All Things Insights was on hand at the conference to report on trends and market findings of the show delegation. But first, we wanted to hear what attendees and speakers had to say, in their own words. The following comments are edited from social media, where many show participants used the hashtag #MIE26 to express their key takeaways and thoughts about the conference.
Connecting to Media Insights
“Thrilled to have co-chaired the Media Insights & Engagement Conference alongside the brilliant Aarti Bhaskaran! The conversations, insights, and energy in the room were a powerful reminder of how quickly our industry is evolving—and how important it is to come together to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and learn from one another. Grateful to everyone who participated and helped make it such a meaningful event.” —Suzanne Persechino, Senior Vice President, Revenue Research, A+E Networks
“At the 2026 Media Insights & Engagement Conference, leaders in the industry unpacked how AI is reshaping content, advertising, and the viewer experience. VideoAmp sponsored an AI panel with our own Joe Kotz, Justin Fromm of Samsung Ads, Maria Rua Aguete from Omdia, moderated by Rachel Dreyfus, President at Dreyfus Advisors. One theme stood out: “Slop.” As AI-generated content floods the ecosystem, separating signal from noise has become critical. Fun Fact, “Slop” was Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year!
Other key takeaways:
• AI-generated content already represents roughly 20% of views on top YouTube channels.
• Discovery and recommendation simplicity remain essential to retaining audiences.
• AI-powered 1:1 ad creative is turning TV into a performance-driven channel.
• AI dubbing and subtitling are accelerating global content adoption.
• The core challenge is balancing efficiency with high-quality storytelling.”—VideoAmp
“Great opening sessions here at #MIE26 with a kickoff on cross platform & global storytelling from Soy Kim, Mike Lucero and Brian Herbst—expertly chaired by Stephanie Stahl. One thing that came up was the merging of cultural interests as entry points into things like sports through fashion, music and lifestyle brands. This is something we go into in detail in our Game On work and the opportunities that it presents for brands and businesses.
One of my favorite sessions yesterday was by Iva Kralj-Taylor talking about some structural equation modeling work they did at WBD to work out drivers of choice and satisfaction across the search, selection, viewing and post-viewing moments. It sparked a great conversation with Vera Chien about how AI could potentially be a huge unlock for more seamless personalized recommendations on platform and how the human contradiction might still never allow it to be perfect.” —Martyn Hill, Head of Business Development, The Mix Global
“If there was one stat that burned a hole in my brain among the zillion data points I absorbed this week at the Media Insights & Engagement Conference, it was this one: On average, users spend 14 minutes browsing before deciding on the content to watch (same as in 2022). It comes from Gracenote’s State of Streaming 2025 report released a few months ago by way of an interesting presentation held by Paramount’s Christian Kurz. Not since the days of wandering around Blockbuster Video stores looking for a movie to rent have we seen such an absurd level of friction standing between consumers and content.
That the industry hasn’t figured out how to improve this over the last several years is all the more galling. How in 2026 this is an acceptable state of affairs at the leading streamers is beyond me.” —Andrew Wallenstein, Chief Media Analyst, Luminate Intelligence
“Great to be back at #MIE26 last week, and not mad about trading snow for a little sunshine. Fatima Martinez and I had the opportunity to present our latest study exploring today’s sports fans: who they are as people, how their relationship with sports is evolving, and what that means for how we connect with them. We also shared some best practices when socializing insights across the organization, with the goal of turning research into action. Always grateful for the chance to share our work and learn from this community of researchers!” — Kaitlyn Connolly, Manager, Fan & Marketplace, ESPN
“We were proud to be invited to present our research at The Media Insights & Engagement Conference this week. Ashleigh Marzynski Bohr took to the stage on behalf of NRG as a case study competition finalist, sharing data from our Growing Pains initiative conducted in partnership with Young Storytellers. It was great to be included alongside so many inspiring projects and brands. Thank you to the MIE team, our fellow finalists, and everyone who engaged with the research.” —National Research Group
“I was honored to be invited to speak at the Media Insights & Engagement Conference in Miami. I had the opportunity to showcase the latest study from WBD Global Corporate Research on how we choose what to watch—amid the sea of options at our fingertips, what drives us to select one title over another? Conducted in collaboration with our partners at Tapestry Research, this work has generated highly actionable insights that we’ve been able to share across our company—and now with an even broader audience. I’m looking forward to the rest of the conference, which is always a great opportunity to explore other case studies and reconnect with colleagues.” —Iva Kralj-Taylor, Global Insights Director, Warner Bros. Discovery
“Had a great time sharing more about Antenna’s Subscriber Views offering at Media Insights & Engagement last week in Miami. For decades, the way success in this industry has been measured has been simple. Ratings. How many people watched it? But in the world of streaming, how many people watched isn’t good enough. What if they all churned the next day? A big rating—a huge business failure.
