Jupiter Festival Miami Unveils 2026 Agenda Examining the Future of Content and the Forces Reshaping Media, Entertainment and Sports

Featured Speakers Include Joe Scarborough, Joakim Noah, Rebecca Glashow and Leaders From Paramount, e.l.f. Beauty, Versant, YouTube, McDonald’s, Roku, Sports Illustrated

Kicking off October 6, With a Live Performance by Third Eye Blind, the Inaugural Festival Brings Four Days of Programming, Culture and Dealmaking to Miami Beach

MIAMI, Sept. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jupiter Festival Miami, the new global gathering for leaders across media, entertainment and sports, today released the full agenda for its inaugural gathering, taking place October 6-9, 2026, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The four-day festival will convene more than 3,000 attendees to explore how AI, streaming, sports, creators, brands and new forms of storytelling are reshaping the business of content, from who owns attention and audience relationships to how IP is created, distributed, discovered and monetized.

Jupiter Festival kicks off with a performance by Third Eye Blind on Tuesday, October 6, followed by a deep bench of speakers spanning studios, streamers, sports leagues, brands and creators. As the newest gathering point for the business of media, entertainment and sports, Jupiter Festival's inaugural edition offers leaders across the ecosystem an unrivaled platform for connection, collaboration and dealmaking.

"From Third Eye Blind's opening night to an agenda spanning branded entertainment, IP and the future of AI, this lineup reflects an industry that can no longer be separated into silos," said William Mellis, Co-Founder and CEO of Jupiter Festival. "Jupiter gives leaders multiple ways to engage with the depth and immediacy that used to exist only within a single sector."

Across the agenda, Jupiter brings together a wide range of voices shaping media, entertainment, sports, technology and culture. Joe Scarborough takes the stage bringing his perspective on the forces reshaping politics, media and culture, while Wendy McMahon and Bill Owens look ahead to the future of news. Joakim Noah explores the rise of athlete-owned media, Pete Distad examines the future of streaming and live sports, and leaders from Paramount, Versant, YouTube, McDonald’s, e.l.f. Beauty, Roku, YES Network, The New York Times, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises tackle everything from branded entertainment, fandom and creator economics to AI-powered discovery, commerce, IP, media investment and dealmaking, and the changing value of attention.

Programming at Jupiter Festival unfolds across six content themes designed to help attendees navigate the ideas shaping the future of content. Rather than operating as isolated tracks, the themes serve as different lenses on a connected media and entertainment ecosystem. Highlights include the following, which are subject to change. For the most up-to-date agenda, please visit jupiter-miami.com/agenda-2026.

