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Media planning and activation as a genuine
end-to-end media ecosystem

Media Desk: End-to-end media planning without spreadsheets — from briefing to reporting in one system

For media planners No more spreadsheets — plan, book and approve in one system. Plan IQ recommends the right placements for every goal based on your campaign history: data-driven media planning instead of gut feeling.

For IO & ad management Line items pushed via API directly into ad servers and DSPs — bookings and adjustments at the push of a button. Pacing alerts run automatically.

For management & director level Budgets, KPIs and publisher commitments available live — no coordination rounds needed. All data stays in-house permanently.

For clients & stakeholders Direct access to current plan versions and real-time reporting — approvals without email back-and-forth.

Trust you can measure — since 2011.

ISO 27001 certified. Over 1,000 active users. Leading solution for cross-channel advertising — with AI-supported media planning based on your own data, confirmed by current OMR Reviews.

15+ years of
market presence

1,000+ active
users

26% resources
freed up

ISO
27001 certified

Recognized on OMR Reviews

Current OMR Reviews confirm: Media Desk is the leading solution for cross-channel advertising in Germany — Top Rated and Leader in Q1 and Q2/26, rated by verified users from media agencies and in-house teams.

OMR Reviews — Media Desk Top Rated Q1/26

Media planning, activation and reporting — fully integrated

Media Desk covers the entire campaign process for everyone involved in a single system — planning, booking, ad management and reporting come together. Data is created once and available everywhere.

Media planners

From briefing to completed campaign

Media Desk & Plan IQ

Media Desk covers the entire campaign process in one system — from the initial briefing through planning, booking and ad management to incoming reports. Plan IQ delivers data-based recommendations from past campaigns: smart media and placement suggestions, price benchmarks and what-if analyses directly from the system.

Management & director level

All campaigns at a glance — no internal back-and-forth

Dashboards & BI reporting

Agency-wide forecasts, benchmarking and analysis of budgets, prices and KPIs for any client, time period or medium — on the fly, without preparing data in external tools. Publisher commitment monitoring with a daily updated utilization overview and automatic deviation alerts. A clear rights and role concept for every level of the hierarchy. All learnings and data stay in-house permanently.

IO & ad management

One-click ad management — all ad servers and DSPs

Ad server API integration

Media Desk pushes line items directly via API into your ad server or DSP — no manual entry required. Bookings, optimizations and cancellations at the push of a button. Real-time pacing overview across all placements with automated alerts sent to publishers in case of deviations. Plan optimizations can be linked directly to new bookings — the entire workflow stays in one system.

Fully integrated — into your systems and the media ecosystem

Media Desk ecosystem: integration with ad servers, DSPs, finance and BI systems

No more spreadsheets — as a measurable competitive advantage

Throughout the entire media planning process chain, operational tasks arise that create manual effort or require maintenance-heavy interfaces between individual systems. Media Desk eliminates these tasks — planners spend more time on strategy and client consulting, less on booking routines and spreadsheet maintenance. The media budget managed per head increases significantly: a concrete advantage in your next fee negotiation.

Additional cost savings arise from better negotiation outcomes thanks to a complete deal database and significantly reduced error rates in operational execution. The ISO 27001 certified infrastructure ensures that media plans, purchase prices and customer data are processed to the highest security standards.

Overview: savings potential from Media Desk in media planning

The complete ecosystem

Media Desk is the core. To unlock the full potential, add Intelligence Qube for automated reporting and BI integration, plus Finance Desk for a seamless financial process — from booking to outgoing invoice, without manual transfer.

Sample calculation: 40 hours per month

A media planner regains around 40 hours per month on average with Media Desk. At an hourly rate of €60, that results in the following savings:

40 h × €60 = €2,400 per month and workplace
€2,400 × 12 months = €28,800 per year and employee
€28,800 × 10 planners ≈ €288,000 per year for a ten-person team

Media Desk frees up around 40 hours per employee every month — 26% less operational effort

Sample model calculation: this shows how a media planner’s operational working time is typically distributed over a month. 100% corresponds to the average operational working time per employee per month — the 26% freed up with Media Desk corresponds to around 40 hours.

