PRESENTING SPONSOR

The Google News Initiative works with publishers and journalists to fight misinformation, share resources and build a diverse and innovative news ecosystem.

PLATINIUM SPONSOR

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company. From the connectivity and platforms, we provide, to the content and experiences we create, our businesses reach hundreds of millions of customers, viewers, and guests worldwide. We deliver world-class broadband, wireless, and video through Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky; produce, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through brands including NBC, Telemundo, Universal, Peacock, and Sky; and bring incredible theme parks and attractions to life through Universal Destinations & Experiences. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

PLATINUM LUNCH SPONSOR

Make it Free enables publishers to monetize more than 90%+ of daily consumers currently turned away from their paywalls.   

Each time a consumer accesses an article for free, Make it Free pays the publisher and then enables top-tier brands to be the hero by sending several highly targeted email offers to an unduplicated positive-minded, opt-in consumer.

Publishers realize significant net profit generation from each article being served while increasing positive consumer engagement with their publication. The Make it Free service also  significantly increases their ad insertion revenue. 

Visit www.MIFpartners.com

Everybody wins when you Make it Free! 

CUBS GAME SPONSOR

Taboola empowers businesses to grow through performance advertising technology that goes beyond search and social and delivers measurable outcomes at scale. Taboola works with thousands of businesses who advertise directly on Realize, Taboola’s powerful ad platform, reaching approximately 600M daily active users across some of the best publishers in the world. Publishers like NBC News, Yahoo, and OEMs such as Samsung, Xiaomi and others use Taboola’s technology to grow audience and revenue, enabling Realize to offer unique data, specialized algorithms, and unmatched scale.

Learn more at www.taboola.com and follow @taboola on Twitter.

GOLD SPONSOR

Audience.io is the audience management platform that helps media companies grow, engage, and monetize their audiences. 

Our end-to-end solution connects the journey between audience growth and engagement, data containment and augmentation, segmentation, activation, and monetization, giving you the leverage you need to close advertisers and capture significant incremental revenue.

The comprehensive platform powers a broad cross-section of audience engagement experiences, simplifying your tech stack and ensuring your data is clean and compliant.

Lineup delivers innovative advertising revenue management solutions designed specifically for media organizations. Our flagship product, Adpoint, is a multichannel sales management platform that reduces operational costs, automates key processes, and accelerates revenue generation. With over a decade of expertise, we empower media companies to transition from legacy systems to modern infrastructure seamlessly. Trusted by iconic media leaders, Lineup is your strategic partner in achieving sales excellence and embracing the future of omnichannel sales capabilities.

SILVER SPONSORS

Smartico’s Smart Ads boosts ad revenue for regional news publishers by turning existing SMB clients into high-value digital buyers—and converting social signals from new prospects into qualified local leads.

The platform uses AI + Human Touch to automatically build fully packaged digital campaigns and landing pages, ready to run on your owned and operated inventory (and beyond), generating significantly higher CPMs than remnant programmatic.

Trusted by 500+ publishers worldwide, Smartico powers over 1 million campaigns annually—driving scalable profit and making SMB advertising as simple, and low-maintenance as adding a new ad tag to your ad server.

United Robots provides automated, ready-to-publish editorial content from structured data using data science and NLG (Natural Language Generation). United Robots has provided some 200 local news sites with > 5mi automated texts since launch in 2016, on topics like weather warnings, wildfires, sports and real estate sales. The company works as a partner to local publishers – currently some 30 newsrooms in the US alone – who are using robots as newsroom resources to provide real-time services, drive pageviews and conversions, expand local coverage and more. 

Newspack is an open-source publishing, revenue and analytics platform for trusted news organizations. It’s designed to keep you on the leading edge of digital technology, help you develop a loyal audience and move you toward long-term financial sustainability. A project of WordPress.com, with support from The Knight Foundation and the Google News Initiative, it is led by journalists and technologists who collectively have over 100 years of digital publishing experience. More than 300 publishers have signed or launched on the platform, including such notable publications as VTDigger, CalMatters, Capital B, The Voice of San Diego, Lookout Santa Cruz, Black Voice News and more. Learn more at Newspack.com or request a demo for a look under the hood.