• Branded Entertainment: As brands move beyond traditional advertising, these conversations examine what happens when marketers become producers, financiers and creators of entertainment in their own right.
  • “From All-American Stage to Streaming Story,” featuring Elizabeth Campbell, Vice President of Marketing at McDonald’s Corporation, and Ross Martin, President of Known, goes inside Meal Ticket, the Prime Video documentary created with McDonald’s, Known Originals, Roc Nation and Creative Control, and examines how a long-running brand platform became feature-length entertainment.
  • “The Brand Becomes the Story” looks at how the rapid rise of microdrama and vertical storytelling is opening new opportunities for brands to fund, integrate into and even create entertainment.
  • "Funding the Next Great Story," drawing on Tribeca's work with brands, creators and cultural platforms to finance original film and immersive work.
• Intellectual Property: As characters, franchises, talent and established entertainment properties move across more platforms and products, these sessions examine how IP is built, extended, owned and turned into durable value.
  • “Who Owns the Sports Story Now?” explores how athletes, creator-reporters and social-native publishers now shape sports narratives, and where commercial value sits when leagues and broadcasters no longer control the story, with KJ Wright, Host and Reporter for the NBA.
  • “Monetize the Moment, Not the Break,” hosted by Evan Shapiro, Film Producer, Founder and CEO of ESHAP, with Dan Conti, Head of Sports Marketing at PMG, Scott Young, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Transmit, and Alex Willets, Head of Global Investment at WPP.
• Power, Platforms & Partnerships: From streamers to sports rights, these conversations will examine who holds the keys to influence, and how partnerships are reshaping the landscape.
  • “Your Logo Isn't the Partnership,” featuring Michael Yormark, President of Roc Nation Sports, and Nichole Robillard, Chief Marketing Officer of Barcelona Wine Bar, explores why logo placement alone is no longer enough, and how the strongest partnerships create content, experiences and value audiences actually choose to engage with.
  • “Women’s Sports Are Rewriting the Playbook,” featuring Patrick O’Keefe, Chief Integrated Marketing Officer at e.l.f. Beauty, and Stacy Johns, President of the LA Sparks, explores how the growth of women’s sports is creating new opportunities for brands, leagues and teams to build fandom, culture and commercial value.
  • “The Future of News, According to the People Who Have Lived It,” featuring Wendy McMahon, former President and CEO of CBS News and Television, and Bill Owens, former Executive Producer of 60 Minutes, looks at what comes next for newsrooms, audience trust and relevance in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
  • “Where Did the Game Go?” featuring Joe Franzetta, Roku Media, and Bill Bergofin, YES Network, examines how sports discovery is changing as games, highlights and team content become increasingly fragmented across networks, streamers, apps, bundles and league-owned platforms, and what it will take to make finding the game as seamless as watching it.
• The Secrets of AI, New Tech, New Playgrounds: Between AI, immersive worlds and interactive media, these panels focus on where innovation is leading fan experience next.
  • “The Infinite Feed: Who Owns Attention, Talent, and the Future of Human Creativity?” explores what becomes valuable when AI can create content at unprecedented scale and the barriers between professional, amateur, human-made and machine-made media begin to disappear.
  • “The Next Sports Empire Won’t Be Built Like the Last One,” including Scott Falzone, Managing Director of Telecom-Google, and Jon Patricof, Co-Founder and CEO of Athletes Unlimited.
• Brand, Fan & Creator: The traditional boundaries between talent, media company, marketer and distributor are collapsing. These sessions explore how creators, athletes, fans, and brands are building businesses, communities, and cultural influence on their own terms.
  • “Brands Don't Chase Culture Anymore. They Create It,” led by Anish Melwani, Former Chairman and CEO of LVMH North America and Jae Goodman, Founder and CEO of Superconnector Studios, explores how brands are moving beyond sponsorship and media buying to build entertainment, experiences and cultural relevance of their own.
  • “Fans Before Franchises,” with special guest Dhani Jones, Former NFL Linebacker, explores how new sports properties cannot rely on inherited traditions or generations of built-in loyalty.
  • “When the Athlete Becomes the Platform” brings Joakim Noah and Richard Brown together to explore how athletes are becoming media platforms, investors, storytellers and global brands, including Noah's decision to build his new sports and travel series NOMAD directly on YouTube.
  • “The Creator Economy Is Mispriced,” featuring Steve Bagdasarian, Chief Commercial Officer at Comscore, asks why creators increasingly compete with traditional programming for attention while most media plans still treat creator content as a separate or experimental investment.
• The Attention Economy: When audiences have more content, screens and ways to spend their time than ever before, these sessions examine what actually earns attention, how it should be valued and where media investment moves next.
  • “Live Sports Is the Hook. What Makes Viewers Stay?” featuring Kerry Flynn, Media Reporter at Axios, and Pete Distad, CEO, Direct-to-Consumer at Fox Corporation, examines how streamers turn the massive audiences drawn by live sports into lasting subscribers, deeper engagement and broader viewing across news and entertainment.
  • “You're Not Buying Attention. You're Buying the Illusion of It.” challenges the metrics that can make media appear successful even when audiences do not actually care.
    
    

The agenda also includes new research and first-look case studies. "Balancing Bills and Thrills" presents original consumer research from Warner Bros. Discovery and Material on the tradeoffs audiences are making in entertainment as budgets tighten. "Useful Is the New Viral" goes inside how Hudson Square built a neighborhood brand on the street rather than in media, including Andy Cohen's Corner, a $2,000 idea that generated more than 28 million earned impressions.

“The programming is built to move past theory. Every session is designed around actual decisions industry experts are facing right now. We wanted the speakers on stage to be the people actually making those calls inside their organizations, and spark the type of floor conversations that turn ideas into million-dollar industry moves,” said Eric Markgraf, Chief Content Officer of Jupiter Festival.

Beyond the stage, Jupiter Festival is engineered for networking. The AI-powered Jupiter Festival app lets attendees search the delegate list before and during the show, review recommendations and request meetings, with 20-minute meeting slots scheduled automatically. The festival floor includes a dedicated Meet Up Lounge, daily happy hours, three Industry Nights, Jupiter Java Cafes and collaboration spaces for creators, brands and leaders to work through shared challenges together.

Jupiter Festival is supported by founding partner IAB and backed by a growing roster of affiliate partners and sponsors, including YouTube, Boston Consulting Group, MCH Group, Cannes Lions and ThinkLA. Each partner plays an active role in shaping the festival’s experience and network with cross-industry event-building and operational expertise.

“What we hope attendees take away from Jupiter Festival is sparking meaningful meetings and connections with each other to drive the next frontier in content," concluded Mellis. “Jupiter Festival puts the right people in the room and lets the conversation do the rest."

To learn more about Jupiter Festival Miami and purchase tickets, please visit jupiter-miami.com/attend/choose-your-pass.

About Jupiter Festival
Jupiter Festival is a global gathering of leaders across media, entertainment and sport, designed to connect decision-makers, creators, and brands shaping the future of content and commerce. Taking place October 6–9, 2026, in Miami, Jupiter Festival brings together thousands of senior executives, hundreds of world-class speakers, and the industry’s most influential voices for three days of high-impact networking, collaboration and deal-making.

Built to go beyond the traditional conference model, Jupiter Festival is engineered for meaningful connection—combining curated meetings, AI-powered matchmaking and immersive experiences across Miami’s most iconic venues. Inspired by the world’s leading business festivals, Jupiter Festival creates a dynamic platform where ideas are sparked, partnerships are formed and the future of the global media ecosystem is shaped.

For more information visit: https://www.jupiter-miami.com/

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