Conventional media planning

Strategy

15%

Consulting

27%

Act. briefing

Planning

19%

Buying

Reporting

15%

Optimisation

12%

With Media Desk

Strategy

15%±0

Consulting

27%±0

Act. briefing

2%−2%

Planning

12%−7%

Buying

3%−5%

Reporting

11%−4%

Optimisation

4%−8%

▲ Total resources freed up: 26% ≈ 40 hrs/month

Remaining effort

Saved through Media Desk

* Sample model calculation illustrating the relief effect. Actual working time distribution varies depending on team, channel mix and individual setup. Strategy and consulting work (Strategy, Consulting) remain unchanged — only operational effort is reduced.

What makes Media Desk unique

AI-supported planning

Plan IQ — the AI layer in Media Desk — suggests the placements that best fit your goal, based on your own campaign history. Instead of spending hours searching through old plans: a well-founded shortlist in minutes. For all channels, across all campaign goals — and every recommendation is explained in a comprehensible way. Available from Q3 2026.

One-click ad management

Media Desk pushes line items via API directly into all common ad servers and DSPs. Bookings, optimizations and cancellations with a single click — error-free ad management with minimal effort. Publisher communication via the built-in inbox feature.

Live reporting and financial controlling icon

Live reporting & financial controlling

KPIs such as RoI and CpC are calculated live from ad server and planning data. Agency-wide statistics and benchmarking. Full financial controlling — performance history of all line items documented in an audit-proof way.

See it live

Ready to go in four weeks: the structured rollout process

Analysis

We understand your processes before we start — system landscape, roles, use cases and roadmap are worked out together.

Requirements analysis Roles & permissions Roadmap

Setup

Technical setup, all integrations with ad servers, DSPs and finance systems — accompanied by power-user training and going live.

Ad servers & DSPs Finance integration Going live

Rollout

Ongoing requirements management, feature expansion and individual customizing — as you grow, Media Desk grows with you.

Ongoing support Feature expansion Customizing

What Media Desk does for you

End-to-end in one system From briefing through planning and buying to reporting — all stakeholders on one platform.

Measurable time savings Automating operational processes gives planners time back — for strategy and client consulting instead of admin.

Data-driven media planning with AI Plan IQ recommends the right placements based on your own campaign history — cross-channel, explainable, in minutes instead of hours.

One-click ad management API push into all common ad servers and DSPs — optimizations and bookings at the push of a button.

Data guarantee Your data stays your data — full data ownership, forever, no exceptions.

Flexible role concept Clear permissions for planners, management and clients — collaboration depth individually controllable.

Audit-proof documentation All bookings, prices and records versioned and traceable at any time.

Full API integration Connect tracking, ad serving, finance and your own systems via the proprietary Media Desk API.

See it live

MD Case Study

Liakou Consulting digitalisiert mit
Media Desk
den gesamten
Media-Workflow

Mit Media Desk steuert Liakou Consulting den gesamten Paid-Media-Prozess – von der Planung bis zum Reporting – zentral in einem System. Die Plattform vernetzt Teams, automatisiert Budget- und Buchungsabläufe und schafft volle Transparenz über alle Kanäle hinweg.

So spart die Agentur Zeit im Tagesgeschäft und gewinnt Raum für Strategie und Beratung.

Erfahre in der Case Study, wie Liakou Consulting mit Media Desk ihre Media-Planung digitalisiert, Prozesse verschlankt und datengetrieben optimiert hat.

— Ein Praxisbericht von Mario Widmann,
Founder Liakou Consulting GmbH

Zur Case Study

One system, three tiers: the Media Desk feature packages

From a digitized media workflow to a fully integrated paid-media ecosystem: Media Desk grows with your requirements. The following tiers show, as examples, which functions Media Desk covers.

Package 1

Media Desk Essential

The complete media workflow — digital instead of spreadsheets. The foundation for everything else.

