The INMA South Asia News Media Conference surfaces strategies and best practices across South Asia and globally, highlighting innovation, agility, customisation, and adoption of the right tech and tools leading to forward-thinking practical solutions. Dive deep into reader revenue, product, newsroom transformation, AI and tech … all that impacts efficiency, output, and costs.
Get your credentials from the Conference Registration Desk before settling into the networking lounge for tea, coffee, and snacks. Meet peers and connect with INMA speakers and news and tech industry solution providers. Schedule meetings with INMA initiative leads
As the news industry stands at a critical inflection point, this conference explores how news media companies can move from recognition to decisive action — surfacing best practices and case studies exemplifying agility, sustainability, and growth amidst the new norm of disruption. Join us as we bring together stakeholders of the news media ecosystem to delve into the key issues facing the news media industry. Participate in putting forward tangible remedies for industry influencers, redefining strategies to ensure relevance, growth, and resilience in a rapidly evolving landscape.
| INMA South Asia Division Incoming Board President, and CEO, The Hindu Group |
| Head, INMA South Asia Division, and Lead Strategy & Special Projects for APAC |
| Conference Moderator, and Executive Editor, The Quint |
This opening keynote explores the shifting strategic priorities of the global news media industry, with a focus on where business model innovation and generative AI fit in. It offers a clear view of the challenges and opportunities ahead, the pace of digital transformation, and what future success looks like. Discover how media leaders are navigating the balance between sustainable journalism and maintaining meaningful societal impact.
| Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, INMA, United States |
Print advertising continues to play a vital role in building trust and brand credibility, especially within premium, multi-channel strategies. Meanwhile, the broader advertising landscape is being reshaped by privacy-first data practices, AI-driven personalisation, the rise of retail media, immersive formats like video and AR, and a growing focus on sustainability, purpose-driven messaging, and more precise measurement models.
| Partner, Media & Entertainment, EY, India |
Print remains a trusted, high-impact medium, delivering unmatched credibility and focused engagement even as digital grows. In this high-calibre conversation, industry leaders spotlight print’s agility, adaptability, and enduring value. With its brand-safe environment, local relevance, community connect, and ability to command undivided attention, print continues to evolve — amplifying cross-platform strategies and offering a premium, future-ready platform for modern advertisers.
| Director & Promoter, Dainik Bhaskar Group |
| Executive Director, The Indian Express Group |
Meet the exhibitors, connect, and share with the speakers or the INMA initiative leads over tea and coffee in the pre-function area.
The South Asian advertising industry is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by shifting consumer behaviour and tech-led disruption. As advertising strategies evolve across print and digital, the publisher-agency relationship is becoming more strategic and collaborative. Agencies now expect publishers to offer not just reach, but deeper audience insights, data-driven solutions, and platform-native creativity. How must news publishers position themselves to deliver campaigns across different formats? How can print better articulate its value proposition and tell its story strongly enough? Trust, agility, innovation, and the ability to demonstrate clear ROI will define stronger, future-ready publisher-agency partnerships.
| Former Times of India |
| CEO, IPG, Lodestar |
| Group CEO, Madison Media and OOH at Madison World |
| CEO, Publicis Groupe, South Asia |
Meet the exhibitors, connect, and share with the speakers or the INMA initiative leads, or just enjoy lunch in pre-function area.
In a fragmented and fast-evolving consumer landscape, understanding who you’re speaking to has never been more important — or more complex. This session explores how brands can effectively identify, interpret, and connect with generational cohorts like Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, each with distinct values, behaviours, and media habits. earn how this impacts creative direction, storytelling, and content formats, product-market fit, platform choices, technology integration, media allocation, and ultimately, conversions. Whether you’re building for boomers or crafting for Gen Z, this session will help you understand how brands sharpen focus, spend smarter, and connect deeper.
| Founder, BrandsAbility |
| Global Head of Marketing, Lenskart, and CEO, Hustlr |
How are publishers relooking at and creating a content and audience strategy to grow audiences and engagement focussing on proximity, interaction, and understanding users to grow and retain audiences. How are consumers developing routines and habits around publishers' products? How to build communities around news products?
| Chief Operating Officer, Jagran New Media |
| Chief Operating Officer, Indian Express Digital |
| Head of APAC & Principal, FT Strategies, Singapore |
In this essential briefing, learn how generative AI is reshaping newsroom workflows, advertising, and marketing strategies. From powerful use cases to real-world applications, Sonali Verma, INMA generative AI initiative lead, will explore the opportunities and risks AI presents to journalism, along with the ethical, operational, and creative challenges that come with it. Gain insights from global industry examples and learn how to approach AI with clarity, caution, and confidence.
| GenAI Initiative Lead, INMA, Canada |
Meet the exhibitors, connect, share, and learn while interacting with the speakers, colleagues, the INMA initiative leads, or just enjoy a tea break.
