The agenda for Mx3 Barcelona focuses 100% on innovation in the media sector, with an emphasis on media verticals.
It will include an international mix of speakers from businesses of varying sizes, all with insights to share with those producing and enabling specialist media.
Format
The format includes fireside chats, panel discussions, and round tables. There are no slide presentations. The audience is encouraged to actively participate in the conversations rather than being passive listeners.
Stage sessions are off the record, allowing for open, honest, and robust conversations. So, remember, if you want to be part of the conversation, you must be in the room!
Agenda
Please note the agenda remains subject to change.
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08:00
Registration, coffee & conversations
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09:15
Buckle Up: Media Makers Meet - Mx3 welcomes you to Barcelona.
Your Mx3 host, Neil Thackray, provides a quick overview of what to expect and some house rules for our two days here.
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09:25
Welcome to Spain!
For our international participants, here’s your welcome from Spain! For our local participants, here’s your welcome from Ándres ;)
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09:35
The one-woman show: From launching a podcast to a 6-figure business in three short years
Trace the remarkable journey of Sam Baker and The Shift. What started as a podcast for mid-life women in 2020 is now an evolving six-figure business with the podcast, a newsletter, and a thriving, tight-knit community. Sam tells us how she does it.
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10:00
Elegance Reborn: How Harper's Bazaar's triumphant print-first reintroduction in France defies history and bucks trends
Harper's Bazaar, the venerable global fashion icon, finally graces France, overcoming several past failures thanks to Prisma Media's bold decision to enter luxury media, a new segment for the Vivendie subsidiary. A dynamic launch, a stellar team, and a unique editorial "Bazaar society" ethos led to instant acclaim among readers and upscale brands.
The award-winning launch cover with Catherine Deneuve signalled the start of a bright future for Prisma in the luxury segment. Claire Léost, President of Prisma Media, talks to Colin Morrison CBE about the ingredients for magazine success even when history and trends are stacked against you. -
10:25
Experience economy: How digital, data and culture drive in-person event and B2B media success
Paul Miller shares how a $70 million B2B media and events business transformed into a customer-centric industry leader, achieving over 40% growth by revitalising its strategies and doubling down on people, data, and experiences.
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10:50
Brain Break
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10:55
From pedagogy to praxis: The Industry Dive playbook for innovation in the AI age
In the short space since its launch in 2012, Industry Dive has become a market leader worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We learn how the company innovates, transitions from theory to cutting-edge practice, and seizes the opportunities in AI and our rapidly evolving world.
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11:20
MX3 Huddles, Coffee and conversations
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11:45
What market leaders do: Invaluable content, engaged communities and success in business
We lift the lid on the secrets of market leaders: creating invaluable content, fostering engaged communities, and building innovative business models to drive sustainable success in highly competitive markets.
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12:05
Attention as currency: The rise of attention and context in today’s advertising landscape
Explore the emergence of attention as a key currency in modern advertising, focusing on the increasing importance of context in effectively capturing and leveraging consumer engagement.
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12:25
Mastering monetisation: Panel discussion: Strategies for building a thriving independent media business
We delve into the monetisation mechanics of independent media operators, exploring how successful businesses thrive through subscriptions/membership, advertising, events, and more.
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13:05
Mx3 Huddles, Lunch and Conversations
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14:00
Pandemic-induced product development - Innovation through a crisis: Crafting a world-leading B2B community product
Challenge breeds opportunity: We learn more about the development and launch of Propolis, a world-class community product, and how B2B Marketing iterates to continually enhance community innovation and engagement.
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14:20
B2B narratives: How agrarheute magazine’s award-winning journalism transformed the brand into a cross-platform champion
Discover how innovative storytelling fuels brand development and recognition across platforms, attracting new readers, enhancing value to existing ones, and facilitating diversified revenue growth.
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14:45
Brain Break
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14:50
Direct-to-consumer: Thriving in a post-social, AI-driven world
As we witness the decline of general interest sites like BuzzFeed News, the rise of a wave of AI-generated content and the impact of AI on things like search, owning direct-to-consumer relationships has never been as important as now. Jacob Donnelly discusses coming shifts in content consumption, audience engagement, and media monetisation.
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15:10
Breaking the Mold: Direct sales and redefining success in digital advertising
The shift to direct sales is a game-changer in the ever-evolving digital advertising landscape. Join us for an engaging fireside chat into the strategic shift towards direct sales, how publishers are redefining their approaches to connect directly with advertisers, and why your world can’t wait for Google.
We’re bringing together Samantha Eales, Head of Commercial Audience Data at Mail Metro Media, Pablo Fourcat, Head of Strategic Data Initiatives at Conde Nast, and John Gallagher, Head of New Business at Permutive, to share their insights, experiences, and strategies.
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15:35
Mx3 Huddles, Coffee & Conversations
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16:00
Bringing people together: Three principles for making communities matter
Explore the three fundamental principles for building meaningful communities, focusing on strategies to bring people together and make their collective experience impactful and valuable.
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16:20
Alpine innovation: Engaging and monetising niche audiences
Using their 26 Summits skiing and hiking initiative, Bettina Widmer reveals how Blick develops niche verticals to engage and monetise audiences affectively.
