Future of Media: Why Deep Engagement Still Wins in an AI-Driven World

This year’s Future of Media Conference perfectly captured today’s rapidly evolving media landscape and the growing necessity among publishers, media companies, and brands to connect and collaborate to survive in this demanding environment.

Over two days, the event explored how artificial intelligence and audience fragmentation are rewriting the rules. Yet, amid these changes, one enduring truth stood out: the fundamentals of connection remain unchanged. Success still depends on recognising what is timeless - human creativity, trust, and relevance - while embracing the new realities of an AI-driven world.

The astonishing absurdity of shifting towards low-attention platforms

The event opened with a Newsworks study focusing on attention, which led to a provocative discussion on the role attention plays in driving business outcomes. The data revealed a dramatic 10-year shift in ad investment from high-attention media to low-attention platforms. However, it also showed that display ads on news sites receive 40% more attention and video ads receive 24% more attention compared to non-news sites.

Effectiveness expert Peter Field spotlighted this shift as an “astonishing absurdity” that persists despite clear evidence that high-attention environments deliver superior results. While emphasising that attention is not merely a proxy metric but rather a predictor of long-term brand health and commercial success, he noted that budgets allocated to social media platforms are largely unable to drive long-term effectiveness for brands.

Emphasising the role quality, trusted journalism plays in attracting focused, deliberate attention, all panellists urged advertisers to reinvest in high-attention environments such as news platforms. As stated by Heather Dansie, Insight Director, Newsworks: “Just buy news. News brands deliver on all you want them to. They’ve got the trust, they’ve got the influence, they’ve got the attention.”

Attention isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving

Field’s comments resonated during the panel discussion on common myths around audience behaviour, where behavioural scientists Patrick Fagan, Behavioural Scientist at The Nudge Panel, and Lea Karam, Behavioural Scientist and Founder at Mindscope, challenged the popular belief that attention spans are shrinking. Instead, they urged the media industry to adopt a new perspective: attention isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving.

This new perspective reframes the industry's challenge: what will brand and media leaders do with this evolving attention? If you believe attention is vanishing, there’s little to act upon. But if you accept that it’s changing, adaptation becomes essential.

Highlighting that people are becoming better at filtering out irrelevant content, the scientists noted that earning attention through depth, storytelling, and community-building is the real challenge. Despite the common perception that short bursts of content guarantee engagement, the panellists suggest designing campaigns that evoke curiosity and emotional resonance rather than relying on algorithmic tricks. They warned that over-reliance on algorithms risks creating homogenised content and shallow engagement.

Lea Karam reinforced this point, underlining the importance of campaigns that resonate emotionally, foster community, and respect user autonomy. She advocated using behavioural science ethically to create positive experiences that align with human psychology and build trust, rather than for manipulation.

Deep engagement: the key to thriving in an AI era

The theme of audience connection also emerged during the panel on “How to Grow a Media Business, 2025–2030.” While panellists discussed strategic stability, data, and monetisation models, Simon Myciunka, CEO at Bauer Media Audio, highlighted deep, meaningful engagement and trust as the real differentiator. With first-party data becoming critical, Simon stressed that engagement must go beyond clicks—it should foster loyalty and emotional connection. He emphasised that growth is no longer about reach or impressions; it’s about building relationships with audiences who have more choice and less patience for irrelevant content.

It was thought-provoking to see panellists from different disciplines come together on the common ground of deep engagement, sharing ideas that focus on human psychology and behaviour. However, this focus on humans is enough to raise eyebrows and prompt the question: what about AI? Does the age of AI mean we need to throw the idea of deep engagement out of the window?

Will Akhurst, Chief Data Strategy Officer and Andy Goodwin, Managing Director,  Brainlabs, answered this question during their presentation focusing on the future of research in the age of AI. Their insightful talk argued that deep engagement is not only essential for audience connection but also what will enable brands to thrive in the next era of search.

They stressed that surface-level content will no longer suffice for shifting search behaviour and AI-powered answers; deep engagement is also what matters in AI-driven search. With search shifting from click-based journeys to zero-click and AI-powered answers, brands need rich, authoritative content that AI systems trust and prioritise. Building trust and creating authoritative and in-depth content are essential strategies for success. This is where deep engagement comes into play, with parameters such as time on page, interaction, and repeat visits helping to establish credibility, which AI algorithms use to rank and select sources.

Anchor your strategy in what won’t change

As the media landscape accelerates into an AI-driven future, with technology transforming how we reach audiences, one thing stays the same: the depth of human connection, not only in the world as we know it, but also for visibility in AI-driven environments.

Reflecting on two days filled with insights, Jem Lloyd-Williams, Chief Strategy Officer & President, WPP Media UK, offers a compelling reminder, encouraging the sector to base strategies on lasting fundamentals instead of pursuing every emerging trend.

“Understand what’s not going to change and use it as the foundation for your plan.”