Matt Schulte, President and CEO of Brit + Co, makes the case that AI is the first technology shift that actually favors publishers — but only if they stop doing what got them here. He breaks down why Brit + Co walked away from the how-to content that built the brand, why chasing SEO traffic in an LLM world is a losing bet, and what kinds of content AI still can't touch. He also gets into why agentic SSPs and DSPs could rescue the open web for mid-size publishers who never had the scale to make PMPs worth their time, why the real margin problem isn't CPMs but the tech tax eating through every impression, and why publishers who spent six figures on DMPs got burned by a strategy that moved before they could prove ROI.

John Rosendahl, Director of Product Management at Optable, makes a provocative case that the publisher versus advertiser framing is a distraction — the real problem is an industry built around value capture rather than value creation, and first-party data is how publishers get off that treadmill. He breaks down why web publishers are sitting on a richer audience signal than any CTV platform, why audience data doesn't need to be perfect to perform, and why having ID vendors on your page is not a first-party data strategy. He also gets into where agentic buying is headed and why the publishers investing in identity infrastructure now are building the foundation to compete in that future, while everyone else is still waiting for the next cookie replacement

Kerri Mattioli, SVP Media at The Sporting News, pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to monetize a 140-year-old sports media brand across 15 global editions. She breaks down why live advertising triggers, think real-time ad serving tied to goal-scoring moments, represent one of the biggest untapped opportunities in sports publishing. Kerri makes the case for why publishers need to stop thinking like websites and start thinking like audience businesses, and why personalization isn't just a UX play, it's a revenue strategy. 

Nino Stylianou, Head of Programmatic at Mumsnet, joins Jared to unpack how one of the UK's most visited UGC platforms has turned brand safety from a liability into a monetization strategy. From splitting inventory into brand safety tiers to building AI-powered content moderation pipelines, Nino shares how Mumsnet is doing more with less — and why his number one piece of advice for every publisher is simple: audit, audit, audit.

Neal Sinno, CRO at Arkadium, breaks down what 25 years in games publishing actually teaches you about sustainable monetization. He shares why geographic targeting — including deliberately not serving ads in low-value markets — can dramatically increase profitability in your top geos. Neal makes the case for diversifying beyond ad revenue through licensing and pay-per-engagement models, why lifetime value is the most underrated metric in web publishing, and why publishers obsessing over CPM are already asking the wrong question. Plus: the power of radical transparency with your ad tech partners, and why user experience is always the long-term revenue strategy.

Eddie Lee, VP of Revenue Operations at Blitz, challenges traditional ad metrics like CTR and CPM. Learn why context matters more than averages, how to segment users effectively, and why ROI should trump vanity metrics for gaming publishers.

Tobias Bennett, VP of Revenue and Partnerships at Local Media Consortium, shares why publishers should stop chasing shiny new solutions and focus on building lasting partnerships. We discuss supply path optimization, connecting content creators closer to ad budgets, and why the LLM scraping problem needs immediate attention.

Andrea Marrigan, VP of Programmatic Operations at LovetoKnow Media, discusses navigating AI's impact on search traffic by focusing on loyal word game audiences and diversifying revenue streams. She shares practical SPO strategies, why impressions per page view is an underrated metric, and how aggressive reseller cleanup actually increases revenue. Plus: why lean ad ops teams should optimize for RPM over CPM and never stop A/B testing.

Langdon Miller, Director of Programmatic & Rev Ops at Brainly, shares how ChatGPT's release forced them to rebuild their monetization strategy completely overnight. He explains why traditional display ads don't work in AI products. Plus: why publishers should stop obsessing over eCPMs, the shift from RPM to revenue per session, and how to balance ad revenue with subscription growth when information becomes commoditized.

Michael Bellom, Senior Director of Revenue Operations at Better Collective, discusses scaling monetization across 75+ acquired properties. Mike shares why "quick wins" are overrated, why Request CPM and Revenue Per Page matter more than vanity metrics, and how the founder mindset becomes your greatest advantage when managing diverse publishing assets.