news subscription content, product, and marketing

Address: 4th floor, Dotdash Meredith Center, 200 Liberty Street, New York

Parallel seminars running concurrently in two breakout rooms on various themes will provide hands-on learning, benchmarks, and proven tactical approaches from the leading news publishers, and from the industry’s tested partners. We carefully select the topics and discuss with seminar leaders how to maximise their value for the participants. We guarantee: no panels, no selling, but practical insights, real-life examples, and expert advice instead.

8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.

Registration and networking

As we embark on the last day of the summit, we welcome you back to the familiar Dotdash Meredith Center. Begin your day with this early networking opportunity – reconnect with colleagues, meet new faces, and get some caffeine before a series of practical deep-dives.

8:30 a.m. - 9.45 a.m.

Seminar 1: Best practices in building engaging and habit-forming products

Address: Training Room 4S-112, 4th floor, Dotdash Meredith Center, 200 Liberty Street, New York

Led by Jodie Hopperton, the lead of the INMA Product and Tech Initiative, this seminar will delve into the vital role of habit formation and exploration of product features in driving engagement, retention, and ultimately the lifetime value. Attendees will learn about the principles and practicalities of the product-led growth, and strategies to grow direct traffic and engagement with news Web sites, apps, newsletters, podcasts, and other platforms. This session will emphasise the importance of understanding subscriber behaviour and needs to create compelling, habit-forming and high-value user experiences.

8:30 a.m. - 9.45 a.m.

Seminar 2:Connecting to audiences through AI and user needs - lessons from the Financial Times and beyond

Address: Training Room 4S-230, 4th floor, Dotdash Meredith Center, 200 Liberty Street, New York

Experts from FT Strategies will be joined by John Kundert, Chief Product & Technology officer at the Financial Times and Renzo Veenstra, Editor-in-Chief of Dutch broadcaster Omroep Brabant, to share lessons about how they are harnessing AI's possibilities while catering to user needs and keeping up with the increased pace of change. Attendees will learn from real-life examples and best practices in employing AI to drive audience engagement.

9:45 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.

Networking break

Take a break from the morning seminars to refresh and connect with fellow industry professionals. This networking session provides the perfect opportunity to discuss insights from the day's earlier talks, exchange ideas, and forge new connections.

10:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Seminar 3: Best practices in total revenue optimisation — SOLD OUT

Address: Training Room 4S-112, 4th floor, Dotdash Meredith Center, 200 Liberty Street, New York

As rapid industry shifts create headwinds for media companies, executives face pressure to diversify and future-proof revenues. Attend Piano’s seminar to learn best practices in total revenue optimisation that leverage the recent advances in data analytics and marketing technology. Discover how leading media companies employ predictive tools to dynamically optimise across subscription and advertising simultaneously, and track business performance of their content in real-time. The session covers strategies to establish one source of truth about customer behaviour, break down internal silos between commercial teams, and implement AI for growth across all metrics and revenue sources.

10:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Seminar 4: The art and science of experimentation: Insights from deploying and scaling automated content at Advance Local

Address: Training Room 4S-230, 4th floor, Dotdash Meredith Center, 200 Liberty Street, New York

A couple of years ago, United States local media group Advance Local had a new idea for attracting readers to the top of their reader revenue funnel. Would it be possible to use automated content to drive incremental engagement? The company set up a test ground at their MassLive.com site, and began methodically testing and iterating. Fast forward two years, and nine of Advance Local’s markets have rolled out automated content. Join this seminar to get a blueprint for a methodical approach to ideating, testing, measuring, and rolling out new features. How to get newsrooms on board? How to optimise and product develop around the new content?

11:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.

Networking break

Join us for a midday networking break, a valuable time to reflect on the morning's discussions and engage with speakers and peers. Recharge and prepare for the afternoon's final set of seminars in this relaxed and sociable atmosphere.

11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Seminar 5: Benchmarking subscriber funnels — SOLD OUT

Address: Training Room 4S-112, 4th floor, Dotdash Meredith Center, 200 Liberty Street, New York

Without benchmarks, running a business is like driving with your eyes closed. With 1,000+ customers across industries, Zuora has amassed troves of data on performance of subscription programs. These benchmarks will help media companies understand their performance better and improve. At this seminar, attendees will dive into the insights on customer acquisition, churn, and revenue, and discover the best practices in optimising their funnels and managing growth.

11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Seminar 6: Transforming data into reader revenue

Address: Training Room 4S-230, 4th floor, Dotdash Meredith Center, 200 Liberty Street, New York

This seminar offers a concise overview of how global news publishers are leveraging Google's tools, such as News Consumer Insights, to understand their audience, enhance digital engagement, and monetise content. This seminar will explore NCI framework to visualise and analyse audience data through an e-commerce-driven funnel approach, identifying high-value user segments. Attendees will learn actionable strategies to enhance reader engagement and revenue, from optimising the funnel to boosting conversions.

2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Invitation-only event: INMA Subscriptions Benchmarks live meet-up: Stories behind superior performance

Address: 4th floor, Dotdash Meredith Center, 200 Liberty Street, New York

For the first time, the INMA members-only benchmarking community is meeting in-person to discuss the best performing strategies and tactics to grow online reader engagement and subscriptions.

This exclusive meet-up requires an invitation and is open only to the participants of the INMA Benchmarks service: 234 news brands internationally published by 60 news media companies in 35 countries.

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2:00 p.m. - 2:10 p.m.

Welcome and introductions

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2:10 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Presentation: Success factors of fast-growing brands

Based on new data from over 230 international brands, we analyse the strategies of the 25% of brands that have increased the total volume and revenue of their digital subscriptions in the past year. We also examine the approaches of brands that prioritised ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) and lifetime value over volume growth. What success recipes does the INMA benchmarking data suggest, depending on your priorities? What can we learn from other media sectors, such as video and music streaming?

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2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Discussion: Balancing volume vs. value growth

We discuss with participating executives their priorities for 2024, focusing on the key opportunities and risks they see in growing the volume and revenue from digital subscriptions.

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3:00 p.m. - 3:20 p.m.

Presentation: 7 reasons news subscriptions aren’t growing faster

We present a toolkit to audit a news subscription funnel and identify common reasons for stagnation based on INMA benchmarks, surveys, and academic and industry research. Reasons include low news cycle impact, unmet core reader needs, lack of habitual use, low visibility of offers, value perception issues, sign-up friction, subscriber churn, and lack of impact on readers' lives.

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3:20 p.m. - 3:50 p.m.

Discussion: Best practices in acquisition, engagement, and retention

We facilitate an open discussion on participants’ ideas and experiences in optimising their funnels. How do they use the INMA Benchmarks to assess their funnels? What experiments have they conducted in the past year? What were the learnings?

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3:50 p.m. - 4:10 p.m.

Presentation: Subscription engines of leading brands

We discuss how the world’s leading news subscription brands strategise, select metrics, and organise for growth in subscriptions. We compare their practices with findings from management studies and lessons learned by companies in other industries, such as technology. We present a toolkit for conducting a subscription engine exercise at home.

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4:10 p.m. - 4:40 p.m.

Discussion: Best practices in planning, metrics, and organising

We invite participants to share their expertise and practical experience. What performance metrics do they track internally? How best to use the INMA Benchmarks to inform the executives and the teams? How to divide tasks and organise? How to collaborate with other parts of the company?

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4:40 p.m. - 4:55 p.m.

INMA Benchmarks: Ask-Me-Anything

The meet-up ends with an Ask-Me-Anything session about the development of the INMA Benchmarks, and an opportunity to influence the service’s roadmap.

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4:55 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Summary and Takeaways

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