In the fifth annual INMA Africa News Media Summit, we will examine the evolving role of media in society, as Africans, and discuss how our media businesses are responding to consumer behaviour shift and new ways that information is now distributed. We will also explore the monetisation challenges brought about by devaluation of legacy media models where power has shifted from publishers and broadcasters to those who drive the technology and own the platforms.

Advances in technology and generative AI see new players entering the news media space, as others head for the exit points. Some of our media businesses are undergoing radical make-overs. And while others among us continue in survival mode, looking to organisational self-preservation, hoping that, the wave will pass without doing too much damage. All this is happening against the backdrop of inconsistent support from regulators and heavy-handed regimes that don’t always welcome criticism.

On August 8-9, African media professionals will step back and take stock of our successes, learnings, and disappointments. We come together to find courage to challenge our own pace of innovation, listen to successful ideas around audience development, revenue diversification, laud innovative experiments around AI, use of emerging technologies to improve our user experiences, and how we are monetising our products.

Here is what you will gain by joining INMA:

• Learn about the practical ways that new media organisations in Africa are challenging status quo, shaking up newsroom structures, and engaging and involving younger audiences in their agenda.
• Plan forward, on how we can better leverage our diversity, develop innovative revenue streams, re-inject the entrepreneurship mindset into our media sustainability conversations, and all emerge stronger as an industry.