Live events: The unexpected lifeline for traditional media brands

In an age of relentless digital disruption, traditional publishers are being forced to rethink their business models, and fast. Print revenues are on a steep decline, with UK publisher Reach plc (behind the Daily Mirror and Daily Express) reporting a 5.4% drop in print income and a 10.8% fall in print advertising revenue in just the first nine months of 2024. Globally, it’s an even starker picture: print ad spend is expected to plummet from $4.01 billion in 2024 to $2.46 billion by 2028. For the first time, print now makes up less than 50% of total publisher income.

So how are traditional media brands staying relevant in a landscape that’s rapidly moving away from paper? Increasingly, the answer is live events.

From iconic fashion magazines to newsrooms, sports and lifestyle publishers, traditional media is making a bold leap from pages to stages, transforming editorial expertise and brand equity into real-world experiences that engage audiences, attract sponsors, and unlock powerful new revenue streams.

Sports Illustrated leads the charge

For publishers grappling with shrinking ad budgets, declining print revenues, and disengaged audiences, the status quo is no longer an option. Sports Illustrated’s launch of the SI Women’s Games, a high-profile live event celebrating elite female athletes, isn’t just a brand extension. It’s a survival tactic.

Backed by Minute Media, this move signals a broader industry reckoning: words and pictures on a page alone isn’t enough. Readers are no longer just consuming; they’re expecting experiences. And advertisers? They’re demanding more reach, exclusivity, and ROI than traditional formats can deliver.

SI’s pivot into premium live event production is a response to these pressures, offering a scalable, sponsor-ready model that goes beyond storytelling to generate real-world impact and revenue. It’s also a lesson to legacy brands: if your audience is showing up in real life, your content should too.

A shift fueled by pressure…and possibility

The pivot to live events isn’t just a trend, it’s a direct response to a mounting crisis. Traditional revenue streams are faltering. Subscriptions are plateauing. Banner ads don’t carry the same weight they used to. Moreover, publishers are in a position where they can no longer afford to rely on passive consumption, they need to activate their audiences.

Live events are answering that call. For many media brands, they’re no longer an experiment, they’re a core revenue driver. In fact, some publishers report that up to 20% of their income now comes from event-led experiences. Why? Because live events solve multiple pain points at once:

• Revenue diversification: From ticket sales to brand partnerships, events introduce high-margin, scalable income streams.
• Stronger advertiser ROI: Sponsors want presence, not just impressions, and live events offer both.
• Reclaiming audience attention: In an age of endless scrolling, events create intentional, high-value moments.
• Content that feeds the funnel: Every panel, interaction, or keynote can become social content, video highlights, or editorial fuel.

Furthermore, events allow publishers to move from passive platforms to active experiences and in doing so, regain control over both revenue and relevance.

Who’s doing it well?

The shift toward live events might still feel new to some, but for others, it’s already proving to be a high-impact, high-reward strategy. The organisations leading the charge aren’t just experimenting, they’re actively reshaping what it means to be a publisher in today’s attention economy.

These aren’t side projects or vanity plays. They’re central business units, designed to drive revenue, grow audience engagement, and position each brand as not just a content creator, but an experience maker. Here are some standout examples of how this model is being executed at scale:

📈 Business Insider – BI Live: In April 2025, Business Insider launched BI Live, a dedicated events division built to translate its journalism into in-person, premium experiences. Its first major outing at Cannes Lions will centre on business, technology, and innovation, an intentional play to align BI’s editorial authority with the kind of high-value networking and insight the industry craves.

🎤 Semafor – Newsroom as stage: Semafor didn’t wait to evolve, it launched with events in its DNA. The digital-first news platform now generates 30% of its revenue from live journalism experiences. These aren’t just conferences, they’re brand extensions that bring readers face-to-face with global changemakers, all while creating new monetisable moments that go far beyond clicks and impressions.

🎥 Condé Nast – The Spectacle Model: No one turns editorial into entertainment quite like Condé Nast. Events like Vogue World, the Met Gala, and Vanity Fair’s Oscar Party have become cultural currency, and serious business. Just one ad slot in Vogue’s Met Gala livestream can cost brands $1 million for six seconds, making it clear that these aren’t just events, they’re billion-dollar ecosystems.

🌿 Immediate Media – Lifestyle Meets Live: Immediate Media proves that not all events need red carpets and velvet ropes to succeed. Its live extensions of titles like BBC Good Food and Gardeners’ World are quietly delivering big value by staying close to their niche audiences. These events feel personal, useful, and entirely on-brand, making them both commercially viable and editorially authentic.

Why now?

This surge in event activity isn’t just opportunistic, it’s existential.

For years, publishers have tried to navigate the digital pivot with metered paywalls, branded content, and social media distribution. But those levers are no longer enough. Algorithms change. CPMs drop. Audiences ghost. And let’s not even get started on AI. Events, by contrast, offer something few other formats can: control.

Control over the narrative. Control over the environment. Control over the monetization model.

And in the wake of the pandemic, the appetite for in-person connection has only intensified. People are hungry for shared experiences. They’re looking for value beyond the feed, and publishers that can offer it are seeing the returns in loyalty, data, and revenue.

Live events don’t just fill a gap, they create a moat.

The new media playbook

Let’s be honest, all things considered, media brands don’t just need more readers, they need deeper engagement and more resilient digital strategies. That’s what live events deliver.

The smartest publishers are building ecosystems where content is just one touchpoint among many. A reader becomes a registrant. A registrant becomes a delegate. A delegate becomes a subscriber, a community member, or even a brand ambassador. And every step of that journey is monetisable, measurable, and meaningful.

This isn’t about pivoting to events. It’s about reclaiming value, with formats that connect, convert, and compound.

So if you’re a legacy brand wondering what comes next, take a look at the ones already walking this path. Because if your audience is showing up in real life, your content should too.

Making live events possible with Grabyo

This shift from publishing to producing isn’t just strategic, it’s now entirely achievable, even for lean teams. That’s where Grabyo comes in.

Whether you’re a legacy publisher experimenting with your first livestreamed panel or a global media house launching a fully branded event experience, Grabyo provides the tools to make professional, multi-platform live production accessible and scalable.

• Cloud-native and crew-light: No trucks, no complex setups. Grabyo lets you run high-quality broadcasts with minimal on-site resources.
• Live production, clipping and distribution: Capture, edit, and publish real-time highlights across social and owned platforms, all in a few clicks.
• Monetization built in: Insert live ad breaks, sponsorship assets, and branded graphics to open up new commercial opportunities during your stream.
• Designed for speed and control: From AI-powered live captions to macro-based workflows, everything is built for fast turnaround without compromising quality.

As more publishers look to diversify and digitise their brands, Grabyo empowers them to own the entire production lifecycle, from pre-show promos to live streaming and post-event packages.

Because when your brand enters the live space, it’s not just about going live. It’s making an impact that sets you apart.

Find out more

Conclusion: the future belongs to live

The decline of sports docuseries is a reflection of shifting audience behavior. Fans no longer want a delayed, heavily-edited retelling of what they’ve already lived through in real time. They want access, insight, and engagement while the action is happening.

That doesn’t mean the value of archives and storytelling is lost, it just needs to evolve. Instead of separating past and present, the future of sports content lies in seamlessly merging them, using history to enhance the live moment rather than serve as a replacement for it.

Live sport has always been about immediacy, emotion, and unpredictability. In 2025, that truth is more relevant than ever. The sports industry must now embrace that reality, ensuring that every game, every event, and every moment is delivered in a way that keeps fans fully engaged in the now.

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