Media planning without spreadsheets, directly in the tool
Dashboards with flowchart & to-dos
Central campaign briefing & setup
High planning quality through guidance tools
1-click report of all plans and buys
Task & workflow management
Media price lists maintained centrally
“Essential” reporting
Define fee models per advertiser centrally
Client login & client view
Clear, flexible rights and role concept
Audit-proof data retention
Data guarantee — no “SaaS trap”
Media channels: programmatic, IO, SEA, social

Package 2

Media Desk Premium

Includes all Essential features plus:

Booking management & publisher communication
Ad management autopilot with all ad servers
Automated reporting via APIs
Rough planning, IO request & offer import
Production plan with all tech specs
Financial controlling with incoming invoices
Brand & product structure for advertisers
Create and monitor KPIs
Advertiser/publisher commitments & budgets
Media channels as in Essential + print, OOH, radio
Optional: Intelligence Qube extension (Reporting+)
Optional: Finance Desk extension (Finance+)
Optional: media data updates via wasmuth:daten (MSW)

Package 3

Media Desk Enterprise

Includes all Premium features plus:

Planning with GRPs, NRW, OTS, CPP, etc.
Media channels as in Premium + TV
APIs to e.g. SAP, DATEV, Aprimo & others
Individual customizing & naming
Purchase price / sell price logic
Offers & bookings via DBCFM
Taxonomy generator for consistent naming
Track & optimize AVBs
SSO with identity provider (e.g. Okta, Entra ID, Google Identity)
Campaign blog: share thoughts, tag users
Cost center logic and individual fees
Inventory management with purchase/sell logic
Outbound API to external systems
Security+: ultra-redundant system with SLA+
Personal account manager & reviews

Note

The packages shown are examples. Media Desk is built modularly — the actual scope of functionality is tailored individually to your processes, your team and your requirements, from individual features to a fully integrated setup.

Conventional media planning vs. Media Desk compared

Criterion	Conventional media planning	Media Desk
Planning	Spreadsheets, manual maintenance, high error rate, no version control	Fully digital planning with audit-proof version management — approval workflows controllable directly in the system.
Bookings	Email or fax, without automatic confirmation	One-click directly from the system — all booking orders generated and sent, overview of booking status and confirmations in the system
Ad management	Manual entry into ad servers and DSPs — time-consuming and error-prone	API push directly into ad servers and DSPs — Media Desk controls line items, optimizations and cancellations at the push of a button
Pacing control	No central overview — manual publisher queries required	Real-time pacing overview across all placements, automated alerts to publishers in case of deviations
Budget overview	Manually compiled, often outdated	Live — available at any time for all stakeholders, incl. publisher commitments and discount agreements
Invoice reconciliation	Manually matching publisher invoices, target/actual comparison in separate spreadsheets	The complete document trail is visible in the Financial tab of the media plan. Quotes, order confirmations and outgoing invoices can be generated directly from the media plan — with Finance Desk, additionally automated accounts-payable reconciliation.
Reporting	Manually consolidated from multiple systems, delayed	Live KPI calculation from ad server and planning data — RoI, CpC and other KPIs available at any time. Agency-wide statistics and benchmarking on the fly.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Media Desk

What is Media Desk and who is the platform suitable for?

Media Desk is an end-to-end media ecosystem for professional media planning and activation — from briefing, planning and buying through one-click ad management to reporting and financial controlling. The platform is designed for media agencies, in-house teams, advertisers and publishers who want to map their entire paid-media value chain in a single system. Current OMR Reviews confirm Media Desk as the leading solution for cross-channel advertising in Germany.

How much time does Media Desk save in daily practice?

Media Desk saves each media planner around 40 hours per month on average — time that was previously tied up in booking routines and spreadsheet maintenance. At an hourly rate of €60, that equals €2,400 per month and workplace (40 h × €60), €28,800 per employee over twelve months, and around €288,000 per year for a team of ten media planners. The freed-up time arises mainly in planning (from 19% to 12% of working time), buying (from 8% to 3%) and reporting (from 15% to 11%) and is available for value-adding activities such as strategy, client consulting and negotiations.