In this session, learn from a series of South Asia case studies on the deployment of AI in news media – including combatting SEO and user engagement, advertising and marketing, and print advertising. This session’s special focus will be on print advertising: how to enhance creativity, the creation of hyper-targeted print campaigns, surfacing insights for better ROI and its role in amplifying intelligence, personalisation and integration, both in physical and digital technology and content.
| Deputy General Manager & Head – ABP One |
| CEO, HT Digital |
| Vice President, Data and Analytics, The Hindu |
| Head of Growth and AI Innovations, Times Internet |
In this forward-thinking conversation moderated by a leader himself, gain a top line view of how different leaders approach financial stability, recalibrate priority areas and draw up a roadmap for future investments and innovation.
| CEO (Publishing) and Executive Director, BCCL |
| Group CEO, HT Media |
| INMA South Asia Division Incoming Board President, and CEO, The Hindu Group |
Our moderator will distill the conference’s first day into takeaways.
| Conference Moderator, and Executive Editor, The Quint |
Join us for high powered networking over drinks and dinner as you unpack the day with colleagues, decision makers and industry partners.
Exchange notes from the previous day over breakfast, tea, and coffee. Meet the exhibitors, connect, share, and learn while interacting with the speakers, colleagues, the INMA initiative leads, or just enjoy a tea break in the Inspire Lounge.
| Conference Moderator, and Executive Editor, The Quint |
The news industry is at a turning point. Legacy media faces fierce competition from digital-first outlets that prioritise current audience habits. With more choice than ever, audiences demand relevance and impact. This session explores how traditional newsrooms are adapting through strategic focus, content strategies, audience targeting, and platform-native approaches. We’ll highlight real-world transformations, editorial innovation, and the role of technology and AI in modernising workflows and boosting efficiency.
| Newsroom Transformation Lead, INMA, United States |
Building on the opening keynote presentation, learn how South Asian news media companies are reinventing the innovation playbook through immersive storytelling techniques, content delivery, product development, and audience reach. And learn where GenAI is intersecting (and not).
| CEO & Co-founder, Collective Newsroom |
| Newsroom – Head of Digital and Editor, Amar Ujala |
Meet the exhibitors, connect, share, and learn while interacting with the speakers, colleagues, the INMA initiative leads, or just enjoy a tea break.
This session explores how regional legacy publishers, who are the front runners in vernacular content, are leveraging the strength of print to expand reach and deepen audience trust. They are innovating with formats and platforms to stay ahead of changing consumption habits and using data responsibly while crafting culturally resonant narratives and redefining success in a hybrid print-digital ecosystem.
| Director Digital Business, Mathrubhumi |
As third-party cookies phase out, publishers are reimagining their role in the digital advertising ecosystem. This session explores how leading publishers are building robust first-party data strategies, leveraging direct customer interactions, unified data platforms, and in-house tech to drive effective, privacy-compliant targeting. Hear how publishers are navigating this shift—and what it takes to stay competitive in a privacy-first ad landscape.
| Executive Vice President, Interactive Avenues |
In this conversation, gain insights into a brand’s perspective on how the end objective and goals of a brand align with different media (print, digital, broadcast). How does a brand approach strategic balance in momentum vs meaning, navigating timeframes, focus, and success metrics? Do both short-term and long-term brand building matter and can they work together?
| Former Chief Growth Officer, Sideways Consulting |
Meet the exhibitors, connect, and share with the speakers or the INMA initiative leads, or just enjoy lunch in pre-function area.
Explore the fast-growing Indian creator economy and its disruptive impact on advertising and the news media. What opportunities and challenges does this shift bring—and how can publishers tap into it for audience growth and monetisation? This session dives into the growth of the Indian creator economy: where it’s headed and why it matters. Strategies for publishers to collaborate with influencers effectively. Redefining “influencer” across print and digital landscapes. Building the right guardrails: ethics, transparency, and trust. Striking a balance: how much is too much influence? Join us to decode the roadmap for media in the age of influence.
| Head Growth Products, Group M, and Head, The Goat Agency |
Video content is no longer optional; it’s central to the future of advertising. Short-form formats like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok are capturing massive attention, especially among younger audiences. For publishers and brands alike, video offers storytelling power, virality, and monetisation potential — but only with the right strategy. This session unpacks the what’s next in video production by news companies and the role of AI in video creation, editing, distribution, and performance optimisation.
Print remains a powerful brand-building medium, now enhanced by innovation in ad formats, content marketing, brand solutions and smart integration with digital platforms. This session explores how print is evolving through interactive formats like AR and QR codes, data-informed marketing solutions, and sector-specific strategies that deliver measurable results. With a focus on creativity, accountability, and multi-stream monetisation, the panel will showcase real-world campaigns and execution frameworks — reinforcing print’s role as a trusted, high-impact channel in future-focused media strategies.
| Senior VP - Strategy, Brand & Business Development, Jagran Prakashan |
Get an inside look at how a brand like Mondelez sustains brand relevance and what this means for its media choices. Discover how Mondelez continues to shape brand relevance by fostering interactivity and deepening audience engagement on the back of strong consumer insights. Learn how the brand strategically aligns purpose, performance, and innovation to remain relevant, drive meaningful results, and make thoughtful media choices.
| Senior Director Marketing – Chocolates, Mondelez |
Master the art of positioning print as a high-impact, high-trust medium in today’s cluttered, hybrid media landscape. The role of storytelling in print and the major role of print from a commercial stand point. This session delivers actionable strategies to showcase print’s value, align it with brand goals, and meet advertiser demands for measurability, innovation, ROI. focused engagement, brand safety, and emotional storytelling that digital often cannot match.
| Conference Moderator, and Executive Editor, The Quint |
Madhavi Sekhri
Head - South Asia Division
Strategy and Special Projects Lead - Asia Pacific
New Delhi, India
Hindi, English
Tel.: +91 99716 00632