The AI Brand & Consumer Experience:
Design - Media
Wednesday, April 15th, 2026
Noon – 12:50 PM Eastern Time Zone
Session I: A Virtual Event
From Creator to Consumer: Ad Revenue Without the Gatekeepers
In 2026 the middlemen are disappearing. Platforms and traditional distributors no longer own the path from creator to consumer — Algorithms, Analytics, Video Monetization & other AI-powered tools now let brands and creators connect directly, monetize instantly, and keep the lion’s share of revenue. This session brings together the pioneers building the new direct-to-consumer advertising stack: decentralized creator platforms, AI-driven recommendation engines, blockchain-verified attribution, and instant-payout smart contracts that bypass legacy gatekeepers. Hear how top creators are launching branded campaigns that reach millions without platform cuts, how brands are running hyper-targeted ads straight to loyal audiences, and how new revenue models are turning every post, video, and livestream into a payable asset. The gatekeepers built the walls. Super-intelligence is handing creators the keys — and the wallet.
Speakers:
Vince Lynch, CEO, IV.AI, Moderator
Ed Zobrist, Adjunct Professor, USC Cinematic Arts. former, Head of Publishing, Epic Games
Jonathan Skogmo, CEO, LOST iN, former Founder and CEO, Jukin Media
Victor Lu, Global Head. Twitch Brand Partnership Studio
Additional speakers to be announced
Vince Lynch is the CEO of IV.AI and serves on the board for The World Ethical Data Forum. Over his 12-year career in the AI space, and work with IV.AI he has helped create scalable AI products with Netflix, Uber, Samsung, Disney, Walmart, Capital One, Estée Lauder, among many other businesses, and was named in the UN’s AI 100 for his work on disinformation and misinformation. Lynch was the host of The AI Review and has been featured in numerous publications, including Wired, The Washington Post, NYT, CNBC, CNN, and BBC, discussing the value of NLP, LLMs, and the structures we can build to balance bias with generative model performance.
Ed Zobrist; +25 year game industry career including launch of "Fortnite" as Head of Publishing for Epic Games. Currently a USC professor. Graduate of Columbia and Wharton. Ed is known for F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon (2005), The Simpsons: Hit & Run (2003) and Sea Life Safari. Entrepreneur, General Manager, consumer marketing executive, game designer/producer. Involved with hit products totaling >$30B in sales including Fortnite (marketing/publishing), The Simpsons Hit & Run video game (marketing), TipTop from PopCap (producer/designer) and He-Man: Masters of the Universe toys (marketing, animated series episode writer). Currently an adjunct professor at USC, and general advisor to multiple companies including Universal Studios, Convai, and Spinwit.
Jonathan Skogmo - Founder and Chief Executive Officer, LOST iN:Jonathan Skogmo is Founder and CEO of LOST iN, and the former Founder and CEO of award-winning digital media company Jukin Media, which was acquired by Trusted Media Brands in 2021. Skogmo has executive produced hundreds of hours TV and streaming series for networks such as FOX, MTV Networks, and Channel 5 (UK), and is an investor in a multitude of media and hospitality companies. Among other accolades, Skogmo has been named to The Hollywood Reporter’s Next-Gen 35 Under 35 list, as well as the Multichannel News 40 Under 40 list, and his affiliations include the Producers Guild of America and the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), among others. Skogmo resides in Los Angeles.
