Publishing Tech Talk

TechTalk Live: Technology: Transforming the future of product development

Event Partner - Experian

Key takeaways

There is a real opportunity to build the future on the back of publisher consent, publisher audiences, and publisher data – but to reach the buyside, we need partners, facilitation, enrichment, and data linkage.
Cross-team collaboration is essential to delivering great product development. Work progresses quicker when everyone is working towards the same goals.
Keep your eyes on the prize. Have clear KPIs that you’re working towards as a north star for your product development to keep your team on track and to prevent development being waylaid by hundreds of different individual requirements. Don’t lose sight of the big picture.
As more advertisers publish science-based targets, there’s an urgent need for publishers to showcase their own sustainable credentials. From reducing page load times to being more targeted with how you serve adverts, publishers need to reduce carbon across the board.
If you build it, they might not come – unless you are guided by audience insight. Build your product based on deep and clear audience insight, not what you think the market needs, and you’ll have a product that your audience will buy in to.
Don’t be afraid to trial platforms. It’s hard to predict where growth and engagement will come from, so make sure that you’re exploring a variety of channels so that you’re ready to adapt and evolve with changing user behaviour.

TechTalk Live: How publishers can control the narrative around first-party data

Event Partner - Google

Key takeaways

Authentic human expertise defines us as quality publishers. It’s our greatest strength, and to succeed in the new AI era, we need to lean into this.
It’s about balancing the threat and opportunity that AI creates. On the one hand, publishers now need to defend their intellectual property like never before, whilst also ensuring that they’re not publishing misinformation or content that’s been scraped by an AI tool to maintain a high level of quality. On the flip side, the new tools also provide a means for publishers to rapidly repurpose content, create personalised experiences, and more.
Build for the future – you need a vision of where you’re going. Innovation is the only way to fight back against increasing competition and to be prepared for the next big industry development.
AI can be a powerful productivity tool, but you need to bring your teams along with you to ensure they embrace it. It’s about AI-assistance, not AI-creation.
AI is freeing journalists up from the mundane, news churn tasks that are needed to backfill sites and serve the needs of our audience. This means that apprentice journalists can join senior reporters on the ground to get the training, ensuring that the next generation of reporters have the skills they needed to thrive and succeed.

Wednesday 9th October, 9am to 12.45pm, Charlotte Street Hotel:

TechTalk Live: Technology: Transforming the future of product development

TechTalk sponsor: Experian

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Thursday 10th October, 9am to 12.45pm, Charlotte Street Hotel:

TechTalk Live: Artificial Intelligence x human innovation: Understanding the future of digital publishing

TechTalk sponsor: Google

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Friday 11th October

Look out for the PTT Newsletter and downloadable Special Report

DOWNLOAD SPECIAL REPORT

WEEK TWO: TECH TALK LIVE DATA

Wednesday 16th October, 9am to 12.45pm, Charlotte Street Hotel:

TechTalk Live: From audiences to outcomes: Mastering data in digital publishing

TechTalk sponsor: Brand Metrics

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Thursday 17th October, 9am to 12.45pm, Charlotte Street Hotel:

TechTalk Live: Lights, camera, data: Driving video monetisation through audience insights

TechTalk sponsor: UKOM

VIEW AGENDA

Friday 18th October

Look out for the PTT Newsletter and downloadable Special Report

DOWNLOAD SPECIAL REPORT

TechTalk Live: From audiences to outcomes: Mastering data in digital publishing

Event Partner: Brand Metrics

Key Takeaways

Publishers have access to rich insight through their first-party data. We need to disrupt the traditional digital publishing model and create new opportunities to monetise this data and deliver value for partners.
Don’t be afraid to challenge briefs from agencies. The overarching objectives of the campaign can sometimes be badly translated into media metrics, so ask questions to help shape a media campaign that will deliver for all partners.
Invest in the tech; invest in the people. When you make the internal decision to invest in your data capabilities, make sure you do it right. And that means also giving the tools and training to your team to make use of the new insight capabilities that you have, as well as investing in your tech stack.
Depth without scale or scale without depth is meaningless. You need to bring data out of your silos to activate data effectively and to translate it into actionable, meaningful insights.
Transparency is essential; we can’t ask advertisers to move from one black-box into another; being clear about your partners, methodologies, and how you collect data is key to building trust.
We’re all chasing that email address. But while logged-in data is fantastic, there’s so much more to first-party data – every interaction someone has on your site is a valuable piece of data that should go into building your strategies.
At the end of the day, don’t forget KISS – Keep it simple, stupid.

