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PubTech2024 – Key Learnings

Event Learnings

PubTech2024 – Key Learnings

Despite the failing attempts from tech giants such as Google with depreciating third-party cookies and the rapidly new emerging technologies, one thing remains the same: owning your data and engaging and nurturing your audience/s to create meaningful product experiences. The ability to transform products and harness the power of data is no longer just a competitive advantage—it’s a necessity, especially as generative AI adoption settles and practical applications become common knowledge.

This event was centred around the need for publishers to bridge the gap between product innovation and data-driven decision-making. We understand that in order to stay ahead, publishers must not only innovate their product offerings but also transform how they use data to drive those innovations and better monetize from them.

This event addressed the “why” behind this imperative: to equip leaders and teams with the tools, insights, and strategies needed to navigate the complex journey of the product (first half of the week) and data (second half of the week) transformation. By focusing on real-world examples, emerging trends, and actionable strategies, we aimed to empower attendees to turn these challenges into opportunities for growth and success.

What you will learn

Pubtech 2024 ebook

In this e-book, you will learn what product development strategies deliver strong results, how to get started on your first-party data journey, effective LLM and AI integration strategies, and what the future of SEO looks like.

Who You Will Learn From

Jiji Ugboma

Associate Director, Engagement Strategy
SHE Media

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Jiji Ugboma
Jiji Ugboma an Engagement Strategist with 10+ years in digital marketing, content strategy, B2B communications, and partnerships management. As Engagement Lead at SHE Media, she oversees communication strategies for 2000+ creators and publishers within the SHE Media advertising network. She designs and manages engagement systems encompassing partner education and client relationship management.

Darci Dutcher

Director of Product Design and User Research
Financial Times

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Darci Dutcher
Darci began her professional life as a software engineer developing the front end of several applications ranging from flight simulators to project management software. During this time, she came to appreciate a focus on the needs of the people actually using what she was building. Her BA in Cognitive Psychology and Computer Science proved a perfect background for a quick transition to roles in User Experience Design. Once her focus changed to UX design, she helped build UX practices in a variety of industries including publishing, travel and hospitality, finance, social housing, portfolio management, and healthcare. In 2009, she completed an MSc in Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics from University College London. Darci is currently Director of Product Design and User Research at the Financial Times.

Rebecca Ruane

Head of Reader Revenue Insight
The Guardian

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Rebecca Ruane
Rebecca Ruane is the Head of Reader Revenue Insights at The Guardian, one of the most recognized and respected news publishers in the world. She manages a large team of analysts supporting the businesses to generate insight and action on this when focusing on driving revenue from The Guardian's readers. As a leading voice in these initiatives, Rebecca helps ensure that data is at the heart of the strategy and big projects. Rebecca has a diverse background in analytics and insights. Prior to The Guardian, she worked at companies such as Westfield, Aimia Inc, Ticketmaster, JCDecaux Airport, and Condé Nast Publications. With experience ranging from Research Analyst to Head of Reader Revenue Insight, she has a strong ability to lead and inspire teams to deliver impactful analytics and recommendations. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Mathematics from the University of Plymouth.

Zack Zubair

Principal Product Manager, Subscriptions & Partnership Platforms
The Economist Group

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Zack Zubair
Zack Zubair is a Principal Product Manager at The Economist for 2 years. In this role, he oversees its subscription and payments platforms and has managed products with fintechs like Tymit (BNPL solutions for enterprise), Nomo Bank (world's first Islamic digital bank), Moneycorp (money transfer business) and Telenor (one of the leading telecom groups in the world)

Sofía Delgado

Audience Growth Director
Metro.co.uk

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Sofía Delgado
Sofia is an audience development expert with a track record in creating data-led digital strategies that highly engage news consumers and maximise revenue. Currently Audience Growth Director at Metro, her initiatives have led to significant audience growth and efficiency. She has also delivered more than 300 hours of digital training to journalists across the UK, spearheaded new tools and partnerships, and optimized digital workflows in numerous newsrooms.
Clara Acosta

Clara Soteras

Professor
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

 

