Our First DMEXCO: The Avalw Team in Cologne

This year marked an important milestone in the Avalw story. For the first time, all three members of our leadership team attended DMEXCO in Cologne in person: Radu Gheorghiu, CEO and Founder of Avalw; Irinel Ion, Co-Founder and Project Development Manager; and Lucian Nane, Director and Shareholder of the Avalw ecosystem. Over two intense days, on 23 and 24 September, we met people and companies from across the globe, and came home with far more than we had anticipated.

"DMEXCO showed us that Avalw can sit at the same table as the most influential companies in the industry. We arrived as visitors, and we are leaving with valuable connections and real opportunities."
Radu Gheorghiu, CEO and Founder, Avalw

DMEXCO is no ordinary trade fair. This year’s edition brought together more than 40,000 attendees, over 700 partners and 2,200 brands, across an exhibition space ten per cent larger than the year before. Under the theme "Scaling Intelligence", the focus was firmly on how artificial intelligence is reshaping commerce, marketing, media and brand building. For a team building technology for publishers and advertisers, there could hardly have been a better place to understand where the industry is heading.

Why We Went

We arrived with a clear agenda: to identify the solutions and partners that will support the growth of the Avalw platform and the upcoming updates we are preparing for both Avalw and Wratum.com. Avalw was built on a simple conviction: that authors deserve a place where they can write, publish and be discovered. Behind the platform sits an advertising network built on verifiable monetisation models. Our objective was therefore straightforward: anything that could help us deliver greater revenue to our publishers was worth exploring.

Podcasts Are Coming to Avalw

One of the most significant developments on our roadmap is the launch of podcasts across the Avalw apps and web platform. Every journalist, influencer, founder and company will be able to create and host their own podcast directly within our ecosystem. To ensure our publishers can fully monetise this format, we needed a robust, proven solution for audio and podcast advertising.

"Podcasts are the natural next step for our publishers, and in Cologne we found exactly the solutions we need to monetise them."
Irinel Ion, Co-Founder and Project Development Manager, Avalw

AdsWizz

That search led us to the AdsWizz stand, where we had an excellent conversation with Frank Kretzschmar. Frank walked us through the platform in depth: how ads are dynamically inserted into podcasts and streaming audio, how advertisers and publishers are brought together, and how performance is measured. The partner wall at the stand, featuring names such as SiriusXM Media, Deezer, SoundCloud, ARD Media, Die Zeit and Acast, spoke volumes about the calibre of the technology. For us, there was an added sense of pride: AdsWizz is a company with Romanian roots that has grown into a global leader in digital audio advertising.

The conversation confirmed that we are heading in the right direction. Digital audio is one of the most dynamic segments in advertising, and podcast listeners are an attentive, loyal audience. By giving Avalw creators a simple way to earn from their podcasts, we are offering them one more compelling reason to build their voice with us.

The Meetings That Stood Out

Bidmatic.io

Moving through the halls, we met Ivan Liashok, CEO of Bidmatic.io. It was a genuinely enjoyable and open discussion. Ivan explained how their business works, the solutions they offer and, most importantly, how they could integrate with the Avalw ecosystem. We left with concrete ideas and a shared intention to continue the conversation.

Adrenalead

A very different, and equally compelling, stand was that of Adrenalead, where we spoke with Edouard Ducray, the company’s co-founder. Adrenalead specialises in web push notifications, offering publishers a 360-degree solution to generate traffic, retain visitors and monetise their audience. Its publisher model is based on revenue sharing, allowing sites to earn incremental revenue without adding new ad placements. The most persuasive moment came when Edouard showed us, live, what other publishers are earning with this notification model.

Taboola

At Taboola, we had one of the most insightful conversations of the event with Verena Charlotte Koelln, Strategic Partnership Success Team Lead. Verena explained in detail how Avalw could get the most out of working with Taboola, from optimising content recommendations to their new performance advertising platform, Realize. It was the kind of conversation you leave with a clear list of actions to implement.

Microsoft Advertising

We also had a brief but very pleasant exchange with Verena Schranner of Microsoft Advertising, who introduced us to their partner programme and the opportunities it offers. Even in just a few minutes, we could see how the Microsoft ecosystem might align with the direction in which Avalw is growing.

Lupon Media

Another conversation that caught our attention was with Harun Alisah of Lupon Media. Harun told us about his platform, which brings together around 5,000 advertisers and 5,000 publishers, and outlined precisely how Avalw could benefit from this network. For an ecosystem like ours, access to such a broad advertiser base means stronger demand and better revenue for our publishers.

Sevio

We were also delighted to meet the Sevio team, led by Tiberiu Stingaciu. It was a forward-looking discussion on technology, markets and strategy, and one from which we learned a great deal. Conversations like this, between people who understand the same challenges, are exactly why events like DMEXCO matter.

Take Ads

Cologne was also an opportunity to reconnect with our partners at Take Ads, Anastasiia Yahelska and Olga Iarovenko. Meeting face to face made all the difference: together, we agreed on the next steps towards stronger monetisation for Avalw publishers. Some things are simply resolved faster around a table than across dozens of emails.

MGID

One of the most intense meetings of the event was with Ivan Doruda, CEO of MGID. The conversation lasted no more than 10 to 15 minutes, yet it felt as though we had been talking for hours. We covered strategy, the direction of the industry and much more, at a pace where every sentence counted.

What We Are Taking Home

Beyond these meetings, we connected with hundreds of new people and dozens of companies from every corner of the world. This article covers only the conversations that stood out most, but every exchange gave us something of value: an idea, a contact, a fresh perspective. For us, DMEXCO meant two full days of meetings, new connections and conversations we hope will grow into lasting partnerships for Avalw and Wratum.com.

"Ten minutes of face-to-face conversation are worth dozens of emails. That is the real power of an event like DMEXCO."
Lucian Nane, Director and Shareholder, Avalw ecosystem

Would we recommend DMEXCO? Absolutely. Nothing compares to meeting people in person, presenting your product directly and seeing their reaction in real time. This was our first event of its kind, and it was a remarkable, enjoyable and truly memorable experience. The next edition takes place on 22 and 23 September 2027, and we already intend to be there.

Our goal now is to turn these connections into tangible benefits for our community. If you are a journalist, creator, founder or company looking to publish, launch a podcast or monetise your content, Avalw is ready for you. And if you represent a company in our industry and would like to build something together, get in touch. We are open to partnerships.