Traditional advertising platforms often excluded emerging sectors such as iGaming, Dating, Nutra, and Finance, leaving businesses in these niches underserved. Kadam was established in response to this challenge, with a mission to make advertising accessible, effective, and inclusive. The Future Media had a deep dive with CEO Serhii Serhiienko discussing Kadam and their new social campaign #PlantAndGrowWithKadam.
Starting in 2012, Kadam built its foundation in affiliate marketing during the industry’s early days. Its growth has been driven by innovation, offering tools like advanced anti-fraud systems, real-time analytics, and precise targeting capabilities.
Beyond its technological edge, Kadam emphasizes transparency, flexible business models, and personalized support. Its commitment extends to sustainability through initiatives like the #PlantAndGrowWithKadam campaign, fostering environmental stewardship alongside industry growth.
Headquartered in Cyprus, Kadam benefits from the island’s strategic location and business-friendly environment. With a focus on continuous improvement, Kadam is not just shaping the advertising landscape, it’s uniting the industry for collective progress and meaningful impact.
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Could you share the story behind the founding of Kadam? What motivated its creation?
As new industries like iGaming, Dating, Nutra, and Finance emerged, they found themselves excluded from mainstream advertising networks, which were reluctant to support these niches. This gap in the market created a challenge for businesses in these sectors, as they struggled to find platforms that could meet their advertising needs.
Kadam was born to bridge this gap and provide advertising opportunities for all market players. Our creation was driven by market demand, but we go beyond that at Kadam. We firmly believe that advertising should be accessible and profitable for everyone in the industry.
How has Kadam grown into one of the largest advertising networks it is today?
Kadam began its journey in affiliate marketing in 2012, at what could be considered the early stages of the entire affiliate industry. The company’s growth mirrors that of a tree: first, it established deep roots, laying a solid foundation with a reliable stream of high-quality traffic and effective ad formats designed to deliver essential yet exceptional advertising services.
Once firmly rooted, Kadam began to extend its branches towards the sky, introducing innovative features such as an advanced anti-fraud system, full management services, and much more.
And here’s the twist: for specific verticals like iGaming, we outperform even the biggest players, like Meta and Google. The audience in these verticals has unique characteristics and preferences, and what you might achieve with traditional giants can be accomplished up to three times faster through Kadam.
The advertising industry and Kadam’s positioning.
What specific technologies set Kadam apart in the advertising industry?
Over the years, the platform has introduced a range of tools, but some have proven to be particularly valuable to users.
Kadam’s budget management tools ensure effective allocation of advertising budgets, maximizing the return on investment for every campaign. The platform’s anti-fraud solutions protect campaigns by preventing fraudulent activities and ensuring quality traffic. Advanced targeting and retargeting tools allow users to create highly specific campaigns, leveraging geographic, demographic, interest-based, and behavioural targeting while re-engaging users effectively.
Real-time analytics and statistics offer actionable insights into campaign performance, tracking metrics like impressions, clicks, conversions, and cost per action to optimize results. Continuous system improvements and new feature releases keep the platform adaptable and aligned with user needs. Finally, Kadam provides full management services, offering personal guidance from campaign development to optimization to help users achieve the best outcomes.
How does your business model ensure effective solutions for your customers?
Kadam’s business model is built to deliver effective advertising solutions through several strategic approaches.
The platform offers a variety of ad formats, including banners, native ads, push notifications, and popunders, to meet diverse marketing objectives and audience preferences. It ensures access to significant volumes of high-quality traffic from websites and applications worldwide, increasing the chances of successful ad campaigns. Clients benefit from personalized support through experienced personal managers who assist with campaign setup, optimization, and other needs, ensuring a customized approach to achieving their goals.
Kadam collaborates with a strong network of trusted publishers, providing consistent and reliable ad placements. Publishers enjoy competitive payouts, timely payments, and intuitive tools for tracking performance, which translates to high-quality impressions for advertisers.
The platform supports a wide range of payment methods, including bank transfers, e-wallets, and cryptocurrencies, offering secure and convenient transactions. Additionally, Kadam provides flexibility in payment models, supporting both Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per Mille (CPM) structures. This allows advertisers to choose the model that aligns with their specific goals, whether focusing on direct sales or maximizing impressions, ensuring campaigns deliver measurable and efficient results.
What trends or challenges do you see shaping the advertising landscape, and how is Kadam adapting?
Both advertisers and publishers are calling for greater transparency in ad performance, traffic quality, and campaign metrics. There is an increasing expectation for detailed, real-time analytics to make data-driven decisions. To meet that market demand, Kadam provides clients with full transparency through detailed, real-time reporting and campaign analytics.
Diversification of ad formats is also of high significance. As digital advertising grows, new formats like native ads, push notifications, and in-app ads are gaining momentum. Kadam continually expands its portfolio of ad formats, including push notifications, native ads, and popunders.