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16:40
TV goes vertical: How social media revolutionises how and what we watch
Join Victor Potrel in exploring how social media content is revolutionising viewing. Learn about TheSoul Publishing's strategies with major platforms like YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok, and how their innovative creator services team is transforming global video consumption
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17:00
Engaging Gen Z: How Deutsche Welle reaches new audiences via TikTok and other initiatives
Now in its 71st year, German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle is adapting to new media formats and developing media consumption habits. Learn how they find and acquire new audiences and engage Gen Z through TikTok and other initiatives.
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17:20
2,000 campuses and counting: Empowering college women and Gen Z
Discover how all-women-owned Her Campus Media, under Stephanie Kaplan Lewis's leadership, has built a dynamic and unique media ecosystem, reaching nearly a billion followers on TikTok and Instagram, covering over 2,000 campuses, and more, all the while expanding its portfolio of media brands and communities through six acquisitions and leveraging this portfolio to drive Gen Z relevancy for the world's leading brands.
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17:45
Mx3 Huddles, Cocktails and Networking
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08:30
Mx3 Huddles, Coffee & Conversations
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09:10
Welcome to Day 2 of Mx3 Barcelona
Buckle Up!
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09:15
The business of Hollywood: What the business of entertainment tells us about the future of media
From writer strikes to streaming wars and rapid technological advances in storytelling, much is happening in Hollywood. Award-winning journalist and media entrepreneur Sharon Waxman gives an insider's view on Hollywood's evolution, revealing trends and technologies reshaping entertainment and what that tells us about the future of media more generally.
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09:40
View from Asia: You can’t build a viable media indie if you think mass. Think small
Through his work throughout Southeast Asia, Alan has a unique vantage point and knowledge of media trends across multiple media markets. Here he shares why diving into media verticals is one of the major media trends in that part of the world and why thinking small is actually thinking big.
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10:00
Cross-market media trends: What M&A media trends say about the future of media
International mid-market media investment expert and author Reed Phillips joins us to share what current media merger and acquisition trends tell us about the future of the media.
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10:20
Subscriptions transformed: How Skift builds highly successful segment-orientated subscriptions offerings
Over the past four years, Jason Clampet has been instrumental in revolutionising Skift's approach to digital content monetisation, focusing intensely on the development and refinement of their subscription strategy targeting in individual and enterprise audience segments. He is here to tell us more.
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10:40
Mx3 Huddles, Coffee and Conversation
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11:05
Earning from learning: Dive into the business of learning
We hear about the strategies behind building a prosperous training business, including how Kademy develops products to aid their community's learning and growth.
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11:25
Globalising niche media: How ITPro, an 18-year-old UK B2B tech brand, achieve global reach
Globalisation is not the preserve of the big media brands. Jane Mccallion is here to explain the power, potential and secrets of taking niche brands to the international stage.
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11:45
Diving into niches: How and why FT develops new mini-brands
Kritasha Gupta and George Montagu from the Financial Times discuss the strategy behind the development of niche mini-brands in the news media sector to engage special interest communities and enhance monetisation opportunities.
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12:05
Authentic voices: Growing trust and engagement through building journalist profiles
Learn how enhancing your journalists' voice adds authenticity to your media brand, and helps to effectively cut through the overwhelming and growing tsunami of low-quality and untrustworthy content online.
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12:25
Mx3 Huddles, Lunch & Conversations
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13:25
Modernising brands: How a 31-year-old women’s magazine became one of Spain’s most popular online brands
We delve into the transformation of women’s magazine brand Clara. First launched in 1992, it now boasts around 13 million monthly users and is one of Spain’s most popular media brands. RBA Digital Director Alex Poderoso will discuss how Clara’s success is built on an ever-growing community (called Clara “tribes”), video, newsletters, e-commerce and more.
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13:45
The good, the bad and the ugly: The do’s and don’ts of leadership in times of disruption
Marco Olavarria works with multiple clients across media industry brands sectors. He dives into leadership lessons drawn from his experience in various projects in small, medium and top-tier companies, highlighting what’s good and what should be best avoided.
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14:05
Brain Break
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14:10
Panel Discussion: AI innovation, experimentation and IP integrity
Our experts weigh the innovative potential of AI against pressing concerns of content copyright and intellectual property. It is a game you cannot, and should not, build on defence alone…
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14:50
Leadership strategy: Navigating the AI revolution
Prof Lucy Küng consults with a wide range of media businesses around the world as part of her research into the future of the industry. As we near the end of Mx3 Barcelona, she is here to explain why ‘strategic smarts’ hold the key for media leaders in delivering industry success as we find ourselves in the midst of an AI-induced era of transformation.
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15:15
Enjoy the ride: Final thoughts to take home with you
Our Mx3 host Neil Thackray wraps up the speaker programme with a few final thoughts to take home with you. Join us afterwards for more conversations at our closing social, right here.
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15:30
Mx3 Huddles, Cocktails & Conversations
Please note the agenda remains subject to change.
Proposals
If you have further suggestions for the agenda or wish to submit a speaker proposal, contact Cobus Heyl at cobus@mediamakersmeet.com.