Your 4-Day Playbook for Subscription Growth

8:00 AM

Breakfast & Networking

Grab a coffee, bagel and mingle with fellow attendees!

9:15 AM

[KEYNOTE]
The State of Subscriptions in 2025: What’s Driving Growth Now

Kick off Subscription Show with an inside look at the forces reshaping the subscription economy—from AI and payments innovation to new compliance rules and customer expectations. You’ll get a clear map of where the industry is headed and how your company can seize the growth opportunities others will miss.

With the subscription economy is at a turning point. Growth is no longer a given—and the companies leading the charge are rewriting the playbook in real time. Our experts bring deep, data-informed perspectives from across the industry. Peter Doucette, who leads strategy engagements at Mather Economics, and Brendan Brady, who oversees strategic insights at Antenna, will join Adam Levinter to explore the trends and disruptions defining 2025—and what they mean for subscription leaders.

We’ll discuss:

• How subscriber expectations are shifting—and how businesses are responding
• The impact of bundling, paid sharing policies, and platform dynamics
• New compliance and regulatory realities shaping operations and growth
• Emerging monetization strategies—from hybrid models to diversified revenue

This opening session sets the tone for the conference, offering a candid, expert-led discussion of where the industry stands—and where it’s headed next.

10:00 AM

[KEYNOTE]
The Great Rebalancing: How Payment Networks Are Reshaping Power (and Risk) in Subscriptions

A seismic shift is underway in the payments ecosystem—and subscription executives need to pay attention.

Visa has officially begun enforcing new fraud and dispute rules under its VAMP program (Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program), and subscription businesses are already seeing the fallout. Quietly, acquirers (the companies that process your card payments) are shifting the burden of compliance onto merchants—and enforcing limits that go far beyond traditional chargeback thresholds.

This isn’t a back-office billing issue. It’s a business risk hiding in plain sight.
Subscription companies with strong customer retention and low chargebacks are being flagged by payment processors due to new metrics few executives are even aware of. Acquirers are now enforcing thresholds that are stricter, more opaque, and harder to manage—and many merchants are being blindsided.

In this critical executive briefing, Fraud Deflect CEO Scott Adams explains:

• What just changed in the payments ecosystem—and why it matters now
• Why your metrics may look fine but still trigger compliance problems
• How quiet shifts in network policy can result in lost revenue, blocked transactions, or even account termination
• What smart operators are doing to stay ahead, reduce risk, and protect lifetime value
  

This session is not about payments. It’s about protecting your revenue, subscriber trust, and operational continuity in a rapidly shifting environment.

If you’re a CEO, CFO, COO, or head of product, you can’t afford to ignore what’s happening behind the curtain.

10:45 AM

[EXHIBIT HALL & NETWORKING]
Speed Networking

Looking to meet the right people without the awkward small talk? We’ve got you covered.

Join us for a high-energy speed networking session designed to help you connect with fellow subscription leaders in a fast, focused format. Whether you’re looking for new partners, industry peers, or just a fresh perspective, this is your chance to have a series of quick, meaningful conversations that go beyond the standard “what do you do?”

Here’s how it works:

• You’ll be paired up with another attendee for a short 3–5 minute chat
• After time’s up, you’ll rotate to meet someone new—no pressure, no pitches, just great conversation

Speed Networking is one of the most popular ways to:

• Expand your professional network in a short amount of time
• Get inspired by what others are working on
• Find peers facing similar challenges—and share quick insights

This isn’t just networking—it’s momentum for the rest of your conference.

11:30 AM

[KEYNOTE]
Creating Mutual Value: Rethinking Engagement in the Subscription Economy

In today’s subscription economy, long-term success isn’t just about acquiring subscribers—it’s about keeping them engaged and creating value on both sides of the relationship.

In this keynote, Stuart Allan of Nottingham Business School explores how companies can unlock “value reciprocity”—a model in which businesses and customers co-create lasting value through engagement, experience, and trust.

Drawing from both academic research and real-world practice, Stuart reframes value not as a one-way transaction but as a dynamic, reciprocal exchange.

You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of what drives customer loyalty and what makes subscription businesses sustainable in the long run.

12:15 PM

[NETWORKING]
Lunch

Recharge with a delicious lunch while expanding your professional circle. Our networking lunch tables make it easy to connect with peers, share perspectives from the morning sessions, and spark meaningful conversations over a great meal.

