The Community Exchange Podcast by OpenWeb Quality Over Clicks: The Future of Media with Jonah Goodhart
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Oct 21, 2025 Jonah Goodhart, co-founder of Right Media and Moat, discusses his journey through the digital advertising landscape. He emphasizes that attention is the key currency in media today, arguing against outdated click metrics. Jonah shares insights on how AI disrupts brand safety and content context, highlighting that 30-50% of publisher inventory is misclassified. He envisions a future where personalized news is delivered by AI, urging publishers to adapt and innovate in this evolving landscape. Community, emotion, and human connection remain vital as we transition to an AI-first world.
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Early Internet Beginnings
- Jonah traced his start in internet businesses back to building an email newsletter at Cornell in 1996 and early exposure to media through his entrepreneurial brother.
- He credits timing and luck for entering the internet era and becoming obsessed with building companies.
From Right Media To Moat
- Jonah recounted helping start Right Media with Mike Walrath as one of the first scaled ad exchanges and later selling it to Yahoo in 2007.
- That experience led him to start Moat in 2010 with his brother to solve brand measurement problems in digital advertising.
Attention Beats Impressions
- Moat shifted from creative marketplace to measurement because clicks were a poor success metric and viewability mattered more for brand advertising.
- Jonah argues attention, not impressions, is the scarcest resource and should drive measurement.