What is Plan IQ in Media Desk and how does it help media planners?

Plan IQ is the AI layer in Media Desk for data-driven media planning based on your own campaign history. You describe your campaign goal — Plan IQ suggests the placements that have worked best for that goal in the past. Cross-channel, across all media types, in minutes instead of hours. Every recommendation is explained in a comprehensible way: you see why a placement is recommended — and can stand behind the result in front of clients. Plan IQ doesn’t replace the media planner — it supports them so they can focus on strategy and consulting. Plan IQ will be generally available from Q3 2026 and requires an Intelligence Qube license.

How does one-click ad management work in Media Desk?

Media Desk is connected via API to all common ad servers and DSPs. Line items are pushed directly from the media plan into the ad server or DSP — without manual entry. Bookings, optimizations and cancellations happen at the push of a button. The pacing overview shows all placements in real time and sends automated alerts to publishers in case of deviations. All communication with publishers is bundled via the built-in inbox feature.

How does Media Desk integrate with existing systems?

Media Desk has an extensive proprietary API through which all data held in the platform can be integrated into client-side systems. Existing interfaces to ad servers, DSPs and finance systems (e.g. SAP, DATEV) enable full connection of the media and marketing ecosystem. Finance Desk links planning and accounting seamlessly — from booking to outgoing invoice, without manual transfers.

Can publisher deals and framework agreements be managed in Media Desk?

Yes. Media Desk fully maps all publisher commitments and framework agreements — with a daily updated utilization overview, automatic deviation alerts and optimization recommendations for contract structures. Revenue streams from framework agreements are calculated algorithmically based on ongoing booking data, not estimated. Margin optimization happens directly from the system.

Is Media Desk also suitable for media inhousing?

Yes. Media Desk can be used as a shared platform for agencies and in-house teams. The rights and role model controls who sees and edits which channels and data — the agency remains a strategic partner, even if parts of execution are taken over internally. Learn more on the Media Inhousing page.

How long does the Media Desk rollout take?

The rollout process follows a structured three-stage scheme: analysis, setup and rollout. For a typical media agency or in-house team, a fully operational setup is achievable in four weeks. More complex structures — multiple accounts, international markets, extensive ad server integrations — require 6–12 weeks. Implementation into complex system landscapes is routine business for the Digital Control team.

Which channels and media types does Media Desk cover?

Media Desk covers all relevant paid-media channels cross-channel in one system: digital IO (display, video, audio, native), programmatic (incl. DSP integrations), social media advertising as well as classic media (print, TV, OOH, radio). All channels are managed in one unified planning and booking system — with a central budget overview and consolidated reporting across all media types.

Which markets is Digital Control’s Media Desk suitable for?

Digital Control has been on the market since 2011, is ISO 27001 certified and specializes in the German-speaking market — Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH). The platform is GDPR-compliant and covers the specific requirements of the DACH media market, including common publisher structures and local booking formats. Over 1,000 active users manage nine-figure media budgets annually with Media Desk. Support and implementation are provided by the team on-site in Düsseldorf.

What our customers say

Slide

Das sagen unsere Kunden - Sven Stuehmeier

VODAFONE

„Automation, Transparenz und Kontrolle sind bei einem Inhousing-Prozess ein kritischer Erfolgsfaktor. Dank Media Desk von Digital Control können wir die gesamte Paid-Media-Wertschöpfungskette initiieren, beobachten, analysieren, kontrollieren und steuern.“

Sven Stühmeier

Team Leader Digital Communication & Technology Vodafone GmbH

Slide

EMBRACE Agency

„Die Implementierung von Media Desk hat vor allem unsere Agenturprozesse im Bereich Paid Media effizienter gestaltet. Durch die Automatisierung von Datenerfassung, Kampagnenüberwachung und Reportgenerierung sparen wir Zeit, senken Kosten und verbessern die Analysepräzision. Mit unserem unternehmensübergreifenden Fokus auf HR Tech ist dieses Tool ein weiterer Meilenstein für unsere Agentur.“

Manuela Ebbes-Barr

CEO EMBRACE Agency