Speakers
Day 01
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
- 12:45 PM
- 1:00 PM
- 1:30 PM
Chris Pedigo leads DCN’s government affairs and legal efforts on behalf of our publisher members. He’s been advocating on Capitol Hill and closely tracking the various publisher lawsuits alleging copyright infringement. He will summarize the key rulings, provide an update on the pending lawsuits and discuss what this may mean for publishers seeking to strike licensing agreements with AI companies.
- 2:00 PM
Zach Seward, editorial director of AI initiatives at The New York Times, will talk about how The Times is leveraging AI in the newsroom to empower our journalists in service of our mission. Zach's seven-person team is responsible for AI adoption, setting standards, building internal tools and prototyping new reader experiences. The presentation, to be followed by Q&A, will cover team structure, areas of focus, example projects, future use-cases and lessons learned.
- 2:30 PM
Marc McCollum, Chief Growth Officer, and Marla Newman, EVP Sales, provide a deep dive into how Raptive is applying AI to grow publisher revenue across its network of 6,000+ sites. Discover how Raptive Intelligence, the company’s proprietary first-party data engine, transforms audience signals into actionable insights that unlock new monetization opportunities. Learn how AI-driven Mindset Personas help publishers better understand audiences, protect inventory, and capture long-term value a shifting digital ecosystem.
- 3:00 PM
- 3:30 PM
Samantha Felix will share how CNN is strategically integrating AI across its global operations to unlock growth opportunities, streamline workflows, and help journalists enhance their storytelling in a rapidly evolving media landscape. This session will explore not just the technology, but also the organizational and ethical considerations shaping CNN’s forward-looking AI roadmap.
- 4:00 PM
The team at JWPlayer Connatix believes that becoming an "AI-First" company will be critical to ensure the health of the organization. To accelerate this transition, Dr. Rona was appointed as their first "Chief AI Officer" and is responsible for helping to embed AI across all aspects of the company. Dr. Rona will discuss the company's transformation strategy, as well as successful and unsuccessful tactics in driving this effort. He will also discuss where he sees the opportunity for publishers to highly leverage AI in their businesses.
- 4:30 PM
This session will explore ways that artificial intelligence can transform how content is presented, delivered, and personalized for audiences through adaptive content formats, automated distribution and hyper-personalized user experiences. From experimental approaches for how content creators can harness these technologies to better serve users today to ideas for rethinking the structures of content presentation to meet the challenges of the industry tomorrow.
- 5:00 PM
This session presents fresh consumer insight from Bloomberg Media’s Insights team on how news subscribers are incorporating GenAI tools such as ChatGPT into their news habits. It will explore what drives or erodes trust, and what subscribers continue to expect from publishers in an AI-powered environment. As boundaries are being redrawn, the research highlights emerging patterns in audience behavior, offering an industry-wide view of the shifting habits that will shape how—and where—news brands show up next.
- 5:30 PM
AI-driven search is fundamentally changing how users discover and consume information, posing significant challenges to publishers. This presentation will explore the critical impacts of this shift, including traffic erosion, revenue impact, audience disintermediation, and more. Dow Jones Factiva General Manager Emma O'Brian and Director of Business Management & Commercial Strategy Nichole Spell will share how publishers can reclaim control and forge new business models, with content licensing at the center. They’ll share how they’ve adapted their business model to transform this latest disruption into a strategic opportunity that unlocks revenue potential for the publishing industry.
