The AI Brand & Consumer Experience:  Design - Media

Tuesday, April 14th, 2026

7 – 7:50 PM Eastern Time Zone

Session I: A Virtual Event

Microdrama at Scale: Format, IP, and Monetization

It’s new and growing, microdramas—bite-sized, serialized narratives delivered via vertical video platforms—are reshaping the economics of entertainment and advertising. Running 1–3 minutes per episode, these hyper-engaging stories achieve completion rates 3–5× higher than traditional formats while commanding premium CPMs from performance-driven brands. This session examines the structural anatomy of microdrama success: narrative compression techniques that deliver emotional payoff in under 90 seconds, IP strategies that create defensible character universes and franchise potential across platforms, and monetization models that blend direct brand integration, creator revenue shares, affiliate commerce, and programmatic sponsorships. Drawing from real-world case studies and proprietary benchmarks, we’ll dissect how leading content and brand developers, agencies, and platforms are engineering repeatable, scalable IP engines that turn fleeting attention into sustained audience value and measurable ROI.

Speakers:

Joanna Popper, founder, Laurel Beach, Founder, & Co-Founder, SatireAI, Moderator

Speakers to be announced

Joanna Popper was most recently the Chief Metaverse Officer at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Based in Los Angeles, Popper led emerging technology and metaverse initiatives for the agency and its clients. Popper joined CAA in 2022 from HP, where she led its XR initiatives for Go-To-Market, overseeing the launch of award-winning technology, such as the HP Reverb G2 VR headset (winner of Red Dot Design Award, CES Innovation Award, IF Design Award) and HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition (winner of VR Hardware of the Year, Entertainment Technology Lumiere Award, Red Dot Best of the Best, CES Innovation Award, IF Design Award). While leading HP’s VR go-to-market, the business grew 10x to a multi-million dollar business. Previously, she was Executive Vice President of Media & Marketing at Singularity University, a NASA-based, Google-backed organization founded by Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis to train leaders on the future of technology including artificial intelligence, VR/AR, robotics, blockchain, and digital biology. She was also the Vice President of Marketing at NBCUniversal, where she worked across properties, including television, film, digital, and parks, and launched top-rated hits in primetime, music award shows, sports, news, daytime, and more for Telemundo. She started her career as an investment banker in New York and Brazil and then a consultant at McKinsey & Company. She served as Executive Producer on BREONNA’S GARDEN, FINDING PANDORA X, and FIGHT BACK, the award-winning immersive content, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and SXSW. FINDING PANDORA X won Venice’s Golden Lion for Best Immersive Experience and SXSW’s best Virtual Cinema Award. BREONNA’s GARDEN received awards and recognition for social impact from PGA Innovation, Unity, Auggie, Filmgate, and Aurea. FIGHT BACK won an audience award at Venice. She was selected as “50 Women Can Change the World in Media and Entertainment,” ”25 Pioneers in the Metaverse,” “Top 50 Original Thinkers in VR,” “Top Women in Media: Game Changers,” “Top Women in Media: Industry Leaders,” “Digital It List,” and “101 Women Leading the VR Industry.” She has sat on numerous boards and in advisory roles including as Metaphysic Board Observer, the Coalition for the Women in XR Fund, Unity Charitable Fund Advisory Board, Vidcon Industry Advisory Board, AIXR Steering Committee and CES Consumer Technology Association AR/VR Working Committee. Popper graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s degree, and The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA.