The future belongs to news publishers that treat AI as a leadership decision — not a technical upgrade. This was the relentless theme that INMA drove home in 2025. 

This blog post has three aims: 

• To distil a year’s worth of INMA’s work into a coherent leadership narrative for the news industry. 

• To surface the unifying insights that emerged from thousands of peer interactions, case studies, benchmarks, and debates. 

• To put in context what INMA did to leverage executive intent, organisational design, and strategic courage of our members.

Rather than catalogue everything INMA did, this post explains why those efforts mattered — how we collectively helped publishers move beyond the search era, rethink value creation, and make AI a board-level growth and survival decision rather than a technical side project. 

INMA President Gert Ysebaert, CEO of Mediahuis, opened (and closed) the World Congress of News Media in New York with four simple words: “The world needs journalism.” This is INMA’s North Star: 

• Journalism’s mission must not be compromised. 

• Journalism matters more than ever in a chaotic environment. 

• Journalism needs to adapt and tell its own story better. 

The reasons are simple: Journalism has become politically and culturally central again as it is under attack. AI and platforms are pushing journalism to an existential crossroads. And the news industry has spent too long talking about survival instead of mission. 

What INMA achieved in 2025 made journalism more relevant and more accessible. Here’s how. 

Why AI become a leadership mandate

Across every strand of INMA’s extensive content in the past 12 months — delivered via six conference experiences, seven seminars, six study tours, six master classes, 46 Webinars and town halls, six virtual regional summits, nine strategic reports, 839 best practices, 532 blogs, 228 Ask Me Anything sessions with members, two benchmark services with data from 288 brands — the unifying message was that AI has crossed the threshold from experimentation to existential execution. 

INMA’s direct relationship with 24,236 members in 105 countries yielded unprecedented insights no other industry body comes close to replicating. That is 6% year-on-year growth in membership and 120% growth since the pre-pandemic year of 2019 — more than double the members in only in six years. Every new member expands our knowledge base.

Leveraging ideas, insights, and knowledge from that expanding membership base, INMA learned from media professionals in 2025 that AI has become a leadership, strategy, and operating model imperative for news media: 

1. AI is a business transformation, not a newsroom tool: INMA pushed the news industry to stop framing AI as automation, efficiency, and “cool experiments.” Instead, AI should be seen as a redesign of how news companies create value — something that touches product, revenue, workflows, cost structure, and competitive advantage. If AI lives only in the newsroom or the lab, you are already behind. 
2. Vanguard publishers are integrating AI end-to-end — rearguard publishers are dabbling: INMA repeatedly highlighted that leading publishers are embedding AI into core workflows, rebuilding products around personalisation and prediction, and using AI to scale judgment (not replace it). Pilot projects don’t compound. Systems do. 
3. Leadership indecision is now the biggest risk: A major through-line in 2025 was that the biggest danger is not AI misuse — it’s organisational paralysis. INMA hinted at media company boards waiting for regulation, executives waiting for “best practices,” and legal teams blocking momentum. Perfect clarity will never arrive. Competitive advantage goes to those who move with intent and guardrails.
4. AI strategy must serve audience value and revenue — or it’s noise: INMA repeatedly tied AI back to the three non-negotiables of stronger reader relationships, sustainable reader revenue, and reinvented advertising value. AI that didn’t improve habit, increase yield, reduce friction, and deepen relevance was treated as interesting but less relevant. 
5. Learning from peers is now a strategic weapon: Underlying everything was INMA’s core belief that the fastest way to win in AI is not to invent — it’s to learn from those already succeeding. In 2025, INMA’s unique position as the news industry’s signal amplifier surfaced what is actually working inside of news companies. 

INMA led the news industry in spotlighting the greatest unintended consequence of AI’s rise: the pivotal turning point of moving away from the “search era” toward a future dominated by direct audience relationships, sophisticated AI integration, and the strategic activation of first-party data. 

Our thematic contributions were designed to help news publishers navigate the decline of traditional platform traffic while building a more resilient, brand-focused business model. 

