Platforms are shrinking, newsrooms are stretched thin, and AI is rewriting the rules.

In the midst of it all, Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of INMA, takes the stage — not with a survival manual but with a playbook for transformation.

“If the medium is no longer a differentiator, what differentiates you?” he asked attendees at the recent INMA Latin American Conference.

Looking back on a multi-decade journey, Wilkinson underscored the systematic collapse of legacy media’s business models.

“We have literally seen the collapse of the traditional business model of legacy media,” he said.

What followed was the rise of digital-first newsrooms, the fragmentation of audiences, and the growing dominance of tech platforms over revenue, reach, and relevance.

Yet far from painting a bleak picture, Wilkinson urged publishers to embrace strategic reinvention.

“All of us will be multimedia hybrids within five years.”

His point was clear: Convergence is no longer optional, it’s the new normal.

How regions are navigating the shift

Wilkinson drew sharp contrasts between how different regions are grappling with media transformation — each shaped by its own economic, structural, and cultural realities.

In Europe, publishers are accelerating their shift to digital. Why?

“The Europeans have money in the bank for what is about to happen next,” Wilkinson said.

This capital cushion allows for long-term planning and innovation.

Meanwhile, North America faces a different hurdle: “North America is mostly in this … billions and billions of dollars in debt. Who would you bet on?”

In India, print still dominates, but a new challenge has emerged: oversupply.

“India is drowning in a super abundance of commodity news,” he noted, adding that without more premium journalism in the ecosystem, subscriptions simply won’t work.

And in Latin America, the landscape is shaped by a complex convergence of economic instability, platform dependence, and growing political pressure. Many publishers are still relying on legacy revenue streams even as the ground beneath them shifts.

Together, these insights reinforced one of Wilkinson’s central messages:

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Transformation must be tailored, strategic, and brutally honest about local conditions.

Drawing from his extensive travels with INMA, Wilkinson offered a closer look at how change is playing out on the ground, starting with Germany. Despite still earning 80% of revenue from print, German publishers are watching print decline rapidly.

“Print is dropping like a rock,” Wilkinson said bluntly.

To address this, companies have crafted five-year plans to grow digital subscriptions, many targeting 10%-15% annual growth. But here’s the catch: “Your five-year business plan called for 40–50% growth,” he told them. “You don’t have a subscription problem — you have a goal-setting problem.”

And for many, subscriptions alone won’t sustain them. While high-end publishers may survive on reader revenue, others will need what Wilkinson called “special kickers” — such as advertising, e-commerce, services, or even real estate — to fill the gaps.

As a model for adaptation, Wilkinson pointed to The New York Times, which has successfully reassembled the digital bundle. Through offerings like Games, Cooking, Wirecutter, and The Athletic, the company has created an ecosystem rooted in core journalism but extended through lifestyle, service, and utility.

“None of these orbiting planets work without the burning heat of The New York Times sun,” Wilkinson said.

The lesson? Journalism remains at the core, but growth comes from strategic diversification and brand strength.

Switching to India, Wilkinson emphasised that even as print declines more slowly, the media ecosystem is struggling to differentiate.

“India is drowning in a super abundance of commodity news,” he repeated.

This saturation spans television, magazines, and newspapers. Without enough premium journalism to anchor a compelling value proposition, broad-based subscription models become unworkable.

“There’s not enough premium journalism in the ecosystem for a universal subscription model,” Wilkinson said.

The takeaway is clear: Paywalls are only as strong as the journalism behind them.

“News is a commodity. Branded journalism is a sellable premium service,” Wilkinson said.

Five trends driving the transformation of digital

Wilkinson distilled INMA’s global initiatives into five critical trends shaping the future of news:

1. From scale to direct relationships: The industry is shifting away from chasing anonymous traffic and toward building known, loyal audiences. “We are moving from chasing anonymous scale... to cultivating direct and known engaged audiences.”
2. AI as a dual disruptor: AI is changing how journalism is created and consumed, Wilkinson said. “AI is shaping both how journalism is made and how audiences experience it.”
3. Data activation as a superpower: Publishers have invested in data — but are still struggling to monetise it. “Where’s the damn money?” Wilkinson asked, highlighting the urgency of turning first-party data into revenue.
4. Agility and tech pragmatism: The industry’s approach to technology is evolving—from building to buying, and from long-term planning to short-term execution. “Technology now has flipped our value proposition.”
5. Zero-click and the future of search: As search and social referrals decline, zero-click behaviors, like AI-generated summaries, are on the rise. “Where do we fit?” he asked, urging publishers to rethink product and platform strategies. 

The rebirth of brand

Wilkinson called for “a revival of brand” in news media.

“We can do brand,” he said. “We are not brandless. But we are generally devoid of personality and emotional resonance.”

INMA’s archive of global campaigns reveals that while publishers often lead with journalism, audiences connect through emotion, he said: “There is a limited market for the concepts of journalism. We need to be talking in terms of emotion, optimism, hope — them, not us.”

He challenged the industry to move past binary identities — print vs. digital, legacy vs. startup — and embrace unified, personality-driven brands.

To close, Wilkinson offered a note of clarity amid the chaos, quoting Jeff Bezos: “When you’re building strategy, build it around the things that won’t change.”

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