With Subscriber Views, Antenna is connecting viewership behavior to subscription habits. Which programs brought new subscribers in, engaged them heavily, and prevented them from churning — and when they did churn, which programs lured them away?
The “smart money” in this industry has been calling for this evolution for years. Unfortunately, it has been a super tough problem to solve. And we’re excited to be the first ones to crack that nut. Subscriber Views is going to redefine the way we measure success across the industry. It’s going to be a wild 2026! And, yes, a lot of people signed up to Peacock to watch Love Island USA. Is it still a “guilty pleasure” when everyone’s doing it??” — Rameez Tase, Co-Founder and President, Antenna
“As we are hearing at #MIE26, attention and retention are important metrics as studios and SVODs seek to win back share from a booming YouTube, where various content lengths and formats are appealing to a global audience that are in flux.
Studios seemingly assume viewers are cognitively ready, emotionally available, and willing to invest hours at a time. Always. To engage with their titles. But with the rise of short-form content and microdramas, it’s evident many aren’t. Brain Fog has changed how people watch, process, and emotionally engage with content, and there’s lessons that cinema and content producers can learn from this to better meet people’s needs.” —The Mix Global
“Had a blast at #MIE26 with our partners from MRI-Simmons talking about AI and its role in consumers’ entertainment choices and how marketers can harness its power to facilitate content discovery and marketing!” —Michele Donati, Executive Vice President, Chief of Horizon Futures, Horizon Media
“I was happy to represent MRI-Simmons at #MIE26! I enjoyed speaking (and crutching around) with Michele Donati of Horizon Media on how AI is impacting content discovery. A few key learnings from the sessions:
- Consumers’ life stages and interests > their generation. Age is just a number.
- Fandom > attention. Or… is attention > fandom? Arguments can be made both ways.
- AI slop is stealing share of time spent on media. Fast.
- AI in consumer research has created a battle between speed and trust. How we use it will shape the future of our industry.” — Emily Paschal Williams, Research Manager, Focus Studies, MRI-Simmons
“Such an amazing time at The Media Insights & Engagement Conference! Back safe and sound in Charlotte and as I prepare for snow (3-8in?!?! WILD) I’m reflecting on the amazing people and information that was shared.
- Entertaining debate on whether content IS still king – I think yes, but GOOD content will take priority as more and more content is produced via AI.
- Digging into what shows are bringing people to streamers and what’s keeping them there, but I still want to know how it breaks down by ad tiers.
- Holistic media measurement still challenging – Tools and platforms that have their own way of doing things, still leaning on vanity metrics, and even questionable data makes for a cloudy view at best. True accountability will require continuing to push for consistency in measurement.
Thank you again to Insights Career Network for the opportunity to join and represent the amazing work they are doing to connect seekers, employers, and allies.” —Ashley Spring, Senior Director, Growth Marketing Insights, Ally
“Reflecting on the many great presentations at #MIE2026, the insights from Natasha Hritzuk on content x political values were particularly compelling. Drawing on many years of experience in international social research and policy communications, the presentation had personal resonance, highlighting how our views influence the content we seek out, the shows we connect with, and how we react to the same programming in very different ways. I also want to congratulate Natalie Schuler at TikTok for Business on her great presentation on the future of search and TikTok’s work with WARC.” — Natalie Lacey, Executive Vice President, NRG
“Great first day at the Media Insights & Engagement Conference in Miami with All Things Insights. One theme kept resurfacing – perspective. The ability and willingness to change the lens through which we see consumers, creators, media and even our own industry. As we rush to optimize, automate and measure everything, a tougher question is who and what are we optimizing for? Some of my takeaways from the day:
- We continue to refine targeting and efficiency, yet the human condition isn’t necessarily improving. Jason Mander (GWI) showed how face to face socializing is declining. One bright spot is live sports – still watched together and a win for human connection and brand impact. Maybe togetherness, not just attention, is the real scarce currency.
