What SQAD does

SQAD is a privately-held US B2B SaaS company founded in 1990 and headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, specializing in advertising intelligence and media plan management technology. Operating primarily through its Guideline platform, SQAD aggregates $200 billion in annual actualized global media transaction data drawn from major agency holding companies and independents via a give-to-get data-sharing model. Its customer base spans the top US broadcasters (5 of 5), 90% of top global media companies, brands, publishers, and hedge funds that use the platform's data for advertising investment decisions and alternative-data analysis.

The platform is architected as two integrated suites. The Ad Intelligence Suite offers six named products — Spend, Pricing, AI Agent, Reach, Insights, and structured data for institutional investors — anchored by validated TV pricing benchmarks built on 40+ years of actual transaction data. The Media Plan Management Suite serves as the operational backbone for global media investment, powering over 60,000 media plans annually and configurable to customer taxonomy, hierarchy, and approval structures. SQAD monetizes through recurring subscription contracts for both data and platform products, supplemented by custom research and post-buy reconciliation services, with pricing disclosed only via direct sales engagement. Technical distribution has expanded to include an MCP Server and third-party integrations enabling programmatic, API-first access.

The company employs 11-50 people and is led by CEO Marc Krigsman, Founder Neil Klar, CTO James Kindred, and CFO Stephen Baker. SQAD's 2014 acquisition of Workhorse Software added media planning management capabilities, and the firm maintains bilateral data partnerships with all six major global agency holding companies, which serve simultaneously as data contributors and subscribers.

Name

SQAD

Legal name

Guideline, Inc.

Website

https://sqad.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SQAD is a US-based B2B SaaS provider of advertising intelligence and media plan management technology, serving agencies, brands, broadcasters, publishers, and hedge funds with $200B+ in aggregated annual media transaction data via its Guideline platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Ad Intelligence and Media Plan Management Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

B2B SaaS & Enterprise Personalization (CRM, Sales, Support) (HDAAAGAJ)

Keywords

• Media plan management
• Ad intelligence platform
• Media spend analytics
• Advertising pricing benchmarks
• Media investment software

Headquarters

HQ city

Tarrytown

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Ad Intelligence Subscription: SaaS platform providing access to real-time ad intelligence data including spend, pricing benchmarks, reach analysis, and AI insights. Revenue generated through subscription-based access to the platform and its multiple data products.
2. Media Plan Management Platform: Annual subscription for the plan management system that powers over 60,000 media plans annually. Provides workflow automation and governance for media investment processes.
3. Custom Research & Data Services: Bespoke research services and post-buy reconciliation offered as add-on services to core platform subscriptions.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SQAD operates Guideline, a SaaS platform providing ad intelligence and media plan management technology for brands, agencies, publishers, and hedge funds. The platform combines real-time market intelligence built on $200 billion in annual actualized global transaction data with a media plan management system that powers 60,000+ plans annually. It includes an Ad Intelligence Suite (Spend, Pricing, AI Agent, Reach, Insights) and a Media Plan Management Suite with 3rd Party Integrations and MCP Server.

Product overview

Guideline offers a dual-suite platform architecture: the Ad Intelligence Suite (offering six named products: Spend, Pricing, AI Agent, Reach, Insights, and structured data for institutional investors) providing real-time market intelligence backed by $200 billion in annual actualized transaction data; and the Media Plan Management Suite serving as the operational backbone for global media investment, powering over 60,000 media plans annually. The platform integrates data collection through a give-to-get model with agencies and delivers unified ad intelligence and plan management technology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Guideline Ad Intelligence: Ad intelligence suite providing real billing data on $200 billion of annual media spend across major markets with validated TV pricing benchmarks, custom research, post-buy reconciliation, AI insights, and structured data for institutional investors.
• Guideline Media Plan Management

