• by Debbi Swanson , June 4, 2001

David Morgan is out to fix one of the weakest links in the online ad world - audience data advertisers can really use. His credentials indicate he'll succeed. He co-founded Real Media in May 1995, and served as president/CEO, chairman and co-chairman, while building the company into a global provider of online marketing solutions. He was also named a Digital Media Master by Advertising Age magazine, and named to the Silicon Alley Hot 100 list by Silicon Alley Reporter magazine in 1998 and 1999. He grew Real Media from a startup of five people to an industry with 420 employees in 25 offices in 17 countries with annual sales approaching $60 million.

Morgan leaves Real Media on June 30th to start his new online company. While he can't reveal the details yet, he can say he will be providing advertisers the answers they've been waiting for - just who makes up the audience advertisers are reaching, providing the real link to the solution - how to place real value on reaching the audience an advertiser wants.

"I'm moving on to start a new company to develop tools for web publishers to understand and monetize their audiences," says Morgan. "To this point most tools and publishers have focused on monetizing pages, but marketers sell to people, not pages. We have the opportunity to fix that disconnect, in ways that publishers can take advantage of. You can get lots of research about audiences today, but you can't segment that audience very well.

"Starting Real Media and helping run it for six years has been incredible," adds Morgan. "But it's a big company now, doing well and well positioned as a survivor. So now it's time to continue to build for long haul. I'm confident it will do so with CEO Walter Annasohn. And it was just sort of natural time for me to start a new business."

As he looks back on his accomplishments with Real Media, he is most proud of two things:

"We always had a practical and straightforward attitude at Real Media. We are good at nuts and bolts, delivering what we promise. We have what we call the "White Hat" philosophy - don't speak ill of competitors; don't boast; listen and do a good job. And now with 400 people, that philosophy is still there.

And I always focused on creating a global, not a U.S. business. A full two-thirds of Real Media's business is generated from outside the U.S." Morgan agrees that he loves the excitement of building a new company. "Being in a room with 8-10 people is fun and great and coming up with ideas is a fun cycle to go through."

The new company, launching in mid to late summer, will be based in New York. He's starting it because he's bullish on the future of online advertising. "We'll be seeing advertisers and marketers use the media that they can get more measurable and short term results with, and we'll see greater shifts away from upfront buys in TV (easy to predict from last couple of weeks!)," says Morgan. "More money will be spent in promotion, direct marketing and Internet advertising. I think we'll see the original promise of the Internet's early years fulfilled."

And Morgan is hoping to help that process. He says he'll still feel like part of the Real Media family - since he's still the largest individual shareholder and will possibly be partners with Real Media as his new company develops. PubliGroupe, the 100-year-old Swiss-based advertising services firm, and world's largest independent seller of print advertising, is the majority investor in privately held Real Media. Advance Publications, Inc., is also a major investor.

- Debbi Swanson is a freelance writer for MediaPost. She may be reached at WriterDeb@aol.com