- Creators are customers too. Yet how often do we design systems with their needs and constraints in mind? Aarti Bhaskaran (Snap Inc) shared insights into what drives creator engagement, reminding us when creators thrive, their communities and our brands do too.
- Language shapes reality. “Fragmentation” is a supplier side description of the media ecosystem but for consumers, the experience is less broken and more intentional. Selena Hsu (Disney) described it as ambient, fluid, continuous. When we reframe the context, we change the solutions we design.
- Mental models create understanding. Using familiar metaphors Vita Molis (LinkedIn) and Derek Yueh (B2B Inst) demonstrated how a shift in perspective can make stakeholder action more likely.
- Perhaps most confronting was how tools built to optimize can actually undermine. Jason Harvey (BET+) exposed a flawed feedback loop in Black content where underinvestment leads to lower visibility and falsely signals that content is “niche”. Optimization without true consumer understanding not only misses opportunity, it reinforces inequity.
So yes, let’s continue to optimize tools and processes but don’t forget to optimize how we think by continually challenging our own perspectives.” —Colleen Funkey, Founder, Grey Zebra Consulting
“In a disrupted media landscape, the most reliable signal is still the consumer. Spending a few days with leading insights professionals (and many Material clients) at Media Insights & Engagement last week was both inspiring and grounding. No one has a perfect roadmap, but moments of disruption consistently reward companies that stay deeply connected to their audiences.” —Amy Castillo, Vice President, Strategy & Innovation, Material
“Day two of the Media Insights & Engagement Conference continued the momentum with a strong lineup of speakers, including Natasha Hritzuk, Sean Fasset, Tiffany Tipton, Domenic DiMeglio, Justin Fromm, Theresa Pepe, James Petretti, and many others offering thoughtful perspectives on audience behavior, measurement, and evolving media strategy.
A major highlight of the day was Joanna Popper’s keynote on AI in Media, which examined how AI is reshaping creative workflows, content development, and audience experiences. Her session struck an important balance between innovation and responsibility, emphasizing the need for ethical frameworks, transparency, and human judgment as AI becomes more embedded in storytelling and production.
Other highlights included Christian Kurz of Paramount, who in his session, “The State of Streaming,” presented a strategic framework that reframed the attention economy around human need states rather than platforms or content catalogs. He explained that media companies are no longer primarily competing with each other, but with other emotional and situational needs in people’s lives — from TikTok for uplift, to podcasts for companionship, to games for immersion.
The day concluded with the closing keynote from Tania Missad of Sony, whose session, “From Prime Time to My Time: Why Audiences are Ditching Tradition for Social,” offered a powerful reframe of audience attention by shifting the focus from traditional screen time to broader time allocation across the day, positioning media as emotional infrastructure for modern audiences.
Both presentations included insights drawn from research conducted by our teams at Tapestry Research and Screen Engine/ASI.
We wrapped day two with a lively and much-needed client happy hour highlighting our new Brand Lift offering, combining Screen Engine/ASI expertise with our tech platform partner, Swayable , to deliver causal, full-funnel impact results in as little as 24 hours.” —Holly Leff-Pressman, Chief Client Engagement Officer, Screen Engine/ASI
“Last week was a whirlwind. I dropped in on the Snap Sales conference at Orlando and hopped on the train, after a flight cancellation, to Miami – all in one day. The travel was worth it since I got to co-chair the Media Insights & Engagement Conference, alongside my new bestie Suzanne Persechino.
The theme of the conference was ‘Evolution of the Connected Consumer’. While working on the keynote, where I managed to fit in a Jonas Brothers reference, I realized how much the industry has changed in the last two decades – from massive shifts in device usage, growth of streaming but ceiling reached on subscription, evolution of the creator economy and the prospect of new tech like wearables leading to new media channels.
The conference was a true reflection of the inflection point the industry is at currently. We had such great content on rise of new formats like short dramas, the evergreen appeal of live programming and sports, and of niche interests and growing audiences.
I also pulled double duty and shared our recent work with Ipsos on What Creators Want. Shout out to Ryan Huff and Kara Louis on building this amazing story. It was an exciting, jam packed, stimulating and exhausting week. Still recovering!” — Aarti Bhaskaran, Global Head of Ad Research & Insights, Snap Inc.
