History
eMediaRep was founded in July 2007 to provide web site advertising representation for web publishers who care about the content and tone of the ad messaging displayed on their site.
Robert and Linda Williams, the company’s founders, have a long and successful track record in media start ups, including the founding off National Cable Communications, now a billion dollar national cable television representative, and National Public Broadcasting, which was acquired by National Public Radio in October of 2007.
It was the experience of representing PBS.Org web inventory that led to the founding of eMediaRep. The sales culture that evolved to represent public broadcasting kids and parents inventory required a careful review of target companies to approach and creative messaging that fell within public broadcasting guidelines while still positioning the partner companies in an effective manner. In the process, it was discovered that a number of family oriented publishers cared greatly about the tone and feel of their sites and were very interested in a representative that would position their sites as premium opportunities to place marketing messages and would communicate with them on a regular basis about who was being approached and how custom ad units could be built into the site.
eMediaRep launched its business with a flagship publishers, HIT Entertainment which owns and operates a constellation of child-friendly websites, including Thomas and Friends.com, Barney.com and Bob the Builder.com, that generate over 20 Million page views a month. eMediaRep is actively building out a Kids and Parenting vertical for online advertising representation and welcomes other Kids and Parenting online content providers to become part of our network. In 2008, eMediaRep will also be opening an office in London and launching other content verticals.
eMediaRep also provides an outsourced “turn key” ad operations service. Through a DoubleClick (DART) sub-license agreement with Operative, Inc., eMediaRep provides the site planning, wire-framing, and tagging and design necessary to launch a display advertising capability. The company also provides ad campaign management on a per campaign basis and can handle all the campaign optimization, reporting and billing necessary to launch and maintain an ad sales effort. In addition to founding eMediaRep, Mr. Williams continues to serve as CEO of National Public Media, LLC, the combined underwriting sales effort for NPB and NPR and oversees a fast growing web sales effort of 120 million impressions per month between NPR.Org and PBS.Org.
Management
Robert Williams, Chairman of the Board, Co-Founder
Robert Williams co-founded eMediaRep in July 2007. He also currently serves as the President and CEO of National Public Broadcasting, which he founded in September of 1997. In October of 2007, Mr. Williams sold National Public Broadcasting to National Public Radio. Mr. Williams has been a serial entrepreneur through his career. His first entrepreneurial endeavor was as the co-founder and associate publisher of The Real Paper, a weekly newspaper published in Boston in the 1970’s. He then went on to found National Capble Advertising (“NCA”) in 1981, which he later merged with Katz Media to create National Cable Communications in 1995. He oversaw National Cable’s growth from inception to 14 offices with 225 employees and over $ 200 Million in annual sales.
Robin Kroopnick, National Digital Sales Manager
Robin has been in advertising sales her entire career starting with the Sales Management at National Cable Advertising, then moving to head up Advanced Media Systems, which created the web-based CableTrack Database. She then became SVP for Electronic Data Services for National Cable Communications, which brought together every ad agency and cable operator in a web-based EDI billing and payment system. Before working with eMediaRep, Robin worked with NPB to call on national accounts for The NewsHour and Marketplace.
Katherine Benson, Director of New Business Development
Katherine’s media sales background began at The Disney Channel as Director of Affiliate Sales, moving to VP of National Ad Sales at Bravo Cable Network, and VP of National Sales for PBS Station WETA. Prior to joining eMediaRep, Katherine was Director of National TV Sales at Scholastic Media. At eMediaRep, Katherine is responsible for selling to digital agencies and clients in the New York metropolitan region.
Rachel Dobbs, Online Sales Planner
Rachel plans sales for the interactive team by prospecting client business and developing research; she also plays an important role in expanding inventory by helping new sites get started with online business. Rachel has significant sales experience from JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
Tutuwa Ahwoi, Senior Marketing Associate
Tutuwa supports the Strategic Sales Planning group in various aspects of online ad trafficking, media planning, marketing and database management. She recently graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science.
Nate Westheimer Technology Strategist
Nate is a New York based Internet entrepreneur specializing in New Media, online communities, and “cutting edge” web trends. As Technology Strategist for both eMediaRep and NPB, his focus is the development of eMediaRep’s integrated digital solutions, including Third Screen engagement and digital content management.
Mary Ann Halford, Corporate Development
Mary Ann is a New York based consultant specializing in helping media companies build and develop digital businesses. Ms. Halford has worked with a wide range of clients in the digital media sphere, including MTV Networks, LeapFrog Enterprises, Rainbow Media, LEK Consulting, Atlas Media Corporation and the International Association of Fairs and Expositions, amongst others. Ms. Halford is currently working with the eMediaRep team in helping them build out the Kids and Parenting vertical.