AdSkills
AdSkills is a bootstrapped digital advertising education platform founded in 2016 that trains individual media buyers and agency teams through a proprietary certification curriculum, modular paid courses, and free utility tools, serving 14,000+ professionals across 50+ countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersCrestview, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What AdSkills does
AdSkills is a digital advertising education platform founded in 2016 by Justin Brooke and based in Crestview, United States. The company delivers paid media buying training through a certification-led curriculum built around a proprietary "5x3 system," with 40+ on-demand lessons, assignments, and 65+ classes covering Google Ads, YouTube advertising, and the Google Display Network. Its product portfolio is modular: the core Certification program anchors the funnel, supported by add-on courses (YouTube Decoded, GDN Ads Course, Disruptive Adsmith, adDroids, Launch Cohort), an AI-Native Media Buying program, and free lead-magnet tools (ROAS Calculator, UTM Builder).
The business operates as a direct-to-consumer education company selling to digital marketing professionals, solo media buyers, and agency teams across 50+ countries. Revenue is generated through a mix of recurring certification/cohort subscriptions, one-time course licenses, and professional consulting services. Distribution is content-led via a YouTube channel, blog, newsletter, and free utility tools, with course fulfillment handled through a cart hosted at cart.byoupublishing.com — indicating operational alignment with the bYou Publishing ecosystem, which also houses sister brands AgentSkills and HappilyUnemployed.
The company is privately held and bootstrapped (no disclosed funding rounds), with a small team of 1-10 employees. Customer outcomes are anchored on graduate testimonials citing $100K annual earnings within six months of certification, and the platform claims 14,000+ trained professionals and 10,000+ subscribers since inception.
AdSkills firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- AdSkills
- Legal name
- AdSkills
- Website
- https://adskills.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- AdSkills is a bootstrapped digital advertising education platform founded in 2016 that trains individual media buyers and agency teams through a proprietary certification curriculum, modular paid courses, and free utility tools, serving 14,000+ professionals across 50+ countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
AdSkills industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Advertising Education
- NAICS
- Professional and Management Development Training (611430), Educational Services (611)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Sales, Marketing & Digital Marketing Certifications (EDAAANAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Course Bundle Subscriptions & Learning Membership Marketplaces (EDAFAIAI), Sales & Customer Service Training (EDAGANAC)
Keywords
Where AdSkills is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Crestview
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
AdSkills business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations
Revenue model
- Certification Programs: Paid certification courses for media buying training with 40+ on-demand lessons and assignments
- Training Courses: Individual course purchases including YouTube Decoded, GDN Ads Course, and other specialized advertising training programs
- Launch Cohort: Cohort-based intensive training program
- Consulting Services: Professional consulting services for businesses seeking advertising expertise
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free 7 Day Fast Start Course |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
AdSkills product offering
Product offeringCore offering
AdSkills sells online training and certification programs that teach digital advertising professionals and aspiring media buyers how to run profitable paid ad campaigns, primarily across Google Ads, YouTube, and Display Network. The flagship offering is the Master Media Buyer Certification built on a proprietary 5x3 system with 40+ on-demand lessons and assignments, supplemented by specialized courses, cohort programs, and professional consulting services.
Product overview
AdSkills is a digital advertising education platform offering a portfolio of training products centered around a certification program for media buyers. The core offering is the Certification program with 40+ on-demand lessons based on a 5x3 system, supplemented by specialized courses including YouTube Decoded, GDN Ads Course, and Launch Cohort. Additional products include Disruptive Adsmith and adDroids. The platform provides free tools including a ROAS Calculator and UTM Builder for campaign analytics and tracking. AI-Native Media Buying represents the platform's AI-powered training component.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- AdSkills Certification: Professional media buying certification program with 40+ on-demand lessons and assignments
- Launch Cohort
- YouTube Decoded
- adDroids
- Disruptive Adsmith
- AI-Native Media Buying
- GDN Ads Course
- Free 7 Day Fast Start
Products and services
- Master Media Buyer Certification Comprehensive paid training program with 40+ on-demand lessons and assignments that certifies individuals as master media buyers using a proprietary 5x3 system, targeting digital advertising professionals and aspiring media buyers.
- Free 7 Day Fast Start Free introductory 7-day Google Ads training course for beginners through to experienced advertisers, designed as a freemium entry point into the paid certification program.
- YouTube Decoded Specialized paid training course focused on YouTube advertising strategies and techniques, for digital advertisers who run or want to run YouTube ad campaigns.
- Launch Cohort Cohort-based intensive training program for launching advertising campaigns, targeting media buyers who want guided, time-bound group instruction rather than fully self-paced study.
