A session at next month’s Asian Media Leaders Summit puts ‘audience first’ as newsrooms compete not only for attention, but also for relevance, loyalty and trust.

The WAN-Ifra event takes place in Singapore from October 26-27.

One session looks at issues as audiences become more fragmented and their habits undergo rapid evolution, traditional publishing models centred on editorial judgement and assumptions are no longer enough.

Featuring Straits Times associate editor Jeremy Au Yong, GMA DigiLab senior media strategist Gabrielle Cayetano, and Khalil A. Cassimally, Consultant, Mauritius-based consultant Khalil Cassimally.

At GMA News Digital’s Strategy and Innovation Lab, Cayetano helps develop digital formats and initiatives while remaining hands-on as an executive and multimedia producer. Au Yong oversees the visualisation cluster and newsroom strategy team at the Straits Times, which includes AI adoption/policy as well as planning, innovation and workflow improvements across the different parts of the publication.

Cassimally is an advocate for audience-driven approaches in media, providing expertise, perspectives and tools to help newsrooms and purpose-driven organisations shape better societies. He also serves as head of special projects at The Conversation.

The session will explore why leading news organisations are putting audience needs, behaviours and insights at the heart of their editorial strategies, and how an audience-first approach can inform coverage decisions, improve storytelling, strengthen engagement and build deeper relationships with communities, all without compromising journalistic values or independence.

Following the summit on October 28 is a masterclass, ‘AI for audience insight and engagement’.