Over two days, international brands, advertisers, marketers and sales houses came together in Cologne for the biggest European trade fair for the digital industry. RTL Group was represented at the trade fair’s stages by colleagues from RTL Deutschland, its advertising sales house Ad Alliance, RTL AdAlliance, the international advertising sales house from the Group, UFA, We Are Era, Smartclip and RTL Zwei.

Day 1

On 17 September, the first day of the conference took place under the motto ‘Be Bold. Move Forward’. DMEXCO host Verena Gründel opened the conference programme, stating:

“DMEXCO is a place where bold ideas meet real business, and where courage is not just a word, but a strategy.”

First RTL Group colleague in the programme was Jean-Baptiste Moggio, Senior Brand Director at RTL AdAlliance, who joined Malte Hildebrandt, CEO of Screenforce, for a fireside chat, led by moderator Wolfram Kons, Head of Charity at RTL Deutschland.

Barbara Zeiss, Chief Product Officer at We Are Era, later took the stage to discuss AI, under the headline Brands are losing their identity: will AI-generated content make everything interchangeable?. 

Since 2021, RTL Deutschland is operating under the RTL united brand, a unified and one-brand strategy. Lars-Eric Mann, Chief Marketing Officer at Ad Alliance, and Susan Veldhuis, Senior Crossmedia Manager at Ad Alliance, joined the stage together with Kinga Katharina Slota, Director Crossmedia/Marketing Partnerships at RTL Deutschland, to give insights on how the one-brand strategy works and how it was put into action.

Michael Dorn, Chief Sales Officer at Ad Alliance, joined the stage for the session One Screen. One Impact. One Strategy. Konvergenz in action!, discussing connectivity and digital transformation.

Colleagues also held masterclasses. Pieter van den Bergh, VP Product & Revenue Development at RTL AdAlliance, held a masterclass on brand management and safety, while Tim Nieland, General Director Product & Price at Ad Alliance, shared his knowledge in analytics, calling for common standards in digital advertising.

Earlier this year, Carsten Schwecke joined the Management Board of RTL Deutschland as Chief Commercial, Technology and Data Officer, and he took to the stage for the first time in this role at DMEXCO. In the panel discussion Touchpoint. Trigger. Transaction. about commerce media, Carsten talked about how the media type can guide target groups towards making a purchase.

El Cartel Brothers, the joint advertising sales house venture between RTL Zwei and Warner Bros. Discovery Germany, did its first-ever company presentation. The plans of the joint venture was announced in July 2025, and received regularity approval in August. Ahead of its launch on 1 November, appointed Managing Directors Stephan Karrer and Claudia Ziemer took to the stage together with Malte Kruber, Programme Director Entertainment at RTL Zwei, to speak about the new advertising sales house. 

Day 2

On the second day, Carsten Schwecke from RTL Deutschland did his second appearance on stage. He joined a panel taking place on the media stage, in which he shared his insights about media trends in 2026, touching on AI and technical processes.

UFA Fiction was also represented in the trade fair’s programme: Nataly Kudiabor, Managing Director and Producer, joined a panel discussion about entertainment marketing, discussing how engaged audiences and innovative formats turn attention into measurable brand impact.

Under the headline of The Future of Connected Audio, Robert Scharni, Growth Product Director at Smartclip, provided knowledge on the topic of connected audio and podcasts.

Ad Alliance had two colleagues in the programme on the second day: in the masterclass ’Privacy sells’, Sandy Ukat, Lead Data Solutions at Ad Alliance, shared how data protection can turn into revenue. On the topic of AI, Robert Beckert, Lead Creative AI, gave a presentation called Creative intelligence: The future of ideas.

Brining the creator economy to the stage

To tease the upcoming VideoDays festival taking place on 30 October, We Are Era held a two-hour programme about creators and community building. In four sessions, We Are Era was represented by Tobias Schiwek, CEO, Victoria Blechman, Lead VideoDays Festival, and Natascha Wiedenfeld, Lead Streaming & Gaming.

In November 2024, We Are Era acquired Social Match, and at DMEXCO, the company held five presentations under the title Social talk on Stage by Social Match’. Martin Wroblewski, Chief Client Officer & Managing Director, opened the programme. In the presentations and discussions that followed, Leonie Nägel, Senior Account Managerin, Francesco Cafaro, Influencer Campaign Manager, and Jessica Haltenhof, Director of Influencer Marketing, shared insights on influencer marketing, advertising campaigns and the creator economy. Martin Wroblewski closed the programme by presenting two different branded campaigns.