Catching up with The Publisher Summit & Awards

We welcomed 300 publishing professionals to London last week to celebrate the best in publisher newsletters and podcasts, and hear from leaders in the space about what's working.

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Media Voices, Peter Houston & Esther Kezia Thorpe
July 14, 2026

Catching up with The Publisher Summit & Awards

We had a fantastic time last Wednesday welcoming hundreds of you to The Publisher Summit during the daytime, and the Newsletter and Podcast Awards in the evening.

We’ve been taking a well-deserved break since then, so are just getting ourselves together. It’s been wonderful reading your feedback and highlights, both in our inboxes and on Linkedin, so thank you.

As we’re planning to release the on-stage sessions as part of our next season of the newsletter and podcast (coming soon!) we haven’t done a round-up ourselves. However, some of our wonderful attendees have, so here’s a link to some of the key themes and learnings from the day:

Introducing the winners of 2026’s Publisher Podcast Awards and Publisher Newsletter Awards

MediaVoices are delighted to reveal the winners of 2026’s Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Awards, following a ceremony which took place on Wednesday 8th July at HUCKSTER, London.

MediaVoices • Esther Kezia Thorpe

“Stop renting your audience from other platforms”: What publishers can learn from Good Housekeeping, The Guardian and The Times

At Media Voices’ first publishing summit, publishers were urged to build deeper reader relationships, focus on fewer things, and make trust count.

Steven Wilson-Beales

Publish less, own more: a day inside The Publisher Summit

Guardian, Times, Telegraph and Hearst on why publishing less builds deeper reader relationships, and why Reuters Institute data says it may not hold.

The Media Stack

What We Learned at The Publisher Summits and Awards 2026: Why the Future Belongs to Media Brands That Own Their Audience

If there was one overwhelming takeaway from this year's Publisher Summits and Awards in London, it was optimism. 

Adestra

Thanks to the above for their lovely write-ups, and we’ll be back with our regularly-scheduled and slightly more comprehensive newsletter next week!

Esther and Peter

Good reads:

How Hello! Turned an Industry-Wide Google Traffic Drop Into an Off-Platform Audience Success

With Google referrals falling across the publishing industry, Hello! built a cross-platform data strategy designed to grow off-platform audience without handing editorial control to any single channel

Jez Walters

How apps can be engagement and retention powerhouses: in conversation with Pugpig's Jonny Kaldor

In this special Conversations episode of The Publisher Podcast, sponsored by Pugpig, we hear from CEO and founder Jonny Kaldor about the data that proves apps are engagement and retention powerhouses.

MediaVoices • Esther Kezia Thorpe

Print magazine boosts revenue for Youtube newsbrand TLDR

Youtube publisher TLDR News has increased its revenue by 28% after its print magazine and merchandise became its biggest source of income.

Press Gazette • Alice Brooker

Brand ecosystems, the post-traffic era and scaling local journalism: highlights from our recent podcasts

From transformation to talent, post-traffic publishing to print, creators to community, here is a roundup of the insights we’ve taken away from the first six of this season's guests.

MediaVoices • Peter Houston

How TIME, The Economist and Dow Jones each decided what to expose to AI agents

Three of the smartest names in media looked at the AI-agent future and moved in different directions, protecting their unique assets.

News Machines • Ulrike Langer

Sir John Hegarty’s verdict: advertising is now a product people pay to avoid

Sir John Hegarty told Cannes Lions 2026 the industry is making a product people pay to avoid, and that only entertainment, brand-building and creativity can fix it.

The Media Stack