Alright, everyone, hold onto your overpriced coffee cups because today we’re diving deep into the psyche of one of ad tech’s OG disruptors—Dave Morgan.
You know, the guy who’s been playing 4D chess in TV advertising while the rest of you are still trying to figure out how to beat the algorithm on TikTok. Morgan, for those of you who’ve been living under a pile of discarded NFTs, is the Chairman and Founder of Simulmedia—an outfit that’s redefining how TV advertising works.
Before that, he built Tacoda and Real Media, and yes, he’s been shaping the space since before “programmatic” was even a thing. And no, “programmatic” isn’t some fancy way to say you’re automating everything in your life, like a Roomba on steroids.
Let’s be clear, Dave Morgan isn’t your typical ad tech sage. He’s more like the Gandalf of TV advertising—minus the fluffy speeches and with way more side-eye. He’s the guy at the fancy industry mixer, casually sipping his scotch while everyone’s getting jazzed about the latest buzzword bingo. And just when the hype reaches its peak, he leans in, smirks, and says, “That’s not even remotely how this game is played.”
CTV: A $30 Billion Mirage?
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Connected TV, or as the acronym-loving crowd calls it, CTV. If you’ve been paying any attention, you’ve probably noticed that everyone in the industry is hyping it up like it’s the second coming of digital advertising—some kind of magical cure for all the garbage banner ads, pre-roll disasters, and creepy retargeting that’s been following you around like a stalker on your worst day online. The industry treats CTV like it’s the panacea for all the sins of digital media, boasting projections of $30 billion in ad spend this year alone, as if tossing cash at a problem makes it go away.
But, folks, Dave Morgan isn’t here for your Kool-Aid. If you’re sipping the CTV hype, Dave’s about to knock that cup out of your hand with a big ol’ dose of reality. “There’s this notion that there’s an open web on CTV. There isn’t,” Morgan says, not even bothering to sugarcoat it. And he’s not wrong. For all the talk of CTV being the Wild West, where brands can stake their claim and advertisers have a level playing field, the truth is a little more exclusive. “If it’s not controlled by one of the nine major companies, it’s not real,” Dave continues. Essentially, if you’re not in with the big nine—think Amazon, Roku, Google, and their ilk—you’re playing in the minors, hustling on the outskirts while the big leagues control the game.
That dreamy idea of a democratized CTV landscape where anyone with a decent idea and some programmatic magic can hit it big? It’s like believing Facebook actually cares about your privacy. Sure, they say they do, but in reality, you’re just the product being sold. CTV’s no different. If you’re not on the inside, you’re the guy in the parking lot trying to sell bootleg mixtapes while the party rages inside the mansion.
Let’s not forget how everyone’s falling over themselves about the money. Oh, the money. With $30 billion on the line, people act like CTV is the next gold rush, throwing around figures so massive, it feels like you’re reading about a government bailout rather than ad spend projections. But Dave’s not buying into the frenzy. “We’re in a build-it-now, fix-it-later situation,” he says, and it’s a line that hits harder than a slap in the face with a reality check. Think about that for a second. This supposed $30 billion savior of the advertising industry? It’s more like an IKEA project—half-built, with missing pieces, and no real instructions. Sure, it looks good from afar, but up close, it’s wobbling on a shaky foundation.
Morgan doesn’t stop there. Ad serving in sports, one of the biggest growth areas for CTV, is also a hot mess. “Nobody’s even got a real-time ad server for sports on CTV,” he adds, almost incredulously. That’s right, despite all the posturing and promises from ad tech companies, we’re nowhere close to being able to deliver real-time, dynamic ads in sports—one of the biggest moneymakers in TV. Instead, what you’re watching are ads that were stitched together ahead of time like some kind of Frankenstein’s monster, sewn up with whatever tech could be cobbled together in time for the broadcast. You thought those ads during the big game were happening in real-time? Nope. They were stitched in like they were part of a pre-recorded sitcom.
Morgan’s take? We’re trying to push a system that isn’t ready for primetime, much less capable of handling the monumental growth being promised. He’s the guy pointing out that we’re building a rocket but forgot to check if we packed the parachutes. “It’s the shiny new thing everyone’s chasing,” he says, “but the infrastructure is still nowhere near where it needs to be.” It’s like a high-speed train barreling down a half-finished track, and everyone’s just hoping it doesn’t derail before it reaches the station.
The Easy Button Fantasy
Let’s talk about the industry’s favorite bedtime story—the “easy button.” If you’ve ever sat through a pitch where a company promises that their platform will “optimize your ads with one click,” you’ve been sold a dream, my friend. It’s as real as those “work from home” schemes your aunt keeps posting about on Facebook. According to Morgan, the easy button mentality is wrecking the ad tech world faster than crypto bros wrecked their portfolios last year.
“We’re simplifying things to the point of breaking,” Morgan says, with a tone that suggests he’s about ten seconds away from throwing his hands up and walking out of the room. Marketing used to be this noble profession where people actually had to think. Now, it’s “five percent of their job,” according to Morgan, and the rest of the time? They’re stuck managing a giveaway on Instagram or some “viral” TikTok challenge.
