12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Registration
Address: Pakhuis de Zwijger, Piet Heinkade 179, 1019 HC Amsterdam, NetherlandsGet a head start on the following day by picking up your badge and registration materials for the following day.
Get a head start on the following day by picking up your badge and registration materials for the following day.
Kick off the Subscription Summit 2025 in Amsterdam’s iconic Heineken Experience. Immerse yourself in interactive storytelling that brings a legacy brand to life, offering inspiration for audience engagement and lasting impressions. Pour, taste, and “be the beer” while connecting with colleagues from around the world in a fun and memorable setting!
You can pick up your summit badge at the Heineken Expereince.
Head to the Pakhuis de Zwijger, the venue for the Media Subscriptions Summit. Get your registration credentials and settle into the networking lounge for coffee, tea, and snacks. Meet colleagues and connect with INMA speakers and leaders.
Today’s sessions overlay the value of journalism and news brands with the technological shifts impacting media’s progress with a readers-first focus. We will tell this story through inspiring case studies focused on scaling up, emerging growth engines, premiumising journalism and storytelling, and AI’s impact on marketing.
Goedendag! Kick off the Amsterdam summit with a warm Dutch “welkom” and a brief overview of the packed agenda. We’ll set the stage for three days of lectures, case studies, and discussions.
As many in the media industry pivot from maximising market share to a more sustainable, value-driven approach to growth, INMA’s benchmarking data spotlights the most profitable strategies that might power your subscriptions in 2025.
In a world flooded with AI-generated content, how can we stand out, combat misinformation, and stay profitable? How can we collaborate with AI as journalists and marketers? In this opening keynote, Kozminski University and Harvard Professor Aleksandra Przegalinska – co-author of “Strategizing AI in Business and Education” and “Converging Minds” – explores how AI is reshaping consumer behaviour, company strategy, and operations.
Help us train your future AI-powered subscription manager in this fast-paced, interactive session. With your smartphone as a controller, you’ll tackle real-world challenges across the entire lifecycle — from beginners to mature programs, and from acquisition to retention — and see which tactics drive the most growth. Discover which strategies yield the highest impact for your peers, and walk away with fresh ideas to try at home.
Time to breathe. Grab a cup of tea, recharge, and connect with colleagues who share your passion for journalism, digital media, and subscriptions.
Should you focus on acquiring more subscribers or nurturing deeper loyalty with the ones you already have? In this session, leaders from diverse markets – from elite to mass-market, local to national – share hard-won lessons on balancing rapid growth with sustainable value. Learn how they navigate key trade-offs: volume vs. value, acquisition vs. retention, digital vs. print, and advertising vs. subscriptions.
Meet the moderators of Friday in-depth seminars curated together with FT Strategies, Mather and Piano, and hear the highlights of their case studies.
Pause for a bite. Reflect on the morning’s insights, and trade ideas with fellow media innovators over a shared meal.
The tech finally works. Intelligent paywalls are surging, driven by advances in data analytics and AI, publishers’ maturity, and shifting user expectations. How do the numbers add up? When to switch? To build or to buy? In this session, the technology early adopters reveal how they are leveraging smart and dynamic paywall engines to deliver a more personalised and profitable subscriber experience.
Take a break and step into our lounge. Engage in conversations with fellow attendees, share insights from the day's discussions, and brainstorm partnership opportunities. Our speakers and industry experts will be available for informal chats. Refreshments will be served.
In the readers-first model of news media, newsrooms do more than just investigate and report the facts – they must understand and engage readers. This panel of editors-in-chief explores how modern newsrooms are evolving, adopting new roles like the “Conversion Editor,” using data to inform editorial decisions, and building cross-functional collaboration with commercial teams.
How to balance short-term wins with long-term success? How to pace yourself and your teams? How to build resilience? Boris Trupčević, a former fellow media CEO and an author of “The Pilgrim Executive,” brings a unique perspective. Drawing on his walks across the Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James – 1,000 kilometers of reflection and discovery – he’ll share lessons on building lasting relationships with readers, subscribers, and yourself.
As we close the day and get ready for evening drinks and chats, we’ll distill key insights from the keynote lectures, case studies and panels into actionable takeaways.
Unwind and take in the views over the IJ at Pakhuis de Zwijger. Digest inspiration from the day’s programming over cocktails and traditional Dutch snacks. Engage with other attendees, speakers and industry partners and consider joining your peers or inviting them to join you for dinner and enjoy the local cuisine.
