The 2026 News Product Alliance (NPA) Summit, a global convening for news leaders and decision makers in the news business, will take place in Chicago in the United States from October 21 to 23 under the theme “From Reaction to Readiness: Audience Intelligence as AI Infrastructure for News.”
The Summit is an annual gathering and professional event for leaders and practitioners working at the intersection of journalism, product strategy, audience engagement, technology, and business in the news industry and brings together news professionals from around the world, including editors, product managers, technologists, data specialists, and revenue leaders, to share insights, collaborate, and address the big challenges facing contemporary news organisations.
According to the Alliance, “At this year’s Summit, we’ll move from experimentation to preparedness as we collaborate on solutions to build the audience intelligence and AI (Artificial Intelligence) infrastructure that modern news organizations need to operate with clarity, resilience, and control.”
It noted that 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.
The NPA said: “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.”
Designed for leaders responsible for strategy, systems, and organizational change, the Summit prioritizes depth over scale, peer-level exchange, and practical decision frameworks that can be applied inside newsrooms immediately.
At the Summit, participants will engage in interactive sessions, master classes, workshops, and discussions designed to help news organisations explore emerging trends and technologies, such as audience analytics, digital innovation, and the responsible use of AI; develop practical strategies to improve how news products are built, distributed, and sustained; and strengthen connections and peer networks across different roles and organisations.
The annual event is structured around deep peer exchange rather than traditional presentations, creating a space where professionals can pressure-test ideas and learn directly from one another’s experiences.
The Summit has grown from virtual formats to in-person gatherings, with attendees from global publishers to regional and hyperlocal newsrooms engaging in strategy-oriented dialogue.