What’s the real problem? It’s not just lazy marketing—it’s an epidemic of ad tech companies bending over backward to give marketers exactly what they want, even when they have no idea what they want. The industry has turned into a wish-fulfillment machine, cranking out low-effort “solutions” that just paper over deeper problems. It’s like building a sandcastle while a tsunami’s coming in.
Morgan’s frustration is palpable. “We’re letting people push pricing down, delivering fake stuff, and then burning the market,” he says. It’s like a bad episode of “Shark Tank,” where everyone is throwing buzzwords around like confetti, hoping someone will actually make sense of them. But the kicker? The people pushing the easy button don’t even understand how advertising works. “They’ve been trained on banner programmatic and think that’s how brands are built,” Morgan laughs. Spoiler: It’s not.
Shoppable TV: Real Innovation or Digital Duct Tape?
Ah yes, shoppable TV. The buzzword du jour that’s supposed to “blur the line between entertainment and retail.” Picture this: You’re binge-watching Stranger Things, and suddenly, there’s a pop-up offering you a chance to buy Eleven’s sneakers. Isn’t that just what we’ve all been waiting for? According to Morgan, not so much. “We’re slapping a shopping cart on your Netflix binge watch,” he says, and it’s hard to argue with him.
Sure, Roku’s teamed up with DoorDash, and Amazon’s pushing shoppable content like a Black Friday sale that never ends, but Morgan sees right through it. He’s been around long enough to know that just because something is “new” doesn’t mean it’s better. “Look at QVC,” he says. “They’ve been doing this for decades, and while it may not be sexy, it works.” The lesson here? Just because you slap an “innovative” label on something doesn’t mean you’ve reinvented the wheel. Sometimes, it’s just a shinier version of what we already had.
The real winners, according to Morgan, are companies like Walmart. “Walmart Connect understands how TV ads and in-store experiences come together,” he says, giving a nod to Ryan Mayward over at Walmart, who’s got his hands deep in the retail media cookie jar. You want to see the future of shoppable TV? It’s not in some pie-in-the-sky Netflix integration—it’s in understanding how to move product, both online and in stores, in a way that makes sense.
Programmatic: The Wild West of Ad Tech
Let’s not forget the mess that is programmatic advertising. The digital supply chain is more bloated than a post-Thanksgiving dinner belly, and nobody seems to know where all the money’s going. “There are too many middlemen,” Morgan says flatly. “I keep hoping they’ll all get sucked out of the market, but they just keep hanging on.” It’s like a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie where no matter how many you take down, more keep popping up.
Morgan’s real gripe isn’t just with the bloat—it’s with the moral vacuum that’s been created in the process. Rebates, undisclosed fees, sketchy deals—it’s all part of the game, and most people don’t even want to know how deep the rabbit hole goes. “People don’t want to admit how much waste is in the system,” he says. And why would they? Admitting it would mean getting fired. It’s like discovering your kitchen’s infested with rats but deciding to burn the house down rather than deal with it.
Fraud and the Dark Underbelly of Ad Tech
Now, let’s get into the dark stuff—fraud. This is where the skeletons in the ad tech closet really start to pile up. If you’ve been in this industry for more than five minutes, you know fraud isn’t just an occasional hiccup; it’s baked into the very system. It’s the worst-kept secret, whispered behind closed doors and over overpriced drinks at every conference. The dirty little truth that nobody wants to acknowledge? “Half of their stuff is junk,” Dave Morgan says, not mincing a single word. “More than half has to be fake for them to get a margin.” Let that sink in for a minute. We’re talking about the majority of inventory in the market being either fake or so low-quality it makes you question the integrity of the entire system. It’s like buying a knockoff Rolex in Times Square but somehow managing to do it with millions of dollars at stake—and nobody’s calling the cops.
Morgan’s not pulling any punches here, and why should he? The fraud problem in ad tech is the kind of ugly truth that everyone’s happy to sweep under the rug because, frankly, it’s just too damn lucrative. We’re not talking about a few bad apples here; we’re talking about an orchard of rotting fruit. “The system’s too lucrative to fail,” Morgan says, summing up the core issue. The sheer volume of money sloshing around in programmatic advertising is enough to keep the wheels turning, no matter how much of it is wasted. Everyone’s making their cut, so why rock the boat? It’s like a casino where the house always wins—only in this case, the house is a labyrinthine mess of middlemen, kickbacks, and opaque deals that would make even the shadiest Wall Street broker blush.
And the real kicker? The system isn’t just built to handle fraud—it’s designed for it. “A lot of people don’t have the intellectual curiosity—or the desire—to know how it works,” Morgan says, hitting the nail on the head. It’s not just that people don’t know how deep the fraud runs; they don’t want to know. Pulling back the curtain on this mess is like opening Pandora’s box—once you see what’s inside, you can’t unsee it. The system is a Rube Goldberg machine of misaligned incentives, and most people are just happy to let it keep clanking along as long as their paycheck clears.
