Demand Media has devised one of the most controversial – and apparently effective – new media business models around: acquire massive amounts of online content and distinctive URLs on the cheap, then use that to suck large volumes of traffic off the search engines.

It’s an idea that has earned grudging recognition in the established media, like these pieces this month in The New York Times and Vanity Fair (this was my own take on Demand in its early days).

So I’m very glad to say that Steven Kydd, Demand’s head of content, is a last-minute addition to speak at our Digital Media and Broadcasting Conference in London in two weeks’ time. Putting new media figures like Kydd alongside the heads of established powers like WPP, The New York Times and the BBC should produce a pleasingly combustible mix. Read more