14:00 - 14:10
(Cape Town time)
Welcome and overview
Doreen Mbaya and moderator Zubeidah Kananu open the summit by spotlighting
INMA’s mission to strengthen Africa’s news ecosystem. They frame audience
development as the heart of sustainable journalism, connecting it to the continent’s
youthful population, digital disruption, and the urgent need for trusted, relevant, and
community-driven storytelling.
Doreen Mbaya , Africa Division Manager, INMA, Nigeria
Zubeidah Kananu, Moderator, President, Kenya Editors' Guild, Kenya
Search and social are changing, AI and creators are becoming new routes to news, and publishers can no longer take discovery for granted. Greg looks at understanding what audiences need, how we can make the value of your journalism clearer, and giving people a reason to return.
What are our audiences actually watching, reading, listening to and sharing? Maggie brings the audience into the room with an independent look at changing media habits, differences between generations, trust and platform use. Her research will help us separate assumptions from what audience research is really telling us.
In this session, learn what's changed and hasn't changed with AI, a tactical playbook for newsrooms, and why open matters and what we can do for them.
After the shutdown and return of its operations, NMG Uganda has a rare story to tell about the strength of a news brand when its normal connection with audiences is interrupted. What did the experience reveal about trust, loyalty, staying connected and rebuilding momentum?
Arena Holdings reaches very different audiences through its portfolio of news brands. Nwabisa shares lessons from understanding those different readers and serving them in ways that keep each brand relevant. The conversation moves beyond chasing scale to asking a better question: what does each audience value?