8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Welcome coffee & registration
Address: Hearst Tower, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
Participants gather for coffee, registration, and informal networking before the start of the Media Advertising Study Tour.
Participants gather for coffee, registration, and informal networking before the start of the Media Advertising Study Tour.
The opening briefing will frame the two-day study tour and connect the company visits to the larger themes of the Media Advertising Summit: transformation, premium value, buyer expectations, audience strategy, and the future of advertising in news media.
Hearst offers a powerful starting point for the study tour: a diversified media company operating across newspapers, magazines, digital platforms, brands, and audiences. This visit will explore how trusted media brands are evolving their advertising value proposition, building deeper partnerships, and connecting quality content with commercial opportunity.
An informal opportunity to continue the conversation, exchange perspectives, and connect with fellow participants and hosts.
Caliber, home of The News Movement, The Recount, SaySo, and Capsule, builds news for young audiences with creators as trusted storytellers, and it built its commercial model social-first from day one. This visit goes inside the model & its monetization: products & services, how brands reach Gen Z through trusted news voices, and what advertisers buying creator-led media are seeking.
CNN brings a global news and video perspective to the study tour. This visit will explore how a major news brand works across platforms, formats, and audiences to serve advertisers in an environment shaped by video, digital engagement, brand safety, attention, and storytelling.
A guided discussion to connect the lessons from the first day, compare what participants have heard across organisations, and identify the practical ideas worth carrying into day two.
An informal close to the first day of the study tour, with time for networking and peer exchange.
Participants gather for coffee and a short morning briefing to set up the second day of the study tour, with a focus on digital-first models, consumer brands, agency perspectives, and the wider advertising ecosystem.
T Brand Studio is the gold standard of publisher creative and content studios. This visit goes behind the scenes to explore T Brand's philosophy, approach, and case studies. You'll learn how T Brand works, how a campaign travels from first conversation to pitch to idea to execution and results, and dig into bigger questions around creativity and content: What's the role of branded content and creativity? Why do clients buy it, and why from a legacy news brand? And how do you prove it was money well spent?
This visit will take us behind the scenes at AWS for a conversation about where advertising is heading and what those shifts could mean for publishers. We’ll look at how AWS and Amazon are thinking about the market, what they are building and why, and which changes advertising leaders should be preparing for now. The discussion will explore areas including the evolution of Amazon Ads, the role of AI agents in advertising, and the potential for publishers to improve margins and gain more control through independent ad-tech stacks. The emphasis will be on the strategic choices behind these developments, the implications for publisher businesses, and where the market may be moving next.
An informal lunch break for networking, discussion, and reflection on the morning’s visits.
People Inc. offers a view into the power of consumer media brands, cultural relevance, and scaled audience engagement. This visit will explore how content, communities, lifestyle, entertainment, commerce, and branded storytelling come together to create new opportunities for advertisers.
Stagwell brings the agency and client perspective into the study tour. Through its Future of News initiative, the network has made a sustained, research-backed case for news as an effective environment for advertisers. This visit will explore how agencies are guiding brand investment today, how Stagwell supports news publishers, and how its approach to data, analytics, and AI is reshaping what advertisers need from media partners.
A closing discussion to bring together the main lessons from both days: what is changing, what is working, what publishers can learn from New York, and which ideas participants can take back to their own markets.
Stagwell hosts the opening night of the Media Advertising Summit at One World Trade Center, bringing study tour participants and arriving Summit delegates together for drinks, networking, and a first look at the days ahead.
Join the INMA community at the Media Advertising Summit by connecting with people face-to-face and providing solutions to our attendees.
Click here to see sponsoring options (PDF).