The defining shift we identified was the transition from a “search era” to an “answers-and-action” era. This fundamental change requires news organisations to stop chasing anonymous, fleeting traffic and instead focusing on cultivating direct, monetised relationships with their readers. Our work throughout the year focused on providing the tools and frameworks to make this transition successful. 

AI as the strategic operating fabric

One of our primary contributions in 2025 was the promotion of generative AI not merely as a tool for efficiency, but as a “growth engine” and the “operating fabric” of modern news companies. 

INMA advocated for a shift in how news media business units approach technology, moving toward: 

• Reshaping internal operations: Implementing AI to streamline workflows beyond simple content generation. 

• Developing AI agents: Creating new products that can interact with audiences in more sophisticated ways.

• Improving user interfaces: Using AI to create more intuitive and personalised experiences for the end-user. 

To support these efforts, INMA released guidance on how news organisations should work with AI companies and held an inaugural Media Tech & AI Conference and Study Tour in San Francisco that served as a bridge to this evolving ecosystem. As a neutral, trusted convenor that facilitates dialogue between publishers and platforms, INMA helped both sides of the bridge understand the other’s incentives, constraints, and realities. 

We also published a set of “basic principles” that established a strategic framework designed to help the news industry, governments, and regulators interpret how to protect journalism’s value in the digital AI era. The principles set out pillars such as journalism as a democratic cornerstone, fair compensation for journalistic IP, and fair competition in the digital marketplace.

The focus remains on establishing sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships in this new ecosystem. 

Advertising and the post-traffic era

A major milestone in 2025 was our relaunch of the Advertising Initiative. This initiative was designed to demystify the increasingly opaque digital advertising ecosystem and provide practical guidance for a “post-traffic era.” 

Our contributions in this area emphasised a shift in measurement. INMA urged the news industry to move away from anonymous scale and reach, instead prioritising engagement, outcomes, and high-value relationship-based models. We framed the activation of first-party data as the news industry’s “new superpower,” serving as the essential moat for both advertising and audience retention in a cookieless environment. 

Subscriptions as a top-of-funnel challenge 

INMA outlined new imperatives for digital subscription growth, emphasising that publishers must grow or protect the top of the subscription funnel and expand known user bases — a shift from a past focus mostly on conversion and retention to prioritising volume and addressability. This was presented as an industry-wide strategic priority. 

In 2025, INMA shifted digital subscription work from incremental best practices to strategic, data-driven industry guidance. And we did so armed with comparative benchmarking as an operational compass. 

Unifying revenue through super users 

INMA advocated for a more holistic view of the news business by encouraging the unification of revenue strategies.

Our research suggests digital subscriptions and advertising should not be viewed as separate silos but as complementary facets of the same high-value relationship with “super users.” By focusing on these core audiences, we believe news organisations can create more stable and diversified revenue streams. 

The rebirth of brand and emotional resonance 

As AI makes basic information a commodity, INMA highlighted the “rebirth of brand” as a critical strategic imperative. Our message to the news industry was clear: To survive, news organisations must move beyond commodity journalism.

We must focus on creating:

• Premium and distinctive content: Information that cannot be easily replicated by AI agents.

• Emotionally resonant experiences: Building deeper connections with audiences that go beyond the mere delivery of facts. 

This thematic contribution was a cornerstone of our discussions, including the New York World Congress of News Media held with sessions highlighting the need to navigate political headwinds and transform brand strategies.

Newsroom transformation and combating news avoidance 

We shined a bright spotlight on how to integrate the newsroom more deeply into the business of news. 

Key areas of focus included: 

• Alignment on metrics: Ensuring editorial and business goals are synchronised. 

• Habit-forming content: Promoting the use of games and newsletters to drive daily audience retention. 

• Addressing news avoidance: We tackled the growing challenge of news avoidance, which reportedly affects around 40% of audiences. Our research provided psychological analysis and practical solutions to help members reengage these lost segments of the population.

Strategic pillars and benchmarking services

Our overall efforts remained organised around six primary strategic pillars to ensure comprehensive coverage of the industry's needs: 

1. Readers first (subscriptions).
2. Product and tech.
3. Newsroom transformation. 
4. Generative AI.
5. Advertising.
6. Digital platforms.