BLOX Digital is a leading provider of digital solutions for media organizations, dedicated to supporting our partners through constant innovation and digital transformation. With over 30 years of experience and 2,000+ clients, we empower content producers to connect with worldwide audiences at scale. Discover how our comprehensive suite of solutions can energize your goals and drive success. Learn more at bloxdigital.com.

Spot-On gives local news publishers access to an untapped revenue stream – political, public affairs and advocacy advertisers. Our Pinpoint Persuasion buying platform (P3 to its friends) lets publishers showcase site metrics – reader data, demographics and pricing – while providing editorial review before ads appear on news sites. 

Dirks, Van Essen & April is a leading U.S. merger and acquisition advisory firm specializing in the newspaper publishing industry. The firm provides strategic guidance to media companies, particularly in the sale and acquisition of daily and weekly newspapers. With decades of experience and deep industry knowledge, Dirks, Van Essen & April has facilitated hundreds of transactions, helping clients navigate complex financial and operational challenges. Their reputation for integrity, confidentiality, and expert deal execution has made them a trusted advisor for both family-owned publishers and large media groups across the nation.

AdCellerant partners with media companies and agencies to provide businesses with access to high-quality digital marketing technology and solutions. Focused on generating results and growth for businesses of all sizes, AdCellerant offers best-in-class technology and software, award-winning customer service, expert education, and exceptional operational support to ensure customer campaign performance.

inTandem by vcita is a technology platform designed for organizations that serve the SMB market. SMB service providers can partner with inTandem to expand their proposition and provide their clients with tools to increase productivity, grow revenues, and manage their finances. With hundreds of thousands of SMB users worldwide, and partnerships with financial service providers, marketing agencies, telcos, publishing and media companies, inTandem delivers an innovative digital platform that helps organizations engage their SMB customers, increase retention, grow brand awareness, and develop new revenue opportunities. inTandem is powered by vcita, a technology solution helping SMBs thrive in today’s digital world.

For more information, visit intandem.vcita.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Boostability is the global leader in white-label SEO for SMBs. LaunchPad, Boostabilitys proprietary technology platform, powers an SMB SEO platform built for scale, affordability, and value. Tracking over 2.3 million keywords per month, Boostability makes decisions based on millions of bits of data, enabling us to get 86% of our customers on the 1st page of Google in 6-9 months.

Before Boostability, no company provided affordable SEO at scale for SMBs. Over the past decade, Boostability has championed the SMB and grown to provide SMB SEO to more partners and satisfied customers than any other provider in the world. Serving in 15 countries and 9 languages, Boostability is dedicated to helping small businesses succeed online.

For more information, visit boostability.com or check out our Linkedin.

True Anthem helps local publishers do more with less on social. Our AI-powered platform finds your best content and auto-publishes it to the right platforms at the right time — no guesswork, no manual posting.

We support 10 major platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube, and Nextdoor. Your content reaches your audience, wherever they are.

Publishers save hundreds of hours and drive real results — more engagement and more clicks. Whether you’re flying solo or managing a lean newsroom, we make sure your social presence stays strong, 24/7.

Trusted by Gannett, McClatchy and ABC Owned Television Stations, we’re here to help local newsrooms reclaim their time and amplify their reach.

For more information, visit trueanthem.com or check out our LinkedIn.

CitySpark provides revenue-generating audience engagement platforms for publishers, including:

· Local Events (content, discovery, monetization)

· Best Of/Readers Choice balloting (formerly SceneThink)

· Paid Photo Contests

· Private Label Ticketing

· Business Collections

Each of these market-leading platforms helps publishers to provide engaging content, generate revenue and build audience profiles. We power platforms for 1,600+ publishers and would love help drive value in these areas for your team as well.

Visit cityspark.com to learn more or request a demo.