LAST CHANCE:

Eight passes left to attend the Digiday Publishing Summit

SECURE YOUR SEAT

How Popsugar’s Play/Ground exhibits the publisher event model in 2023

If Complex Networks’ ComplexCon has been the paragon of a publisher event, Popsugar’s Play/Ground offers an alternative, more replicable model, especially as companies like Popsugar parent Vox Media ramp up their experiential businesses to span more than 100 in-person events this year.

This year, Popsugar pared down its health- and wellness-centric event from a two-day, 15,000-person festival to a one-day, 600-attendee affair that it hosted on June 2 in Los Angeles, as documented in the video below.

“We decided that the experience in person was better, smaller and more intimate and people just had a better experience here so they could really have conversations and engage with each other, engage with our vendors,” said Tara Reilly, vp of experiential and partnerships at Vox Media.

The event’s attendee count may have been smaller, but its list of activities was packed, from beauty treatments and B12 shots to fitness classes and on-stage sessions.

“I did the sculpt class. I got a B12 vitamin shot. I’ve had food. I got a little eye makeup done. So I’ve just been taking it all in,” said one attendee.

More in Media

Fortnite advertising friction: creators say brands are wasting money on custom maps

As ad dollars pour into Fortnite, creators warn that advertisers may be overspending. Five Fortnite creators and talent managers told Digiday that they believe brands are overspending on the platform by focusing their efforts on custom-branded maps, rather than integrations into pre-existing popular experiences.

Overheard during the Digiday publisher town hall

Revenue optimization, dealing with DSPs and SSPs and AI were top of mind for publishers during Digiday’s virtual town hall event.

Digiday Podcast Summer Trends

Digiday editors recap the top stories and developments from summer 2025

This summer saw streaming services rebundle, major changes at agency holding companies, publishers confront AI and Google gain new competition.