Content leaders are used to figuring things out on the fly. New platforms, algorithms, formats– whatever the job required. Unsurprisingly, it tended to require adapting faster than the playbook updated.
But what's happening right now feels different.
AI search is changing the fundamental logic of how brand content earns visibility. The brands paying attention are realizing that distribution decisions made before a story is published now determine how that story performs inside AI-generated answers. That the traditional funnel from content to traffic to conversion has fractured. That KPIs built for a last-click world don't capture what's actually happening.
And most content leaders are navigating this without a peer group that's a step ahead of them. Because nobody is a step ahead yet. The practitioners figuring this out are figuring it out in real time.
That’s why Cited 2026 was born.
Bringing together leaders across content, comms, editorial, and the newsrooms that visibility now hinges upon, this one-day masterclass is for the people who are shaping how brands will compete in the age of AI.
On June 10, in New York City, Stacker is hosting its first-ever summit for senior content, brand, and communications leaders, hand-picked by Stacker leadership.
This is not a conference. There's no expo floor, no sales pitches, no panels designed to fill time. Cited is a curated gathering of 200 senior-level practitioners, like VPs, Directors, and Heads of Content, Brand, Marketing, and Communications, who are actively making decisions about how to build content programs that hold up in this environment.
Attendance is application-based and reviewed individually.
The event is completely free for approved attendees. We're not optimizing for headcount or interested in a money-grab– this is about bringing together the people ahead of the curve.
Over the past year, Stacker has published research tracking how brand content earns visibility inside AI-generated answers and how long that visibility lasts.
The findings have been specific. From our initial hypothesis on Citation Lift to our expanded study and reinforced findings about the role of earned media in AI Citations to our recent research on citation stickiness, source-decay, and citation breadth, Stacker has been at the forefront of this conversation.
Our unique position at the intersection of brands and publishers has given us an extraordinary perspective at the current moment. Our research highlights important findings for content teams navigating the current moment.
But data findings alone don't run content teams. Content leaders do.
The research tells you what's working at a structural level. It doesn't tell a VP of Content how to restructure her editorial calendar around it. It doesn't tell a brand director how to make the investment case to a CFO who still measures content performance in traffic terms. It doesn't tell a communications leader how to think about press release strategy now that earned media and AI visibility are the same conversation.
Those questions get answered by the people doing the work, in conversation with each other, not in a one-way research report. Cited is where that’ll happen.
Five tracks anchor the day, each built around a question the industry is actively wrestling with:
Speakers include content and marketing leaders from HubSpot, Salesforce, TripAdvisor, Ramp, Carta, Tinuiti, The Points Guy, Hone Health, The Wall Street Journal and more.
Live updates available at Cited2026.com
Senior content, brand, and communications practitioners who are actively shaping the strategies for their teams. If you're managing a team, owning a budget, or advising leadership on where content investment should go, this event was designed for you.
We review on a rolling basis and respond to every applicant. Applications close June 6, but we know seats will go fast, so register soon.
The industry is writing its playbook for content in the AI era right now. Cited is where 200 of the people writing it come together to compare notes. WIll you be one of them?
Doriane is Stacker’s Director of Marketing. She previously headed marketing departments in various companies, led a marketing agency for 7 years, and built a startup combining automated marketing workflows with a marketing services marketplace.
Photo Illustration by Stacker // Canva