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Clara Soteras
Clara Soteras is an SEO for News expert and SEO and digital consultant for publishers. She currently works as SEO and Product Director at El Nacional, a Spanish news outlet, where she has made from scratch the SEO team. She has also set new workflows between editorial, business and strategy teams to increase traffic and visibility in order to enhance the revenue of the company. She is leading an editorial project related to AI and working to incorporate it into the newsroom. She loves sharing knowledge, which is also why she is an adjunct professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where she teaches about digital content, marketing and journalism. Furthermore, she lectures about SEO for publishers and news sites in different Master’s Degrees and courses and has taken part in several conferences, congresses and SEO events. Clara sits on the jury for the Global, European and Search Awards and she is a member of the program committee for the Online News Association (ONA) media conference, as well as a jury for the same organization’s journalism awards. She is Digital Advisor at AMIC, an association with more than 500 local publishers, in the areas of audiences, SEO and AI, as well as the International Award organised by the same organisation. Clara is part of the #MujeresEnSEO community and a member of Google Product Experts. While she was working as a digital editor for a public service broadcasting company in Spain, she discovered the power of SEO and began learning everything she could about it. That led to being appointed an SEO manager, and Clara continued studying everything she could find to learn how the company could benefit from SEO. She also enjoyed sharing her new findings with her newsroom colleagues, who were able to apply what she had learned. In 2022, Clara took on a new challenge, working for El Nacional, a Spanish digital native newspaper in Catalonia, Spain. She led the creation of an SEO team and trained a newsroom that didn’t have any experience in digital and, a few months later, she also assumed responsibility of the product department.

Caitlyn Girardi Shaw

Director, Growth Strategy & Development
Gear Patrol

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Caitlyn Girardi Shaw
Caitlyn Shaw is the Director of Growth Strategy & Development at Gear Patrol and DPReview. She sits at the intersection of product, marketing, growth strategy, and partnerships to drive audience, direct, and indirect revenue growth. Caitlyn brings a wealth of experience in the media and publishing industries, from growing and launching literary journals and print quarterlies to digital magazines to branded pop-up shops. She considers herself a deep generalist who loves using experimentation, creative problem-solving, and data storytelling to drive growth and address industry challenges head-on.

Michele Bavitz

Head of Account Management
Theorem

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Michele Bavitz
As Head of Account Management at Theorem, Michele is focused on delivering effective digital media services across campaign management, automation, marketing cloud, data technology, and creative services to some of the biggest brands around the world. Utilizing her 20 years of experience working at agencies and leading in-house marketing teams, Michele understands the complex needs of in-house marketing and operations teams. Working across many industries including publishing, entertainment, CPG, and non-profit organizations with a portfolio that includes brands like Pandora, LinkedIn, Pepsi, Disney, Marvel, Random House and Scholastic, Michele brings a deep knowledge of identifying pain points and developing solutions to help driver performance, efficiency, and revenue for her clients.
ezoic

Harry Brockbanks

Yield Strategist
Ezoic UK

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Harry Brockbanks
Harry Brockbanks has been a key figure at Ezoic for over six years, currently serving as the Head of UK Ad Operations and Yield. Based in the Newcastle, UK office, Harry leads initiatives that maximize ad revenue and monetization opportunities through EzoicAds, driving optimal performance for a diverse portfolio of digital publishers. An expert in ID solutions and yield strategies, Harry is at the forefront of implementing effective first-party data approaches, ensuring that Ezoic remains a leader in privacy-first advertising solutions. His deep expertise in these areas, combined with his proven track record in ad revenue optimization, drives Ezoic's goals of working with digital publishers to form sustainable and effective monetization strategies.

Robin de Wouters

Director General
Federation of European Data and Marketing (FEDMA)

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Robin de Wouters
Robin is the Director General for the Federation of European Data & Marketing (FEDMA). He carries a strong background in communication and public relations, spanning from the private, non-profit and institutional spheres. He previously worked in the field of human rights with Euromed Rights, the ONE Campaign and the United Nations. Robin is also the Vice-Chair of the Board of the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) and the spokesperson of Democrats Abroad Belgium, the international arm of the US Democratic Party.

Harry Clarkson-Bennett

SEO Director
The Telegraph

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Harry Clarkson-Bennett
Harry has worked in and led agency SEO teams, worked for a market-leading affiliate and lead generation company and has launched, loved and lost multiple affiliate websites over the years. Having worked on e-commerce brands, affiliate and lead generation websites and news publishers, he considers himself a jack of all trades, albeit a good one.

Jay Wilder

VP of Marketing
deepset

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Jay Wilder
Jay is a marketing leader with a deep love for the startup to enterprise journey. Following 5 years at Daorama (a Salesforce company), and then 3 years at Salesforce itself, Jay is now VP of Marketing at deepset, accelerating the development and deployment of custom business applications with large language models.

About the Report Producer

This report is brought to you by State of Digital Publishing.

State of Digital Publishing (SODP) is a startup market research publisher, producing a publication and community for digital media publishing professionals, content and media owners, in new media and publishing technology.

SODP’s mission is to discover and foster sustainable digital media publishing models.SODP publishes news, educational content and research, and provides consulting that help digital media publishers and editorial marketing professionals develop their skills, advance their careers, gain better insights and achieve audience development results.

Vahe Arabian

Vahe Arabian

Contributor

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