And really, who wants to admit they’re part of the problem? If you’re an agency or a marketer, confessing that half the inventory you’re selling is garbage is like admitting you’ve been peddling snake oil. It’s career suicide. “There’s so much money tied up in it that nobody wants to be the one to blow the whistle,” Morgan explains. It’s a classic case of willful ignorance—everyone’s in on the grift, but nobody’s willing to speak up because there’s just too much cash on the table. Imagine if a doctor knew that half the pills they were prescribing were sugar, but shrugged it off because the drug company was paying them under the table. Welcome to ad tech.
Morgan paints a bleak picture of just how deeply fraud is entrenched in the ecosystem. “You can’t deliver real stuff at the prices some of these companies are promising,” he says, pointing to absurdly low CPMs that are mathematically impossible without cutting major corners. For a real advertiser, the landscape looks less like an opportunity and more like a digital minefield. Every time you think you’re reaching an audience, there’s a decent chance you’re paying for bots, fake clicks, or straight-up ghost ads. It’s like throwing a party and realizing halfway through that half the guests are cardboard cutouts.
So, what’s the solution? Transparency, obviously, but that’s about as popular in ad tech as a tax audit. “We need to stop letting people sell lies,” Morgan says. He’s not asking for a revolution—just for a system where buyers actually know what they’re paying for. Crazy idea, right? Yet, here we are, still talking about this in 2024, while the fraudsters laugh all the way to the bank. It’s a game of smoke and mi
The Real Takeaway: Dave Morgan’s Big Picture
So, what’s the moral of the story? Well, if you’re looking for a neatly tied-up conclusion that’ll make you feel good about the state of ad tech, you’re in the wrong place. The industry is a mess, a convoluted jungle of middlemen, opaque deals, and outright fraud. And Dave Morgan, having seen it all from the front row, isn’t the kind of guy to sugarcoat that reality. He knows it’s not going to fix itself because the rot goes too deep. But here’s the kicker: Morgan isn’t just sitting around complaining about the state of things. He’s still in the game, pushing for the one thing this industry desperately needs but keeps dodging like a bad Tinder match—accountability.
Morgan’s been around the block enough times to know that the system isn’t built for easy fixes. The entire ad tech ecosystem, as he sees it, is too lucrative to fail and too flawed to thrive long term. But he’s not the kind of guy to throw up his hands and walk away. Instead, he’s advocating for transparency—not just the kind that gets you a gold star from your compliance department, but real transparency. The kind where you actually know where your ads are being placed, who’s selling them, and how much you’re paying for the privilege. In a world where most people are happy to stay in the dark, Morgan’s calling for everyone to flip on the lights and take a good, hard look at the mess we’ve all created.
Here’s the thing: Morgan’s not here for the industry buzzwords or the empty promises of “disruption” or “innovation” you hear at every ad tech conference. Those are just shiny distractions. “I don’t care about the fluff,” Morgan says. He’s after the truth, the ugly, inconvenient truth that nobody wants to confront because, well, the truth doesn’t sell software or win awards at Cannes. But that’s exactly what makes him the rare voice of reason in an industry that’s often more about appearances than results. Morgan’s been inside the machine long enough to know what’s really going on, and he’s not afraid to call it out.
And let’s be real—most people in ad tech don’t want to hear what Morgan has to say. Why? Because the truth is uncomfortable. The truth means admitting that a lot of what’s happening behind the scenes is straight-up broken. It means acknowledging that for every fancy dashboard you’re looking at, there’s a whole lot of garbage inventory and questionable data lurking behind the curtain. “Most people don’t want to know,” Morgan says. And that’s the crux of the problem. People are too busy patting themselves on the back for their “innovative” solutions to admit they’re part of a dysfunctional system.
But if you’re sitting there sipping your $6 oat milk latte, thinking about how to optimize your latest funnel or push your next programmatic campaign, just know that Dave Morgan is out there somewhere, shaking his head. He’s watching the industry try to duct-tape itself together, and probably muttering under his breath, “That’s not how any of this works.” Because here’s the thing—if you’re still treating ad tech like a game of darts, where you just throw money at a wall and hope something sticks, you’re missing the point entirely. The future of advertising doesn’t belong to the loudest hype or the most complicated tech stack. It belongs to those who actually understand how to fix the broken system.
And what does fixing it look like? It’s not glamorous. It’s not going to get you trending on Twitter or give you the keynote spot at AdWeek. But it’s necessary. “We need to build a better ecosystem,” Morgan insists. One where fraud is weeded out, transparency is the norm, and everyone—marketers, agencies, platforms—takes responsibility for cleaning up the mess we’re in. It’s not just about stopping the bad actors; it’s about holding ourselves accountable for the decisions we make every day in this business. That’s the kind of change Morgan is pushing for, and honestly, it’s the only kind that’s going to save this industry from itself.
