MEDIA AND BRANDS ARE COMPETING FOR ATTENTION. CIF WILL SHOW HOW AUDIENCES AND THE ROLE OF AI ARE CHANGING

How are content distribution, brand management and the functioning of the media and advertising changing? The Czech Internet Forum will offer new approaches, data, case studies and insights from industry professionals.

Younger audiences are changing the way media is consumed, artificial intelligence is influencing both search and content creation, and the boundaries between television, digital and other advertising channels are becoming increasingly blurred. How can you make your mark in this new environment, capture users’ attention and invest in media in a way that makes sense for both the brand and the business?

These are precisely the questions that this year’s Czech Internet Forum will address, bringing together representatives of major Czech media houses, marketing experts, data analysts and leading journalists. The 21st edition of the conference will take place on 3 November at the Hotel Duo in Prague.

You can purchase tickets at the discounted Early Bird price until 30 September.

How to reach Generation Z and Generation Alpha

One of the main topics will be the changing media consumption habits of the younger generations. Tomáš Hynčica from ResSOLUTION Group and Tereza Šimečková from Admosphere Time will focus on the behaviour of Generations Z and Alpha.

Their presentations will be followed by a major media debate on how to create the media and content of the future. Petra Fonda from BurdaMedia Extra, Daniel Grunt from TV Nova, Matěj Hušek from Seznam.cz and Lukáš Kubát from FTV Prima will discuss how major media organisations can reach an audience that spends much of its time on social media and expects content tailored to their interests.

The discussion will cover short videos, podcasts, Connected TV and the ‘TikTokisation’ of content, as well as how to utilise recommendation algorithms and AI whilst maintaining authenticity. The debate will be moderated by Filip Rožánek, editor-in-chief of DigiZone.cz.

Television isn’t going away. The way we use it is changing

What role does traditional television play in today’s media mix, and when does Connected TV make more sense? Vojtěch Lambert from LCG New Media will show how the Czech market is divided between linear and Connected TV, when to use each approach and when, conversely, to combine them. He will also share insights from specific campaigns run by LCG New Media and Spotera.

Marek Pohanka and David Sedliský from Adform will examine the fragmentation of the media landscape from a different angle. In the space of a single day, users switch between television, mobile, desktop, audio and digital screens, yet brands often still plan and evaluate individual channels separately. Their presentation will demonstrate how an omnichannel approach can be used to integrate media planning, data and objectives into a single communication strategy.

Kristýna Rakovská from Niceboy will provide a client’s perspective. Using the case study of the “Hello, this is Niceboy” campaign, she will outline the journey from insight and creative concepts, through media strategy, to content for individual channels. The presentation will also include the initial results of brand research and data on how the campaign has translated into the brand’s commercial results.

It’s not enough just to be visible on Google. What does AI know about your brand?

Artificial intelligence influences not only content production but also which companies and brands appear in AI search engine results at all.

Petr Princ from SkupinaKlik.cz will explain why a high-quality website and content alone are not enough. According to him, AI works with brands differently to traditional search – entities, citations, authority and sentiment all play a role. He will therefore demonstrate specific ways to build brand authority and increase the likelihood that AI tools will take it into account in their responses.

Lucie Hrdinová from WPP Media will offer an even more practical perspective on AI, sharing her experiences with her own ‘AI content team’. Trend watcher, originality checker, idea generator or critical senior colleague – these are just some of the ways specialised AI assistants and agents can function in practice.

Alongside what they are already capable of today, she will also highlight the dead ends her team has encountered whilst working with them. And she will raise the question of how the skills of content specialists and managers must change because of AI, if they do not want to produce yet more “AI slop” instead of high-quality content.

Performance isn’t enough if the audience doesn’t trust the media

Tomáš Řehák from Kuráž Media will explore another aspect of digital advertising. Whilst the advertising market can optimise price, reach and performance, he argues that it still fails to make sufficient use of one crucial factor – trust.

He will explain why, alongside brand safety, there is increasing talk of brand trust; why the importance of attention as an advertising metric is growing; and how the quality of the environment in which a brand appears can influence the ultimate impact of a campaign.

Six hundred Czech media outlets under the data microscope

Josef Šlerka from the Independent Journalism Foundation will delve into the very structure of the Czech online media landscape. He will present an analysis of texts from more than six hundred online sources, which examines the similarities and differences between Czech media outlets, the polarisation and mainstreaming of topics, emotions and recurring content patterns.

Using dendrograms, heatmaps and network analysis, he will demonstrate not only the distances between media outlets, but also automated editorial routines or, conversely, distinctive authorial styles.

Václav Moravec on the media and his journey to launching his own project

A separate item on the programme will be an interview with Václav Moravec, who, after more than two decades at Czech Television, has launched his own paid media platform, Moravec.cz.

He will speak with David Slížek, editor-in-chief of Lupa.cz, about changes in the Czech media, including public service media, the evolving role of the journalist, and his experiences in building his own subscription-based media project.

This year, the Czech Internet Forum will thus bring together topics that are becoming increasingly intertwined: the battle for audience attention, the transformation of media formats, the rise of AI, the effectiveness of advertising investment, and the credibility of the media. Alongside these trends, it will present specific data, experiences and case studies from companies that are already putting these new approaches into practice.

The programme for the Czech Internet Forum conference and the list of speakers can be found on its website. You can register at the discounted ‘Early Bird’ rate until 30 September.



The conference partners are Adform, LCG New Media and Teads. The media partner is MediaGuru, whilst the product partner is EasyEvent. The organisers are Lupa.cz and TUESDAY Business Network, with production handled by Internet Info.

Source: lupa.cz