1:30 PM

[KEYNOTE]

The Future of Subscription Growth: Designing for Revenue Resilience

Growth in the new subscription economy is no longer defined by how many customers you can acquire, but by how effectively you protect and keep the ones you already have. And that battle is often won or lost at the moment of payment. As acquisition costs rise and customer loyalty becomes increasingly fragile, payments can no longer be seen as just financial transactions—they're critical moments of trust, loyalty, and retention that directly impact your success. 

In this keynote, subscription leaders are invited to rethink how payments function within their business—not as a back-office necessity, but as a strategic growth driver. Using real world stories from customers and partners, this session will explore how intelligent payment recovery systems, powered by cross-functional alignment between finance, product, and engineering, are enabling leading enterprises to build resilient growth models that recover lost revenue and strengthen customer relationships for maximum retention.  Attendees will gain a greater understanding of how forward-thinking brands are reframing the payments experience as a core pillar of their customer lifecycle strategy.

Key Themes:

• How intelligent, adaptive payment systems are reshaping the customer experience
• Strategic frameworks for recovering revenue through advanced authorization management
• Executive alignment: why finance, product, and technology must co-own payment strategy
• Competitive urgency: what leading brands are doing now to win the retention battle
• Why failed payment recovery is critical to customer LTV and enterprise value

2:15 PM

[EXHIBIT HALL & NETWORKING]
Break

Pause for a well-earned break and join fellow attendees in the Exhibit Hall. Grab a refreshment, meet with solution providers, and connect with peers while exploring the latest innovations in subscription growth, payments, compliance, and more. The Exhibit Hall is open throughout the event—this is just one of many great times to drop in.

2:45 PM

[STRATEGY & GROWTH]
AI as Gatekeeper: Surviving the Next Great Shift in Marketing

The future is now. Your next subscriber won’t click an ad or browse your website or app; they’ll delegate the task to an AI assistant.

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift where AI, not humans, is the new front door to your brand. Your visibility, discoverability, and conversions now depend on how well your systems communicate with machines, not people.

How can you get ready?

In this provocative and practical session, Brian Massey, Founder of Conversion Sciences, will explore:

• How AI is inserting itself into our relationship with our prospects.
• What do we do when the search traffic stops coming?
• Optimizing for agents as well as humans.
• New strategies for acquisition, retention, and brand visibility when the decision-maker is a machine recommending on behalf a potential subscriber.

This isn’t theoretical. The shift is already underway. Some experts suggest you may have 12 months or less to re-architect how you attract and serve customers or risk becoming invisible in an AI-first world.

If you’re responsible for growth, product, CX, acquisition, retention or digital strategy in a subscription business, this session will challenge your assumptions and help you prepare for what’s next.

2:45 PM

[REVENUE & OPERATIONS]
Fraud, Disputes, and Declines: Surviving VAMP and the New Rules of Subscription Risk

Visa’s new enforcement era is here—and if you’re not already managing to VAMP metrics, you’re flying blind.

This workshop is for the operators in the trenches: payment, billing, risk, and ops teams who are facing rising fraud signals, mounting RDR/alert volumes, and inconsistent acquirer feedback.

Join Mari Perroni (COO) and Scott Adams (CEO) of Fraud Deflect, for a tactical walkthrough of:

• The real drivers of VAMP risk: what acquirers and networks are watching
• Why “good” chargeback rates can still get you flagged
• How TC40s, first-party fraud, and misconfigured RDR flows are quietly driving up enforcement exposure
• How to interpret the signals, engage with acquirers, and protect your MID
• Proven tactics that reduce alert volumes, boost issuer transparency, and improve approval rates

This session is fast-paced, data-driven, and packed with insights from top subscription merchants navigating these shifts right now. And we will define any "fraud jargon" you need to know too! Bring your questions, your pain points, and your dashboards.

3:30 PM

[STRATEGY & GROWTH]
From Reader to Member: How Condé Nast Is Building Deeper Consumer Relationships Through Strategic Upsells

When is a subscriber more than a subscriber? For Condé Nast, the answer lies in turning casual readers into loyal members—through a carefully calibrated journey that spans lead capture, subscriber acquisition, and premium membership upsells.

In this exclusive case study, Holly Johnson, Associate Director of Global Consumer Revenue, reveals how Condé Nast is reshaping its consumer revenue strategy across iconic brands like The New Yorker, Vogue, and Wired. From the migration path of reader → subscriber → member, to the data signals that guide upgrade opportunities, Holly will unpack what’s working (and what isn’t) in a high-stakes media environment where retention and LTV matter more than ever.