Advertising networks are increasingly outperforming social media platforms like Meta, driven by rising ad costs and stricter approval processes. Advertisers are turning to networks like Kadam that offer flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and better results. With Meta’s rising ad costs and increasingly stringent ad policies, Kadam provides advertisers with an alternative. Kadam offers flexible targeting options, faster campaign approval processes, and competitive payouts for publishers.
How does Kadam support its employees’ professional growth and well-being?
Kadam provides strong support to its employees. Although most of the team works remotely, no one feels left out. We regularly hold company meetings focused on product updates, new features, or even holidays. These meetings are not only fun but also help maintain transparency and foster connections among colleagues.
At Kadam, we value continuous learning. Employees are always encouraged to seek feedback, request mentorship from leaders, or organize team sessions for learning and brainstorming. Additionally, Kadam offers courses to help employees enhance their skills, if they align with their role and career goals.
Employees also enjoy a range of benefits, including free English courses, travel compensation, additional days off, and company support in emergencies.
The #PlantAndGrowWithKadam initiative…
What other corporate social responsibility initiatives is Kadam involved in?
The Kadam team is truly warm-hearted. Every year, the company’s C-level executives organize a “dream-come-true” initiative, ensuring that employees’ most cherished wishes are fulfilled. In 2024, employees had the opportunity to ask for anything they desired. However, more than 50% of the team requested that the company make donations to various non-profit organizations, particularly shelters. This year, this focus became especially significant.
In addition, we are launching the #PlantAndGrowWithKadam initiative, which will result in the planting of The Kadam Grove of Growth in Guatemala. The Kadam Grove of Growth is a forest of 100 mandarin trees, planted to celebrate partnership and sustainability. These trees will absorb 5,000 tons of CO₂, contributing to a greener, healthier planet. This forest will absorb approximately 5 tons of CO2, contributing to a healthier planet.
What inspired Kadam to launch the forest initiative in Guatemala?
Kadam is always committed to nurturing our clients’ growth, building strong, long-lasting partnerships, and driving success together. Our focus has always been on helping our clients flourish, and this year, we decided to go a step further—not only supporting their growth but also contributing to the planet.
This year, we’re celebrating our partnerships in a unique, meaningful way—through green action! We need to make people/companies feel that they can make change – and we are here to help.
But why mandarins? For many of Kadam’s team members, mandarin oranges are a symbol of the New Year, bringing back memories of the sweet scent from childhood. We wanted to share this tradition and its warmth with others.
Who is your target audience for this project, and what message do you want to communicate through it?
“Your ad campaign may run for a limited time, but planting a tree creates an impact that lasts forever” – this is the motto of our upcoming campaign. We aim to inspire every member of the advertising community and remind them that we can influence both the advertising world and the real world when we come together for a common, noble cause.
To learn more about our Christmas/New Year initiative, follow us on Instagram: Kadam Instagram or stay updated through our campaign hashtag: #PlantAndGrowWithKadam.
How do you plan to involve your partners in this initiative?
Our partners are at the heart of this initiative! As a special gift, our valued partners will receive mandarin trees to plant in The Kadam Grove of Growth forest in Guatemala. Each tree can be personalized with a unique name, allowing partners to track its growth over time themselves or just enjoy the regular updates provided by the forest caretakers in Guatemala.
This grove is more than just a forest—it’s a living symbol of unity, collective progress, and the prosperity we can achieve together as a community within affiliate marketing.
At Kadam, we’re not simply planting trees ourselves; we’re bringing the entire industry together under this initiative to highlight the importance of projects that benefit both our niche and the planet. Together, let’s grow something meaningful for the future!
Are there long-term goals tied to this project, such as expanding environmental initiatives or creating similar projects in other regions?
For now, we’re starting with The Kadam Grove of Growth forest in Guatemala. Our vision is to gradually bring more and more companies from the affiliate and digital marketing industries into this initiative.
What comes next? Time will tell. One thing is certain—the planet needs trees, and we’re committed to doing our part.
Kadam and Cyprus…
Why did Kadam choose Cyprus as its headquarters?
The answer is pretty obvious, Cyprus is known as the main hub of affiliate marketing companies; there are offices of multiple CPA Networks, Advertising Networks, Payout systems, etc.
Also, the island is known for its favourable corporate tax policies, efficient legal framework, and ease of doing business, which is attractive for companies operating in the digital and advertising industries.
How has being based in Cyprus influenced your business operations or access to global markets?
Being based in Cyprus has significantly influenced Kadam’s business operations and enhanced its access to global markets. Cyprus’s geographical position at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia has allowed Kadam to seamlessly connect with clients and partners across these regions.
Besides, being in a multicultural hub, Kadam has benefited from insights into various cultures and consumer behaviours, enabling the company to design advertising campaigns that resonate with audiences worldwide.
Are there specific advantages or challenges that Cyprus offers for a tech-oriented company like Kadam?
The advantages include business-friendly policies and beautiful weather. We can also add access to a highly skilled workforce and robust infrastructure to the list.
While there aren’t many challenges in Cyprus when it comes to workflow, the higher operational costs can be a bit of a drawback.
That said, all in all, we love the island life!