- GDN Ads Course Advanced paid training course on Google Display Network advertising strategies, for digital marketers who want specialized programmatic/display skills.
- Disruptive Adsmith Paid training product focused on disruptive advertising strategies and unconventional media buying approaches for digital marketers.
- adDroids Standalone marketing tools product offered by AdSkills for advertisers seeking campaign support utilities.
- AI-Native Media Buying Paid training program on using AI-powered and generative AI strategies for modern media buying, targeting advertising professionals who want to integrate AI into their paid ad workflows.
- Advertising Consulting Services Professional advertising consulting services for businesses seeking hands-on media buying expertise and direct guidance on their ad accounts, distinct from the self-paced training products.
Quantifiable outcome
- Graduates achieve $100,000+ annual income as solo media buyers within 6 months of completing training
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use AdSkills
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
AdSkills technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability1 record
Feature2 records
AdSkills partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators5 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
AdSkills competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- CXL: Premium digital marketing training and certification platform covering conversion optimization, analytics, and paid media. Comparable because both sell deep, mastery-level marketing certifications to professionals, and CXL is explicitly named by AdSkills customers as an alternative considered.
- DigitalMarketer: Digital marketing training platform offering certifications, courses, and tools for marketers and agencies. Directly comparable to AdSkills as both sell structured paid-traffic and media buying certifications, and DigitalMarketer is explicitly cited by AdSkills customers as a competitor.
- Traffic & Funnels: Paid traffic training and coaching platform focused on Facebook and Google ads for agencies and consultants. Comparable as a similarly positioned practitioner-led paid ads training company serving aspiring media buyers and agency owners.
- Maven: Cohort-based learning platform offering live, instructor-led courses taught by practitioners across business and marketing. Comparable because AdSkills' Launch Cohort product mirrors Maven's cohort model, and both target professionals seeking practitioner-taught premium courses.
Emerging players
- Skillshare: Subscription-based creator-led course marketplace covering creative, business, and marketing topics. Comparable as a creator-economy course platform, though AdSkills is more practitioner/deep-skill oriented versus Skillshare's broader hobbyist-leaning catalog.
- Reforge: Invite-only professional development platform for product, growth, and marketing leaders, with cohort-based programs taught by senior practitioners. Comparable as a premium, practitioner-led education model for marketing-adjacent disciplines, though focused more on growth/product than media buying.
Broad incumbents
- Udemy: Large-scale online course marketplace with thousands of digital marketing and Google Ads courses at varied price points. Comparable as a competing destination for self-directed learners seeking media buying education, typically at lower price points but with broader inventory.
- Meta Blueprint: Meta's official free training and certification program for Facebook and Instagram advertising. Comparable because it competes directly for the same aspiring media buyer audience with free official content, raising the baseline that AdSkills must differentiate against.
- Google Skillshop: Google's official free certification platform for Google Ads, Display & Video 360, and other Google advertising products. Comparable because it offers free foundational to intermediate certifications for the same platforms that AdSkills teaches, often serving as the customer's starting point before upgrading to AdSkills.
- LinkedIn Learning: Professional development video course platform owned by LinkedIn, covering digital marketing, advertising, and business skills. Comparable as a competing channel for employed professionals seeking certifications and skill development in marketing.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
AdSkills social profiles
Digital presenceAdSkills financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
AdSkills leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
AdSkills funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
AdSkills M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about AdSkills
What does AdSkills do?
AdSkills sells online training and certification programs that teach digital advertising professionals and aspiring media buyers how to run profitable paid ad campaigns, primarily across Google Ads, YouTube, and Display Network. The flagship offering is the Master Media Buyer Certification built on a proprietary 5x3 system with 40+ on-demand lessons and assignments, supplemented by specialized courses, cohort programs, and professional consulting services.
Is AdSkills a public or private company?
AdSkills is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was AdSkills founded?
AdSkills was founded in 2016. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is AdSkills based?
AdSkills is headquartered in Crestview, United States, in the North America region.
How does AdSkills make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Certification Programs are the primary driver. The others are training Courses, launch Cohort and consulting Services.
Who are AdSkills's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are CXL, DigitalMarketer, Traffic & Funnels and Maven. Emerging players are Skillshare and Reforge. Broad incumbents are Udemy, Meta Blueprint, Google Skillshop and LinkedIn Learning.
Does AdSkills have an API?
No public API is recorded for AdSkills.
What industry is AdSkills in?
AdSkills's product category is Digital Advertising Education. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAAANAF, Sales, Marketing & Digital Marketing Certifications, with a secondary code of EDAFAIAI, Course Bundle Subscriptions & Learning Membership Marketplaces. Its NAICS code is 611430 and its SIC code is 8200.