Start your second day at the Media Subscriptions Summit with a cup of coffee, tea, and enjoy the morning snacks. This is a great opportunity to meet colleagues, connect with INMA speakers and industry partners, and set the tone for a productive day ahead.
Today’s sessions will take a case study approach to fostering growth and innovation in media subscriptions. We will break down this story into five parts today: placing the reader at the heart of your strategy, the art and science of bundling, readying your reader funnel for an adventurous 2025, contextualising subscriptions in a bigger digital business model, and what comes next with subscription-mature media companies eyeing the next growth wave.
Our moderators Idalmy Carrera-Colucci and Robert Whitehead plan a brief recap of the previous day’s highlights and an overview of what to anticipate in the upcoming sessions. Expect a combination of sharp insight, energising humour, and surprises as we dive into another day of Media Subscriptions Summit.
With digital subscriptions plateauing for some at low market penetration, the challenge is clear: publishers must reach beyond core audiences and engage casual consumers. Drawing on his experience in modern retail, Kunle Campbell, author of “E-Commerce Growth Strategy,” offers a fresh perspective on how news publishers can adopt e-commerce-inspired tactics and innovative marketing channels to fuel the next wave of subscriber growth.
An in-depth case study on how Norway’s leading news brand is unlocking growth by understanding and serving distinct reader segments. From identifying future audiences to tailoring personalised experiences, this session will offer practical insights into how cross-functional collaboration — spanning editorial, product, and commercial teams — has driven Aftenposten’s reader journeys.
Take a moment to refuel. Grab a coffee, meet new faces, and exchange new insights before diving back into more case studies.
How do you move beyond “update me” articles to create diverse, multimodal stories people are eager to pay for? Legacy brands and digital pure-players showcase how adopting a user-centric approach – combined with focus, measurement, and cross-functional teamwork – leads to better engagement and higher conversions. Discover how newsletters, podcasts, and data stories are key to forming reader habits and deepening engagement.
In a world where broadcasters, internet portals, and news agencies are searching for new digital audience and revenue, Reuters joined the consumer subscription market in 2024 as a competitor to some of its clients. In this fireside chat, we will discuss why the news agency made this shift, how it targets globally minded knowledge workers, and how this complements their core B2B business.
Meet the moderators of Friday in-depth seminars curated together with Smartocto, Echobox and others, and hear the highlights of their case studies.
Pause, relax, and enjoy a well-deserved meal. Reflect on the morning’s takeaways, discuss morning highlights, and get ready for the exciting afternoon.
To meet diverse audience needs across their portfolios of magazines or local news brands, media companies design flexible product lines – from promotional and “starter” subscriptions for casual or young audiences to multi-brand “super bundles” aimed at heavy users and fans. This session dives into how brands tailor offers to different segments, package content and commerce, build communities, and create multi-brand ecosystems.
Take a breather before the day’s final plenary session and the summit’s wrap-up. This break is shorter, so hurry up.
Per INMA Benchmarks, most national news brands capture 1% of households with digital subscriptions. In Estonia, however, Delfi leads with 18% penetration, while their closest competitor holds 12%. How did they achieve what feels like a distant future elsewhere? This keynote reveals how digitally savvy publishers, readers-first newsrooms, and innovative bundling turned Estonia into a global leader in subscriptions.
This brief session will summarise essential takeaways and give you a clear direction on how to put these ideas into action. Tot ziens! (Dutch: Good bye!)
Two eras of media, two heroes: Mr. Jones, a fearless journalist who exposed Stalin’s famine in Ukraine in 1930s, and Mr. Beast, today's most popular YouTube creator with half a billion followers. Imagine a space where TikTok meets investigative reporting, where community storytelling flourishes under journalistic rigor, and where authenticity and fact-checking go hand-in-hand. A fantasy? An imperative? A dead end? Building on media theory, history, and the latest research, this final keynote will challenge your thinking on diversifying audiences, sparking fresh ideas on how legacy brands can and cannot engage and monetise digital natives.
Embracing Dutch Gezelligheid. We’ll wrap up the Summit in a setting that embodies the Dutch concept of gezelligheid—a warm, welcoming atmosphere perfect for reflection and connection. As we look back on what we’ve learned and plan our next steps, this relaxed and welcoming setting with quality food is the ideal spot to connect and unwind together. Café de Jaren captures the importance of fostering trust and warmth with our audiences—a fitting end to our Summit journey.
Join the INMA community at the Subscriptions Summit by connecting with people face-to-face and sponsoring.
Click here to see sponsoring options (PDF).