What You’ll Learn:

• How Condé Nast defines the member tier—and how it's different from a traditional subscriber
• The funnel design behind converting high-intent users from free to paid to premium
• Strategic cross-sell and upsell tactics that balance brand, pricing, and timing
  Operational and technical hurdles in creating a seamless upgrade path
• Lessons learned about segmentation, pricing, and engagement in a multi-brand portfolio
• Whether you're in media or not, this session is packed with takeaways on value ladder design, lifecycle monetization, and building deeper customer relationships across subscription models.

Why This Matters for Senior Subscription Executives:

• Multi-tier strategies are the future. Businesses across industries are looking to move beyond flat-rate subscriptions and explore deeper monetization—this gives them a playbook from a premium brand already doing it.
• Segmentation in action. Executives will benefit from understanding how to create differentiated value propositions across audience cohorts without cannibalizing core offers.
• Upsell timing and triggers. Knowing when and how to prompt an upgrade—especially in a content business—can inspire better LTV strategies across the board.
• Cross-brand coordination. For those managing portfolios or diverse product lines, Holly’s insights into shared systems and individualized brand positioning are highly applicable.

3:30 PM

[REVENUE & OPERATIONS]
Invisible Infrastructure: How to Power Subscription Quality at Scale

What does it really take to run high-volume, high-quality subscription operations behind the scenes? For companies like Hallmark and FINSI, the answer lies in invisible infrastructure—the complex, carefully orchestrated systems that enable scale without compromising on experience, retention, or revenue.

In this candid, tactical discussion, you’ll hear from two technology leaders responsible for keeping mission-critical systems running at scale. Paul Wang of Hallmark will share how his team ensures transaction quality across a diverse ecosystem—from e-cards and streaming to physical retail and gifting. Andrei Rebrov, founder of FINSI and former CTO of Scentbird, brings startup and scale-up perspective on building modular, high-performance subscription systems with minimal tech debt.

Together, they’ll unpack:

• What “quality at scale” looks like across different business models
• How to proactively identify and resolve system breakage before it hits your customers
• Lessons learned from building for agility, cross-functional alignment, and long-term growth
• How to evolve tech stacks without disrupting subscriber experience
• The hidden costs of poor infrastructure—and how to spot them early

Acquisition and retention might get the spotlight—but infrastructure is what makes or breaks the subscriber experience at scale.

This strategic discussion for business executives who need and want to understand the technology issues impacting growth and scale, offers hard-won lessons and practical frameworks from operators who’ve lived the complexity—and built systems that perform.

4:15 PM

[STRATEGY & GROWTH]
Omnichannel by Design: Reinventing the Subscriber Journey Across Digital, Live, and Community Channels

Subscription success today requires more than a great product—it demands a unified experience across platforms, places, and people. Few brands know this better than Zumba, which blends global live classes, mobile apps, instructor networks, and online content into a single, dynamic subscriber journey.

In this fireside chat, Yael Dornbusch, Head of Subscriptions at Zumba, joins Adam Levinter to share how the brand has reimagined subscription engagement in a world where digital, physical, and community-driven experiences must coexist—and complement one another.

We’ll explore:

• How Zumba evolved from a live-only fitness brand to a global subscription platform
• The challenges of pricing, bundling, and positioning across wildly different access points
• What it takes to maintain loyalty when your customers span continents and content formats
• Why community, data, and flexibility—not just content—are the new currency of retention

Whether you're running an app, association, box, or even an omnichannel media business, this session will give you a fresh look at how to meet subscribers where they are—and keep them coming back.

4:15 PM

[REVENUE & OPERATIONS]

How the Fastest-Growing Businesses Approach Pricing Differently

Pricing isn’t a one-time decision—it’s a growth lever. In this data-driven session, Stripe Billing will reveal what sets the fastest-growing businesses apart, backed by insights from companies achieving over 64% year-over-year growth.

You’ll learn how top performers are rethinking pricing and packaging to capture new customers, adapt to market shifts, and unlock sustainable growth. This isn’t theory—it’s real-world strategy backed by Stripe’s data and experience working with thousands of subscription businesses.

Walk away with:

• Clear, actionable strategies to refine your pricing
• Examples of successful pricing changes and their impact
• A framework to turn pricing into a competitive advantage

If you want pricing to be more than a number on a page, this is the session that will show you how to make it a driver of long-term success.

5:00-7:00 PM

Networking Reception

After a full day of strategy, insights, and case studies, it’s time to unwind and keep the conversations going. This reception gives you the chance to connect with speakers, sponsors, and peers in a casual setting. Compare notes from the day, spark new ideas, and expand your network while enjoying food, drinks, and lively discussion.