The Future of Media conference is back

According to research conducted by Statista, advertising spend is expected to reach R41.5bn in SA by 2022. With such huge investments at stake, brands, marketing managers, media planners, buyers and owners need to know exactly how the media landscape is evolving.

Without the right intelligence, justifying the cost of brand-marketing strategies for the next 12 to 18 months will become a growing challenge for marketers who need to see their products shift.

It’s why Arena Holdings (formerly Tiso Blackstar Group) is excited to present the sixth Future of Media as a platform for expert knowledge sharing and a view into the fast-paced changes happening in an increasingly fragmented SA media landscape.

Last held in 2016, the conference is set to take place on July 23 2020, in Parktown, Johannesburg.

Watch the video below:

From what will be shaping print (it’s still breathing just fine, thank you), radio, television, OOH and digital – social media, podcasts, multimedia, websites, news sites, events, activations, blogs and influencers – the Future of Media is curated to keep marketers and advertisers in the know.

The conference will also be looking at the creative work that makes brands audience-worthy, and the psychology that drives media consumption in SA. 

The event is set to attract the country’s leading marketing, media and advertising strategists as they engage on various aspects affecting the industry today, including the tech evolution that has taken place in the last four years.

Eben Gewers, head of advertising sales at Arena Holdings, believes the conference comes at an important time: “Technology is advancing at a rapid rate and the industry does not always have an opportunity to sit back and take everything in. We see the Future of Media Conference as an opportunity to bring our industry colleagues together under one roof, where we can hear from experts in their respective fields, debate relevant issues, and leave with a well-formed view of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Over the past few years, Arena Holdings has transitioned significantly from being a predominantly print-based publisher to one that is now the second-largest online publisher in SA. 

The group’s news websites have realised record traffic in 2019 on the back of an ongoing investment in technology and processes to deliver high-quality, digital-first copy – an approach that has seen its websites (TimesLIVE, BusinessLIVE, SowetanLIVE, DispatchLIVE, and HeraldLIVE) draw sizeable audiences in SA.

Taryn Westoby, head of the events division at Arena, which organises the Future of Media Conference, says: “We’re very excited to once again host an event that further entrenches the group’s commitment to serving the interests of the media and marketing community, and enabling trust amongst consumer audiences.”  

The events division also hosts the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards, Sunday Times Gen Next Awards, the SA Radio Awards, Financial Mail AdForum and the Financial Mail AdFocus Awards, the AMARA Recruitment Awards, as well as the recently acquired MOST Awards.

The conference line-up will be announced in due course, and more information about previous Future of Media events visit the Tiso Blackstar Events website. 

For sponsorship opportunities, email Cortney Hoyland at hoylandc@tisoblackstar.co.za. 

If you are interested in participating as a speaker, email Jade Fleishman at fleishmanj@tisoblackstar.co.za.