• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, May 21, 2025

The International News Media Association (INMA) has launched an initiative to educate advertisers on how to monetize and protect their brands in digital media. 

“We want to simplify and demystify what is often opaque or overly complex about the digital advertising ecosystem for media leaders,” says Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of INMA. “We want to focus on realistic implementation rather than theory. We want to bridge the gap between the cutting-edge possibility and business realities.”

It sounds like a big job, but there is no doubt the effort is needed. 

The effort project will be headed by Gabriel Dorosz, former executive strategy director, advertising, and head of audience strategy & insights at The New York Times.

Dorosz notes that 75% of global advertising now goes to digital channels. 

The key deliverables will include blogs, newsletters, webinars, master classes, seminars, a Slack channel, reports, and Ask Me Anything sessions with members. 

The INMA board of directors approved the initiative after a presentation by Dorosz. He argued that executives will learn about:

• First-party data activation for advertising revenue, covering such topics as segmentation models and clean rooms
• Advertising format and product innovation across such channels as video, audio, print-to-digital bridging, and cross-media packaging
• Sales and revenue diversification strategies, including direct deals and expansion beyond traditional display formats like events, branded content, and programmatic
• Measurement and attribution that measure ROI across incrementality, attention metrics, and cross-platform attribution
• Talent and organization design focusing on local market needs, talent attraction and development, and breaking silos
• Brand safety and news environment value and how to turn news content challenges into premium advertising opportunities 
• AI-powered advertising operations, including targeting, optimization, dynamic pricing, and building yield
• Ad industry insight and strategic partnerships, concentrating on best practices, ad tech ecosystem dynamics, trade associations, and effective vendor relationships

It sounds like a good curriculum. Executives now have to show up and tune in.