Startup Spotlight: MediaPact wants to reinvent digital ads for the AI era

The landscape of digital advertising is shifting rapidly as AI-generated answers reduce traditional click-through traffic. Marketers who once relied on standard search engine results now face a new reality where users spend less time clicking links and more time consuming content directly within AI interfaces. This change has pushed brands to move away from competitive search rankings toward high-authority editorial placements.

Seattle-based startup MediaPact is launching to address these inefficiencies in the flat-fee media market. Founded by marketing veteran Lacie Thompson, the platform aims to replace manual email threads, spreadsheets, and fragmented insertion orders with a unified marketplace. The service allows brands to discover publishers, creators, and newsletters while managing negotiations and payments in a single location.

While programmatic advertising solved issues for banner ads years ago, the direct media buy for sponsorships and podcast reads has remained stuck in manual workflows. MediaPact standardizes seller inventory into a searchable format to reduce the administrative burden on both sides of the deal. Thompson built the platform using AI tools to handle technical development, demonstrating how non-technical founders can now ship production-ready software independently.

Unlike affiliate marketing platforms that rely on cookies and last-click attribution, MediaPact focuses on guaranteed placement and flat-fee structures. This model prioritizes the authority of publishers who have been historically undervalued by click-based metrics. By connecting brand marketers with high-value editorial sources, the platform positions itself as a solution for companies looking to maintain visibility within AI-driven search environments.