Products and services

• Guideline Ad Intelligence Suite Real-time ad intelligence platform providing validated TV pricing benchmarks and billing data on $200 billion of annual media spend across six major markets, available to brands, agencies, publishers, and hedge funds.
• Guideline Media Plan Management Suite Operational backbone for global media investment enabling annual briefs to flow through to actualisation in a single governed system configurable to user taxonomy, hierarchy, and approval structure.
• Spend Ad intelligence product delivering detailed spend data and market analysis across ad formats and markets.
• Pricing Provides validated TV pricing benchmarks and cost data across ad formats built on 40+ years of actual transactions.
• AI Agent AI-powered agent delivering insights and analysis capabilities for ad intelligence data.
• Reach Reach measurement and audience analysis product for evaluating audience reach across ad formats and markets.
• Insights AI-powered insights product providing market intelligence and decision-support analysis.
• 3rd Party Integrations Pre-built integration product connecting the Guideline platform with external advertising, media, and data tools.
• MCP Server MCP Server providing machine-readable, programmatic data access to the Guideline platform's ad intelligence and media spend data.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5 of 5 top US broadcasters leverage Guideline's data solutions
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Major Agency Holding Companies (6)coreTechnology or IntegrationGuideline has partnered with all 6 major agency holding companies through its give-to-get data model. These agencies contribute actual billing data to Guideline's platform and receive validated market intelligence in return. This partnership forms the core data foundation of the platform, aggregating $200B in annual media spend.
• Independent AgenciescoreTechnology or IntegrationIndependent advertising agencies participate in Guideline's data network alongside major holding companies, contributing to the aggregated market intelligence pool covering actualized global transaction data.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Nielsen: Nielsen is the dominant global media measurement and audience intelligence company, covering TV, digital, and cross-platform ad spend. It competes with Guideline's Ad Intelligence suite in delivering pricing benchmarks and spend data, but operates at significantly larger scale across many more measurement categories.
• Comscore: Comscope is a cross-platform media measurement company providing audience, advertising, and content analytics. It competes with Guideline in digital and TV ad measurement and serves overlapping agency, brand, and publisher buyers.
• Oracle Advertising (Moat/Grapeshot): Oracle Advertising's Moat and Grapeshot units provide ad verification, brand safety, and contextual targeting data to enterprise advertisers and agencies. As part of Oracle's marketing cloud, it represents a broad incumbent offering overlapping capabilities in media measurement and analytics versus Guideline.
• Kantar Media: Kantar Media provides global audience measurement, ad intelligence, and monitoring services to agencies, brands, and broadcasters. It is a broad incumbent with overlapping capabilities in media spend tracking and pricing intelligence versus Guideline.

Direct peers

• iSpot.tv: iSpot.tv provides real-time TV ad measurement, attention analytics, and creative assessment for advertisers and agencies. It overlaps with Guideline's TV pricing and reach capabilities while extending into attribution and creative effectiveness.
• MediaRadar: MediaRadar offers competitive advertising intelligence covering spend, creative, and media mix across TV, digital, and print. It competes directly with Guideline in providing agency and brand customers with actionable ad spend and competitive market intelligence.
• Ebiquity: Ebiquity is a global media investment consultancy providing independent media performance analysis and contract compliance to advertisers. It competes with Guideline's post-buy reconciliation and media performance intelligence services for enterprise advertisers.
• Standard Media Index (SMI): SMI provides independent advertising spend intelligence by collecting actual billing data from media agencies globally, mirroring Guideline's give-to-get data model. The two are the closest direct competitors in agency-sourced ad spend benchmarks across TV, digital, and outdoor formats.

Emerging players

• Pathmatics (Sensor Tower): Pathmatics, now part of Sensor Tower, provides digital ad intelligence covering spend estimates and creative across major platforms. It is an emerging competitor in the digital ad spend intelligence space that competes with Guideline's digital ad spend analytics.
• Samba TV: Samba TV offers cross-screen TV viewership and ad engagement data using ACR and first-party signals. It intersects Guideline's reach and audience analytics with alternative data offerings for advertisers and content owners.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SQAD_LLC
• Facebookfacebook.com/SQADLLC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sqad-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SQAD