What DWDL does

DWDL.de GmbH is a privately held German B2B trade media company founded in 2001 and headquartered in Cologne. It operates DWDL.de, a daily online magazine covering German television, streaming, radio, and advertising, serving media-industry professionals — executives, editors, producers, and marketers — with news, executive interviews, opinion pieces, and recurring themed series (Sports-Update, Media-Update, Austria-Update, Audio-Update, International-Update). The publication self-positions as "Deutschlands erfolgreichstes Medienmagazin" and is led by Thomas Lückerath (Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief) with a core team of roughly six in-house editorial and sales staff plus five freelance contributors.

The platform's technical core is a web-based editorial system augmented by the Zahlenzentrale data center, which aggregates third-party-licensed datasets — AGF TV ratings and AGF SCOPE streaming data, Audio-MA/AG.MA audio measurement, and AEOS/All Eyes On Screens advertising insights from approximately one million Vodafone households — into a single ratings and analytics surface. Adjacent products include the DWDL.jobs job board (~106 active listings across 25+ German cities), a daily/Sunday newsletter, the Producers Club event series (Cologne and Munich), and the visionär on air podcast co-produced with industry association VAUNET.

DWDL's commercial model rests on two streams: advertising and sponsorships across the website and newsletters, and listing fees from DWDL.jobs (including a Premium-Option for homepage-exclusive placement). Content is free to read, with monetization concentrated on recruiters and advertisers in the German media industry. Distribution spans the website, newsletter, multiple social channels (LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook), the podcast, and live events. Revenue figures are not publicly disclosed and no external funding or ownership changes are evidenced since founding.

Name

DWDL

Legal name

DWDL.de GmbH

Website

https://dwdl.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

DWDL.de GmbH is a Cologne-based German B2B trade media company publishing a daily online magazine on television, streaming, radio, and advertising for media-industry professionals, monetized through advertising, a media-sector job board (~106 listings), and industry events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Cologne

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Advertising & Sponsorships: DWDL generates primary revenue through advertising on its website and newsletters, including premium placement options for job postings on its DWDL.jobs section. The site explicitly offers a 'Premium-Option' for job advertisers to secure an exclusive placement on the DWDL.de homepage.
2. DWDL.jobs Job Board: A dedicated job marketplace for the media industry (DWDL.jobs) listing approximately 106 active job postings at any given time across cities including Cologne, Berlin, Munich, and 25+ additional cities. Revenue is generated through job listing fees, with premium placement options available.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

DWDL operates a German-language online media trade magazine that covers television, streaming, radio, and the broader media industry. It publishes daily news, interviews with media executives, opinion pieces, and aggregated market data through its Zahlenzentrale (TV ratings, streaming data, audio metrics, and advertising insights). The platform also operates DWDL.jobs, a dedicated job marketplace for the media industry with approximately 106 active listings, and co-produces the 'visionär on air' podcast with VAUNET.

Product overview

DWDL.de operates a single unified media magazine platform focused on the German television and streaming industry. The core product is the DWDL.de website delivering news, interviews, and opinion content. Supporting modules include the DWDL.jobs job board for media industry recruitment, the Zahlenzentrale data center for TV ratings and market analytics, the DWDL newsletter service, the Producers Club networking events, and the visionär on air podcast series. The site also features regular content series including Sports-Update (Mondays), Media-Update (Tuesdays), Austria-Update (Wednesdays), Audio-Update (Thursdays), International-Update (Fridays), and weekend features.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DWDL.jobs: Job board section of DWDL.de featuring 106 job listings in media, production, and broadcasting, with positions in Cologne, Berlin, Munich and other cities.
• DWDL.de Zahlenzentrale
• Producers Club
• visionär on air

