From Reaction to Readiness
Audience Intelligence as AI Infrastructure for News
Chicago, October 21–23
The NPA Summit returns October 21–23, 2026 in Chicago! Save the event to your Google Calendar
The Summit is the News Product Alliance’s global convening for the news leaders defining what news becomes next. It’s where the decision-makers who set priorities and ship work across product, audience, technology, revenue, and editorial come together to align on what’s changing, share what’s working, and turn strategy into execution.
At this year’s Summit, we’ll move from experimentation to preparedness as we collaborate on solutions to build the audience intelligence and AI infrastructure that modern news organizations need to operate with clarity, resilience, and control. AI is transforming how news is produced, discovered, and monetized, creating a reactive cycle where newsrooms must constantly respond to new tools, shifting platforms, and unstable audience attention. By exploring first-party audience data, insight workflows, and responsible AI systems as core infrastructure, we’ll break that cycle and empower news leaders to make smarter decisions, strengthen trust, and create sustainable models that don’t depend on any single platform or moment of attention.
Tickets will be available soon for purchase, and you'll also have the chance to contribute to this year's program! The call for session proposals will open in March 2026.
About the NPA Summit
The NPA Summit is a high-impact, in-person gathering for leaders driving news product strategy and organizational execution.
Designed for leaders responsible for strategy, systems, and organizational change, the NPA Summit prioritizes depth over scale, peer-level exchange, and practical decision frameworks that can be applied inside newsrooms immediately.
Moving beyond the traditional conference format, this is a purpose-built convening for news professionals across editorial, audience, business, and technology. It is designed specifically for those who must sharpen strategic judgment, pressure-test long-term assumptions, and solve the complex challenges of modern newsroom management alongside a network of peers.
The value of the Summit lies in this concentration of expertise. In 2025, our Chicago edition hosted 400+ participants from over 300 organizations, representing the full spectrum of the industry — global publishers like The New York Times, Reuters, and Politico; national outlets such as ProPublica, USA Today, and Grupo Clarín; regional newsrooms like The Texas Tribune and Newswell; and hyperlocal organizations including The Jersey Bee and QCity Metro, serving communities at the center of democratic life.
The sold-out event demonstrated the growing strength, diversity, and strategic influence of the news product community: a majority of participants are directly shaping how news products are built, distributed, and sustained.
Reflecting the seniority of the room, 70% of attendees were professionals who directly influence or make strategy, budget, and purchasing decisions. And more than 80% of all participants were engaged in product work, ranging from early to mid-career professionals across a wide range of newsroom roles. This unique mix ensures that sessions are grounded in the practical realities of institutional change.
Recent programming has focused on critical industry shifts, including operationalizing audience insights to drive sustainable growth, redefining editorial–product collaboration for organizational impact, and navigating AI’s impact on user relationships and trust.
At its core, the NPA Summit is defined by an emphasis on strategic application and candid, high-trust discussion. It creates a unique environment where the industry’s most influential voices and decision-makers engage deeply with both the ideas and the people shaping the future of news.
