Thriving online advertising industry amidst global conflicts, Trump's presidency, and economic downturns
The advertising industry is set for a significant growth this year, with the first half of 2025 seeing a 9 percent increase compared to the previous year. This growth is reflected across various sectors, with the finance sector and media sector showing a 28 percent and 30 percent increase in gross advertising investments respectively.
These trends will be the focus of the DMEXCO trade fair and conference, taking place in Cologne on Wednesday, September 17-18, 2025. The event, which attracts over 40,000 visitors and has over 800 exhibitors, will feature dedicated sub-events for decision-makers, digital commerce, creators, and "creativity".
One of the key highlights of DMEXCO 2025 will be the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is transforming the entire marketing value creation process, including image and text generation, automated campaign control, and personalized customer journeys. In fact, Philipp Kloeckner, a prominent tech investor and analyst, will speak on the topic "How AI is already changing marketing and e-commerce today" on the first day of the trade fair.
Online video advertising is becoming increasingly important and is expected to be the most significant growth driver. Experts anticipate video revenue of 3.6 billion euros in 2025, with pre-roll and in-stream video ads being the most successful video advertising formats, each generating 230 million euros in the first half of the year.
In the mobile sector, the mobile medium rectangle is the leader, generating 119 million euros in revenue. Many small sub-conferences and exhibition areas will focus on specialized topics such as digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising or retail media.
DMEXCO 2025 will also feature over 1,000 speakers across 17 stages over the two conference days. Among them, Philipp Kloeckner, known from the German tech scene and podcast "Doppelgänger Tech Talk", will be one of the speakers. However, there is no specific record of him holding a speech at the DMEXCO conference in Cologne in 2021.
The advertising industry is projected to grow by 8.5 percent to 7.5 billion euros in 2025. With these promising figures and the focus on AI, DMEXCO 2025 promises to be an exciting event for the advertising and marketing industry.