Products and services

• DWDL.de German-language online media magazine covering television, streaming, and the media industry. It provides news, interviews, opinion pieces, TV ratings data, and a job board for the media sector.
• DWDL.jobs A dedicated job board for the German media industry featuring approximately 106 active job postings at any given time, across cities including Cologne, Berlin, Munich, and 25+ additional German cities. Offers a premium placement option for recruiters seeking enhanced homepage visibility.
• Zahlenzentrale A comprehensive TV ratings data center providing market share analysis, viewership rankings, streaming data (AGF/AGF SCOPE), audio metrics (Audio-MA), short video analytics, and advertising performance insights (AEOS/All Eyes On Screens) for the German media market.
• Producers Club An exclusive event series facilitating networking and exchange between broadcasters, producers, and creatives in Cologne and Munich.
• visionär on air A VAUNET x DWDL podcast featuring interviews and discussions with media executives and industry leaders about media industry trends and future developments.
• DWDL-Newsletter Daily and Sunday newsletters providing compact news summaries for subscribers in the German media industry.

Quantifiable outcome

• DWDL publishes daily news across multiple editorial verticals (Newsticker, Magazin, Interviews, Meinung, Sports-Update, Media-Update, Austria-Update, Audio-Update, International-Update, Telegeschichte(n))

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• VAUNET (Verband Privater Medien)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDWDL co-produces the podcast series 'visionär on air' with VAUNET, featuring interviews with media executives and industry leaders. The partnership elevates DWDL's position as a leading industry voice and provides VAUNET members with a platform for executive visibility.
• AGF VideoforschungcoreTechnology or IntegrationDWDL's Zahlenzentrale integrates AGF TV ratings data and AGF streaming data (including AGF SCOPE), providing authoritative viewership and market share data for the German TV market. This data partnership is foundational to DWDL's value proposition as a data-driven media outlet.
• ÜbermedienminorGTM or Marketing PartnerDWDL cross-promotes content from Übermedien, a sister media criticism outlet, with a dedicated 'Lesetipp' (reading tip) section on its homepage. The relationship drives referral traffic between the two outlets.
• Film- und Medienstiftung NRWminorGTM or Marketing PartnerDWDL co-hosted a summer party ('Sommerfest') with Film- und Medienstiftung NRW at Park Café in Cologne, indicating a collaborative relationship in the North Rhine-Westphalia film and media community.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Variety: Global entertainment industry trade publication with German-market coverage. Operates the same content-plus-data playbook DWDL uses (entertainment ratings, executive interviews, industry data) but at international scale, providing a benchmark for what scaled trade media monetization looks like.
• The Hollywood Reporter: Global entertainment media trade outlet combining editorial coverage with industry data, awards coverage, and event franchises. Mirror's DWDL's blend of editorial authority, data, and events but at much larger scale in the US market.
• HORIZONT: Germany's leading marketing, advertising, and media trade publication (part of dfv/Deutscher Fachverlag). Covers adjacent beats (advertising, marketing) at greater scale and with print heritage, serving overlapping media buyers, agencies, and advertisers that DWDL targets.
• Werben & Verkaufen (W&V): Established German advertising trade publication under the dfv group. Like HORIZONT it sits in the broader marketing/advertising space with overlapping media-buyer and agency readership that DWDL also targets for job and display advertising revenue.

Direct peers

• kress.de: Long-established German trade publication covering journalism, media, and marketing with a print and digital presence. Targets overlapping media-industry professionals and competes directly for advertising and recruitment revenue in the German media beat.
• Turi2: German media industry newsletter and website covering marketing, media, and digital business. Operates a paid newsletter model targeting the same niche audience DWDL serves, representing an alternative premium-content GTM in the German media trade space.
• Meedia: Leading German digital media/news trade outlet covering media, marketing, and tech. Targets the same German media industry professional audience as DWDL with daily news, job listings, and data; the closest direct head-to-head competitor for traffic and recruiter ad spend.
• Übermedien: German media criticism outlet that cross-promotes with DWDL via a dedicated Lesetipp section. Both target German-speaking media professionals with editorial coverage rather than headline news, making them direct niche-peer alternatives for the same audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/dwdl
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/medienmagazindwdlde
• Facebookfacebook.com/dwdlde
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dwdlde
• Instagraminstagram.com/dwdl_live

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DWDL