8:45 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Welcome to INMA Media Advertising Summit

Advertising transformation now defines the commercial future of news media. INMA opens the Summit with the forces reshaping the advertising ecosystem and the questions we will tackle over the next two days — from changing buyer expectations and AI to new revenue models and the publisher transformation playbook.

Gabriel Dorosz

Advertising Initiative Lead and Summit Moderator, INMA, United States

Kerstin Hasse

Young Audiences Initiative Lead and Summit Moderator, INMA, Switzerland

Earl J. Wilkinson

Executive Director and CEO, INMA, United States

9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.

The transformation imperative and where news advertising goes next

Changing consumer behaviour and attention. AI and agentic buying. The creator economy. And a huge advertising opportunity news publishers still don’t capture. INMA Advertising Initiative Lead Gabriel Dorosz connects the forces reshaping the ecosystem and sets the challenge for the next two days: what must publishers transform now to win in the advertising market ahead?

Gabriel Dorosz

Advertising Initiative Lead and Summit Moderator, INMA, United States

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

Publisher blues and the agentic reset

News publishers lost leverage over two decades of programmatic advertising. Could the arrival of agentic trading give some of it back? From the agency perspective — but with publisher empathy — this session examines what news brands must do to win more budget in 2027 and how agentic buying could reshape the publisher–agency–platform relationship.

Rio Longacre

Partner, Credera (Omnicom), United States

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

What the buy-side actually wants now

Advertising transformation has come for everyone. An agency leader and a marketing transformation expert take us inside the buy-side: how publishers are valued, what gets news onto the media plan, what unlocks budget — and what publishers need to change as buying becomes increasingly data-, outcome- and AI-driven.

Lauren Wetzel

Global President, Data and Technology Solutions, WPP, United States

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

Coffee break

10:45 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Off-platform or on-platform monetization

The publisher revenue opportunity increasingly extends beyond owned-and-operated properties. This session explores how publishers can build commercial value with video and creators on- and off-platform — while deciding where they need to retain control and where partnerships can create new growth.

Klas Granström

Editor in Chief & Publisher, Expressen, Sweden

Craig Kostelic

Co-Founder, Attentional, United States

11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

From managed decline to ruthless independence

For years, publishers outsourced audiences to algorithms and monetisation to the open auction while platforms captured an increasing share of the value. Industry advisor Scott Messer lays out a playbook for escaping that dependency: rebuilding direct relationships, aligning product with revenue and making a stronger collective case for the true value of news.

Scott Messer

Principal & Founder, Messer Media, United States

12:00 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.

The rise of quality and attention

If cheap reach is abundant, what makes premium media valuable? Two entrepreneurs building the infrastructure around attention and quality examine how publishers can prove the value of trusted, high-attention environments — and persuade the advertising market to pay accordingly.

Gareth Glaser

Co-Founder, Gamera, United States

Marc Guldimann

Founder & CEO, Adelaide, United States

12:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.

Lunch

1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Agentic protocols and trading: Approaches, visions and futures

AI agents are starting to buy and sell media for advertisers and publishers, and two organizations are shaping the leading protocols: the IAB Tech Lab and AgenticAdvertising.org. Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab, and Benjamin Masse, president of AgenticAdvertising.org and chief product officer of Triton Digital, explain how each is approaching agentic protocols and inventory trading, where their approaches overlap and differ, what each is building toward, and how they see the market & ecosystem unfolding from here. The conversation focuses on what news publishers need to understand and prepare for, including how agentic selling could change the way premium inventory is bought and sold, along with perspectives on the most likely futures for agentic trading and how news publishers will be impacted.

Anthony Katsur

CEO, IAB Tech Lab, United States

Benjamin Masse

President, AgenticAdvertising.org & Chief Product Officer at Triton Digital, United Kingdom

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

How publishers transcend brand safety & monetise the machine era

Blunt brand-safety tools have long penalised news precisely because it reports on difficult subjects. This session gets practical about moving from brand safety to suitability and context: where buyers are changing, where resistance remains, and the real economics of reclaiming valuable news inventory in an increasingly automated marketplace.

Jonah Goodhart

Co-Founder & CEO, Mobian, United States

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

Coffee break

3:30 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

The case for news

Does advertising in quality news actually work? Research, measurement and media-quality experts share recent studies, examine the evidence for news advertising and what publishers can do to move buyers beyond outdated assumptions around brand safety — toward suitability, attention, quality and measurable outcomes.

Tracy Adams

PhD, Sr. Director, Research & Insights, Advertising Research Foundation, United States

Jack Marshall

Head of News, DoubleVerify, United States

Vanessa Otero

CEO and Founder, Ad Fontes Media, United States

4:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

How TIME and Ozone are building new advertising businesses

TIME has rebuilt its business around brand partnerships, live events and franchises such as the TIME100, and has started selling ads aimed at AI agents. As Ozone continues expanding, it sells the combined reach and data of its publisher partners, with a growing focus on campaigns measured against the results advertisers care about. Mark Howard and Craig Tuck compare what one brand can build on its own, what publishers can only do together, and where AI, brand safety and the push toward outcomes fit in both.

Mark Howard

Chief Operating Officer, TIME, United States

Craig Tuck

Chief Revenue Officer, Ozone, United States

4:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Closing thoughts, Day 1

What did we learn — and what matters most for news media companies? We distil the key lessons from Day 1 and identify the questions to carry into tomorrow’s publisher transformation playbook.

8:45 a.m. - 8:55 a.m.

Welcome back

A quick look back at what we learned about the changing advertising ecosystem on Day 1 — and a look ahead at Day 2: how publishers are actually transforming their businesses.