TechTalk Live: Lights, camera, data: Driving video monetisation through audience insights

Event Partner: UKOM

Key Takeaways

As publishers of trusted and quality content, we need to apply those same values to our measurement. We need a standardised and transparent approach to measurement that is verified by the industry, not our own internal sources.
Measurement doesn’t stand still. The industry evolves rapidly, and we have to move quickly to continue deepening our understanding and meeting requirements from advertisers and agencies.
Test, learn, and scale. You need to deliver a consistent approach that builds your expertise in your field and grows your audience, but you also need to continually innovate with how you tell your stories to make sure your content remains fresh.
Some risks are worth taking. There is an instinct to see new platforms or emerging trends as a fad; you need to encourage your content team to grasp new opportunities to explore how your brand can live within that space.
Dig into your analytics to guide your strategy. Understand what’s performing well, but also what missed the mark, and create individual strategies for each platform to meet the expectations of different audiences.

Speakers

Demi Abiola

Founder, Konfluence

Sean Adams

Chief Marketing Officer, Brand Metrics

Felix Amoah

Founder, KANEA

Homam Ayaso

Director of Video, Buzzfeed Inc

Bedir Aydemir

Director of Data, The Sun

Ranj Begley

Chief Content Officer | UK MD, Readly

Robin Booth

Managing Director, EMAP

Al Brown

Video Content & Strategy Lead, Independent Digital News & Media

Tommy Cattell

Head of Transformation, DAX

Charlie Celino

Head of Strategic Development, News UK

Camilla Child

Director Commercial Data Strategy, Telegraph Media Group

Jody Doherty-Cove

Head of Editorial AI, Newsquest

Caroline Fenner

Chief Revenue Officer, Pink News

Roxanne Fisher

Director of Digital Content Strategy, Immediate

Julie Forey

Insight Director, UKOM

Glenn Freeman

Editor-In-Chief, TheRace.com

Deborah Gbadamosi

Global Client Lead, Mindshare

Ritesh Gohil

Global Solutions Lead, Partner, Mindshare Worldwide, UK & Neo

Tom Gunter

Co-Founder & Product Solutions Director, Avid Collective

Simon Harris

Director Advertising Strategy, DPG Media

Rachel Holsgrove

Head of Product & Strategy, Octave

Sipho Kings

Co-Founder & Publisher, The Continent News

Andrew Kirkcaldy

CEO & Co Founder, By Gamers For Gamers [BGFG]

Kiesse Lamour

Global Head of Media, Commerce, VML

Alastair Lewis

Owner, Quested Consulting

John Markey

Technical Product Owner, William Reed Business Media

Rachael Miller

Digital Delivery & Development Director, William Reed Business Media

Laurence Mozafari

Editor-in-Chief, Digital Spy

Alex Newberry

CRO, Content Ignite

Paul Newman

Managing Director – Tech, Future

Seun Odeneye

Managing Director, Media, UK and IE, Kinesso

Sarah Robertson

Director of Product, Experian

Phil Robinson

Head of Data and Insight, EMEA, Bloomberg Media

Daniël Rood

Head of Google Cloud AI, UK&I, Google

JJ Shaw

Managing Associate, Lewis Silkin LLP

Rebecca Slack

Insight & Measurement Controller, Sky Media

Ezekiel Taiwo

Agency Partnerships Lead UK & Ireland, Uber Advertising

Dane Taylor

Chief Revenue Officer, Key Media

Simon Taylor

Managing Director EMEA, Duration Media

Alice Ting

VP & Director of Content Licensing, DMG Media

Sarah Jane Thomas

Client Partner, Buzzfeed Inc

Victoria Trevillion

Head of Advertising Technology, Gumtree UK

8-9 & 15-16 October 2025
Charlotte Street Hotel, London