Media Tradecraft

Erik Requidan & Justin Hansen, Co-Founders

Reston, Virginia

Photograph of Media Tradecraft team members laughing at a desk with laptops out.

Erik and Justin leading a team meeting in a modern conference room.

2023

Media Tradecraft stresses partnerships to power diverse teams and clients

Explore how Media Tradecraft, a Google Channel Partner, scales their monetization expertise to publishers and fosters inclusivity.

Redefining Monetization Services for publishers of all sizes

When asked how to best explain what a Channel Partner is, Erik Requidan sums it up well: “Channel partners represent something unique in the ad tech industry - it's no secret that the complexities of the ad tech landscape keep growing for both large and small publishers. Channel partners help publishers navigate some of these complexities and work hand in hand with Google to support the ecosystem."

Erik himself is no stranger to the advertising world, but back in 2019, he and his co-founder recognized that the large media companies and independent publishers needed something that traditional ad management companies did not offer, which is custom, high-touch monetization services and specialized operators.

Justin Hansen, a colleague of over 7 years, and Erik architected the first of its kind company, Media Tradecraft, where they could offer this type of support to a holistic roster of publishers while also intentionally fostering inclusivity: “To build something different requires new points of view. We have shown the world that you can find talent that is diverse and great at what they do,” he says. “You have to be intentional about welcoming people of all backgrounds to the industry. Make that part of your company and then nothing else matters. You can’t focus on change and innovation by doing the same thing repeatedly with the same people.” Since then, the company has retained 100% of clients over its 3 year history and averages 102% year-over-year client growth.

Photograph of co-workers looking at laptops in Media Tradecraft's office.

Creating collaboration with partners

Media Tradecraft leans heavily on the concept of “insourcing” to help their publishers achieve their revenue and monetization goals. With traditional outsourcing, publishers relinquish control over certain areas completely to a third party. Erik and Justin turned the outsourcing model on its head by actually integrating their teams in with the publisher to allow them to work as one unit. “We also rely on our counterparts at Google to help strategize on best possible outcomes for our publishers - there is a spirit of collaboration and innovation that drives all parties,”Justin says.

Sporcle, a media and entertainment business focused on trivia is one such partner where that collaborative spirit came through. Around 2018, Sporcle’s CEO Ali Aydar and his team were looking to rev up their ad game in a bid to make sure they were not missing out on opportunities that were only available to publishers of greater size. After facing challenges with initial partners that didn’t pan out as planned, Aydar was introduced to Media Tradecraft and knew from the get go it was the relationship they needed to take Sporcle to the next level.

“Their level of understanding about the programmatic ad space is at a very deep level, much deeper than anybody else,” says Aydar. “Given the nature of our interactive content and high time on site, there is a lot of nuance for how ads should be presented. You really need to take the time to understand that - they took the time to understand, and leverage that understanding.”

“Channel partners help publishers navigate some of these complexities and work hand in hand with Google to support the ecosystem.”

Strategic support for publishers

When it comes to driving meaningful change, Erik wants to keep passing it forward: the award winning podcast he co-hosts with Kerel Cooper, Minority Report, highlights underrepresented voices in the ad tech industry, many of whom were early supporters of Media Tradecraft. Five years later, the podcast has built a catalog of over 150 interviews with LGBTQ+ individuals, people of color, and other minorities in the space, becoming instrumental in highlighting represented voices and their success in ad tech.

True to their word, Media Tradecraft is helping support this industry shift by focusing on their team first, who in turn, drive incalculable value and revenue for their publisher partners. “They’re very strategic,” Aydar explains. “They’re also internally strategic and that’s part of what makes them so effective.”

About the Publisher

Media Tradecraft is a next-generation media services firm that specializes in bespoke digital advertising and monetization services for media companies and publishers by insourcing its strategic team of operators into the organization.