Unlocking consumer insights to boost loyalty and business value
Goran S. Milovanović, Chief AI Officer at Smartocto, explores the strategic implementation of the User Needs Model and the innovative application of AI, particularly through the development and utilisation of LLMs. Goran discusses integrating expert journalistic knowledge with AI capabilities to create systems that identify user needs, refining content strategy and enhancing reader engagement. Further, he examines how these systems offer detailed recommendations on transforming news articles written from one user needs perspective to another, enhancing the versatility and relevance of news content. Finally, Goran addresses the ethical considerations and the balance required between AI-driven automation and human editorial oversight to maintain journalistic integrity.
Kate Sargent, Chief Data Officer at the Financial Times (FT), delivers an insightful lecture detailing the organisation’s AI transformation program. Kate Sargent’s lecture underscores the importance of embedding data into every aspect of an organisation’s operations while maintaining alignment with strategic objectives and ethical standards. Her insights serve as a roadmap for organisations aiming to unlock the full potential of their data assets while navigating challenges in governance, literacy, and collaboration.
Felix Hagemeister, Data Scientist at Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), presented a case study on developing an AI-powered election assistant for the German federal and European elections. His lecture underscored the potential of AI to democratise access to political information while maintaining journalistic integrity. By combining rigorous technical safeguards with editorial oversight, Süddeutsche Zeitung has created a model for responsible AI deployment in media. The project’s success hinges on continuous iteration, user feedback, and a commitment to ethical transparency—a blueprint for newsrooms navigating the AI era.
Stefan Feuerriegel, Professor and Head of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Management at LMU, Germany, delivers a lecture outlining three research examples demonstrating data science applications’ evolution within the media industry. His lecture covered experimentation, generative AI, and causal AI.
Professor Stefan Feuerriegel’s lecture emphasised the importance of rigorous scientific methods in data science and illustrated the potential of causal AI for personalisation. By using these tools responsibly, media organisations can leverage data science to enhance journalistic practices and provide individualised experiences.
In his presentation, Koray Kocak, Senior Data Engineer at Spotify underscores the importance of strategic standardisation in managing complex financial data ecosystems. By combining technical rigor with organisational change management, Spotify transformed its fragmented revenue operations into a scalable, audit-ready framework. Key takeaways include the value of cross-team collaboration, the necessity of balancing flexibility with control, and the critical role of executive sponsorship in driving large-scale data initiatives. This case study serves as a blueprint for enterprises grappling with similar scalability challenges in financial data engineering.
Fabian Wörz and Tim Rieber from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) delivered a workshop outlining their approach to optimising user engagement and revenue by unifying various strategies across the organisation. The workshop addressed challenges related to diverse internal interests, siloed data, and the need for a holistic view of user behaviour. Fabian Wörz and Tim Rieber emphasised the importance of creating a unified approach to optimise various aspects of the FAZ website. These include the dynamic paywall, A/B testing, dynamic offers, and likelihood-to-subscribe scores. They highlighted the complexities arising from different internal stakeholders, such as the SEO team, the subscription team, and the lead development team, each having distinct objectives that sometimes conflict.
Felix Gayer, Head of AI at MHS Digital, presented a workshop detailing the process of building a GenAI (Generative AI) stack specifically tailored for internal applications within their media organisation. The focus was on automating and enhancing various aspects of the publishing workflow across 17 regional newspapers.Felix’s workshop provides a valuable blueprint for media organisations leveraging generative AI for internal use cases. By emphasising a micro-assisted approach, model independence, user-centric design, and a streamlined deployment process, MHS Digital successfully built a flexible and adaptable GenAI stack already delivering tangible benefits across its 17 regional newspapers.
Claudia Schulz, Manager of Machine Learning & Applied Research at Thomson Reuters, Switzerland, presents an insightful case study on developing and deploying an AI-powered article summarisation system. The system’s goal was to generate concise bullet-point summaries for Reuters News articles, accelerating the publication process and providing clients with rapid information access. By emphasising collaboration, clear requirements, rigorous evaluation, and continuous improvement, the team successfully created a system that enhances the efficiency and speed of information delivery while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy and objectivity.
Annika Kiefner, Director of Data Science & AI at the Rheinische Post, delivered a presentation outlining the Rheinische Post’s strategic approach to digital growth. Centering around four regional daily newspapers in western Germany, the Rheinische Post is typical of modern media groups, offering print, e-paper, and online subscriptions. The core challenge was to counteract declining print subscriptions with robust digital growth, focusing primarily on subscription numbers and revenue. Kiefner detailed their journey using churn prediction and engagement pricing, outlining their methodologies, technical setups, and, most importantly, the substantial revenue increases they achieved.
Annika’s presentation is available upon request. Please email us to get a copy.
Breaking down silos for efficient processes using Integration Platform as a Service (IPaaS) improves agile maturity in data teams and automates business processes, with a focus on enhancing efficiency by prioritizing tasks. Using her experience leading Data Teams, Dr Ana Moya will discuss the practical steps to prioritize cross-departmental tasks for data teams based on several key parameters, including business value, to ensure alignment with organizational goals.
