New Media Summit

Journalism has rarely faced this many threats at once. AI-generated answers now sit above the search results themselves, diverting readers before they ever reach a publisher's site.
At the same time, personality-led creators feel more trustworthy to many audiences than institutions ever did. The question is no longer how to win back the old audience, but how to earn trust with what's left of it.

The feed itself has changed. According to Meta's own court filings, only 17% of Facebook time and 7% of Instagram time now involves content from friends and family.
Platforms have quietly become recommendation engines, serving up strangers' content everywhere, TikTok-style, and a growing tide of AI-generated content is leaving users disillusioned even as they scroll on regardless. The attention economy has never been stronger.

Audiences are drifting away from legacy brands towards individual creators they trust. At the top end, some creators now run their own studios, with full ownership of their IP, looking less like influencers and more like Hollywood moguls.
Beneath them, a genuine creator middle class is taking shape, earning steady, sustainable income. The "creator journalist" has gone from side hustle to fully fledged media network.

Gaming has become a cultural force in its own right. Seven of this year's top 10 US films ran branded activations inside Roblox, and brand activity more broadly has consolidated around Roblox and Fortnite.
Owned virtual worlds are losing ground to simpler, lighter-touch integrations as discovery gets harder. Fan-driven storytelling is shaping IP, and marketers are chasing some of the most engaged audiences anywhere.