8:55 a.m. - 9:10 a.m.

New lanes and new models

Drawing on her path from The New York Times to Semafor, Rachel Oppenheim shares what advertisers actually want from publishers — and how Semafor has built distinctive advertising products and created a valuable commercial position around its audience of CEOs and decision-makers.

Rachel Oppenheim

Chief Commercial Officer, Semafor, United States

9:10 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Transforming the sales engine at a legacy brand

CNN is rebuilding for a multi-platform, post-cable future. What does that transformation mean commercially — and how does one of the world’s best-known news brands reinvent its proposition to advertisers as audiences, formats and distribution change?

Guy Griggs

Senior Vice President, Ad Sales & Client Partnerships, CNN, United States

9:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.

Commerce, trust and new formats at Wirecutter

Wirecutter built a powerful commerce business on something deceptively difficult to scale: trust. This session explores how the New York Times product is extending that foundation into advertising, licensing and formats including audio and video — without compromising the credibility that makes commerce journalism work.

Danielle Betras

Head of Revenue, Wirecutter (The New York Times Company), United States

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

The evolution of ad partnerships, products and deals

Three very different publishing businesses, three approaches to commercial transformation. This conversation brings together Semafor, CNN and Wirecutter to explore how advertiser relationships are changing, which new products are gaining traction and what a modern publisher partnership increasingly looks like.

Danielle Betras

Head of Revenue, Wirecutter (The New York Times Company), United States

Guy Griggs

Senior Vice President, Ad Sales & Client Partnerships, CNN, United States

Rachel Oppenheim

Chief Commercial Officer, Semafor, United States

10:10 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Diversified revenue streams

Advertising revenue no longer has to mean selling another display campaign. This session looks at how publishers are expanding the commercial proposition through partnerships and other defensible revenue streams — and what it takes operationally to make that a successful business.

Chris Shedd

SVP of Partnerships, The Americas, The Economist, United States

Riva Syrop

Former President, Apartment Therapy Media, United States

10:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

Coffee break

11:15 a.m. - 11:45 p.m.

Scaling video as an advertising proposition

Video is an enormous audience opportunity — but building audience and building a profitable advertising proposition are not the same thing. This fireside conversation explores how publishers can package, position and scale video across platforms while demonstrating outcomes advertisers will pay for.

Scott Havens

Chief Growth Officer & Head of Consumer, Dow Jones, United States

11:45 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Yes, you can sell creators

Creators command attention, intimacy and younger audiences — but can traditional publishers turn creator relationships into a scalable advertising proposition? Publishers experimenting with creator-led formats share what advertisers actually buy, how commercial partnerships work and where the publisher adds value.

Ramin Beheshti

CEO & Co-founder, Caliber (The News Movement), United States

Kiera Haley

Senior Vice President, Sales, Daily Mail, United States

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Lunch

1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Branded and native content

As brands look for storytelling that audiences actually choose to consume, branded and native content remain powerful publisher assets. This session explores what is working now, how formats are evolving, and how publishers can combine creativity, credibility and distribution to build premium commercial propositions.

Farra Kober

VP, StoryWorks, BBC Studios, United States

Jesper Laursen

CEO, Native Advertising Institute, Denmark

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

Events as brand heroes

Events can do something digital advertising often struggles to achieve: create memorable, physical relationships between audiences, publishers and brands. This session explores how publishers can turn experiences and communities into distinctive commercial products — and make events an integral part of a wider brand partnership rather than simply another sponsorship opportunity.

Michelle Edelbaum

SVP, Food & Wine + Events, People Inc., United States

Jessica Webber

Managing Director, Events, Partnerships & Community, Human Ventures, United States

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

Transforming for growth at The Globe and Mail

How do you transform a 181-year-old publisher without disrupting the revenue engine that already exists? The Globe and Mail opens up its transformation across sales, marketing, operations, data and technology — including running legacy and new systems side by side, changing long-established ways of working and aligning teams around sustained growth.

Kristen Butler

Managing Director, Revenue Optimization & Sales Enablement, The Globe and Mail, Canada

Penny Hicks

Managing Director, Client Partnerships, The Globe and Mail, Canada

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

Coffee break

3:30 p.m. - 3:50 p.m.

Revenue strategy meets revenue reality

Publishers are constantly told that AI will either destroy their businesses or transform them. This session offers a more grounded third way: looking at where durable revenue actually comes from and why some of the things that make premium journalism valuable become more — not less — important in an AI-shaped marketplace.

Christina Kurteva

Senior Director, Pricing & Revenue Optimization, Thomson Reuters, United States

3:50 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Navigating transformation: direct sales, retail media & the road to 2027

How does an established media company transform while continuing to deliver today’s revenue? Aller Media shares its approach across direct sales, retail media and value-driven advertising — and how data, creativity, AI and new revenue streams are changing the commercial proposition heading into 2027.

Bente Klemetsdal

Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, Aller Media Nordics, Norway

4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The CRO view

To close the Summit, senior commercial leaders step back from individual products and tactics to confront the bigger transformation challenge. How should advertising organisations be structured? Where should publishers prioritise value over scale? How are packaging, pricing and partnerships changing? And where should commercial leaders place their bets for 2027?

Sara Badler

Chief Advertising Officer, North America, The Guardian, United States

Hayley Romer

Managing Director, US, Bloomberg Media, United States

5:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

Conference conclusions & wrap-up

What from the past two days — and the entire Media Advertising Week — should you take home to discuss with your management and teams? We close by distilling the ideas, strategies and actions that matter most.