To help INMA members measure progress, we expanded our support services in 2025. 

We introduced our first-ever Financial Benchmark Service and continued to grow our Subscription Benchmarking Service, which is now utilised by nearly 300 international news brands. 

And, to much fanfare, INMA launched the first press association AI answer engine (“Ask INMA”) which is trained on our content universe — 90% of which is walled off from general search and AI. More than 1,000 members have already begun making this part of their INMA experience. 

In 2025, INMA empowered members to move further faster with unique tools. 

How did we achieve this? 

INMA’s rapid rise in the news industry didn’t happen overnight. Some of our success was intentional, and some of our success was unintentional.

The core difference between the INMA of 2025 vs. six years ago is the news industry moved into reinvention mode, and we positioned the association ahead of that curve. We are more essential, embedded, and strategic than ever. 

We know who we are and who we are not. INMA is not a lobbyist, not a cause advocate, not a vendor showcase, and not a generalist. Instead, we are:

• A leadership network for news media. 

• A place for applied strategy.

• A shortcut to global best practice. 

INMA today functions as a continuous decision-support system for news media. Our members intensely use us to:

• De-risk strategy (AI, paywalls, bundles, platforms). 

• Sense what’s coming next.

• Benchmark against peers before committing capital.

As the news industry’s centre of gravity shifted, INMA built deep practice areas in subscriptions, product, data, and revenue. We focused on what actually works inside news media companies. Global peer learning is a safe, candid, and valuable space. 

INMA’s position in the news industry skyrocketed for three key reasons: 

• Guessing became too expensive. 

• The speed of change outpaced internal learning.

• Peer-validated insight became mission-critical.

INMA didn’t chase growth. The news industry pulled us onto centre stage. 

What makes the “INMA conversation” different than all others is our tight focus on six initiatives per year, our virtualisation of everything that we do, our army of 127 volunteer board and committee members, our 31-person staff and initiative leads, and our 24,000-member strong continuous feedback and learning loop, which makes INMA unique in the news industry (even in the broader non-profit world).

Some 5,223 people registered for at least one INMA conference, study tour, seminar, master class, meet-up, or Webinar in 2025. That says a lot about our impact. 

Finally, INMA’s governing Board of Directors continues to drive our strategy, and they are insatiable advocates for making certain INMA members get maximum value each year. They set the bar especially high for 2025. 

Wrap-up 

In summary, INMA’s thematic contributions in 2025 were aimed at moving the news industry from a reactive stance regarding platforms to a proactive strategy centered on brand value, data ownership, and the strategic embrace of AI. 

INMA has become the news industry leader on the business of news — specifically, the economic sustainability of independent journalism. We are focused like a laser on how journalism thrives economically. We are commercially pragmatic and peer-led, grounded in what publishers are making work in-market. Without economic sustainability, everything else is theory. 

On a more personal note, you will excuse me for being a “proud papa” in this blog post. I truly believe our passionate network made a tremendous impact not only for INMA members but the news industry at large in 2025. This blog only scratches the surface. 

People new to INMA are fascinated that, internally, we are never happy with “good enough.” We want to do better. I hope that shows in the body of work that we produced in 2025. 

And if we don’t say it enough, thanks to all INMA members for making this work possible. We hope we contributed to your transformation and growth in 2025. Know that if you have feedback, we are an e-mail, text, Slack, Zoom, social, or phone call away.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from working alongside so many of you this year, it’s that none of this change is easy. Leading through uncertainty, pressure, political noise, and relentless technological disruption takes real courage.

The conversations we’ve had in 2025 — candid, sometimes uncomfortable, always generous — reminded me that progress in our industry doesn’t come from perfect answers but from leaders willing to learn, adapt, and move forward together. I’m deeply grateful for the trust you place in INMA and proud of the way this community shows up for one another.

As we look ahead, our commitment remains simple: to help you lead with confidence, protect the mission of journalism, and build businesses strong enough to sustain it.

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