• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, November 5, 2013

I had the chance to speak with Jeremy Hlavacek, The Weather Company's newly appointed vice president of programmatic, a new role at the company, about his fast moving 2013, his new position, what programmatic looks like at the Weather Co. today and what it might look like next year.

What do I mean by fast moving? At the start of this year, he was vice president of strategy and business operations for the trading desk Varick Media Management. In March, he joined The Weather Co.'s WeatherFX division as VP of operations. And today he has a new job.

RTM Daily: If someone told you at the start of the year -- when you were still with Varick -- that you'd move to The Weather Co. and then eventually get this position, what would your reaction be?

Jeremy Hlavacek: I think I would have been surprised by the pace of that timeline, which I am, but I think it speaks to how quickly we are moving at Weather and how we're open to being flexible and changing. The part that I'm really happy about is that the management at Weather has the confidence in me to help grow our programmatic presence.

Your question suggests that things are moving quickly. I would agree.

RTMD: What makes programmatic a fit for The Weather Co.?

Hlavacek: First off, the weather -- the weather outside of your window right now -- that's really the heart of our business. It's about understanding how weather impacts the world. We are not just a media company.

But weather has a big impact on our media business. When there is a Hurricane Sandy or a major flooding, it has a huge impact on our media side. And being able to monetize that effectively through programmatic channels is a huge benefit for us. That's one way programmatic fits well with us.

Beyond that, and one thing I'm hoping to bring to the programmatic team, is really embracing data and understanding how that can help make our programmatic business stronger. That's something we're good at. We're a company that's all about science, tech, and media, so data comes naturally to us.

RTMD: Where do you spend and earn in programmatic? What channels? Does The Weather Co. operate on private exchanges or open exchanges?

Hlavacek: We monetize on display, mobile, and video. We do private exchange deals, and in the case of the WeatherFX group, we will buy media from exchanges as well. We also do audience extension that's really closer to data extension (extending weather data for clients.)

We want to be involved in every aspect of the programmatic space across all channels -- mobile, video, and display -- as well as use data as both a buyer and a seller to help grow the business

RTMD: Can you specify a little more? On the data providing and the balance between private and open exchanges?

Hlavacek: In terms of private exchanges, we've done several dozen of those partnerships this year already. I'm digging in with our programmatic sales team now to understand what they are and how they've been going, but there's a very strong pipeline there.

We're also on the open exchanges. For example, Google AdX and others help us monetize run-of-site inventory.

And then in some cases -- and this is where I'm speaking a little more to the WeatherFX side -- we will work with both our data and clients' data to buy media on their behalf.

RTMD: What might change in the programmatic space in the next six or 12 months? What areas might really come on strong?

Hlavacek: It's a dynamic space, and frankly it has been hard to predict. I'm not really in a position to say [on behalf of Weather]. I'm a few days onto the job here, so I'm not placing bets.

In my view, programmatic media-buying is the future of all media-buying. The question is: "How long is the future?" Maybe two years, five years, or 10 years; it all depends on the type of media.

I think the area where we are seeing some experimentation and interesting growth could be in something like programmatic direct.

We're seeing some interesting partners come into that space and pick it up. And it would make sense to me -- coming from a trading desk previously, certainly clients looked to programmatic for performance -- [but] it wasn't really breaking into the direct buy space.

RTMD: If you had to choose, what other company would be VP of Programmatic for, and why?

Hlavacek: Being 100% serious, I really can't think of a better place to do this type of work right now; The Weather Company … [has] a great appetite for risk and doing things.

[Pause]

I'm thinking about it right now -- in real-time -- and I can't think of any other publishers that have that sort of environment.

RTMD: Okay. I guess I could phrase the gist of the previous question another way. What piece of ad tech is out there that you really like?

Hlavacek: From that point of view, I think a big priority for me -- and I actually think that publishers in general need to do it -- is embracing technology. So the types of companies that I want to stay close to and make sure we're partnering with and following are the technology companies. We want to stay close to the big guys.

Personally, I'm a fan of the garage startups as well; the four or five people who have a great idea and a lot of passion and are bringing innovative, new thing to the market.

So for me, I want to make sure, in the programmatic space where the tech is changing so quickly, that we're staying as close as we possibly can to those companies.

RTMD: Let me see if I understand your point. Are you saying that in order to stay ahead of the curve in programmatic you need to invest in its underlying technology?

Hlavacek: It's a question a lot of people in the space are asking: What parts do we want to own, and what parts can we rent?

I'll be candid: I think there are things like bidders or tech for buying media where, yeah, that market is fairly established, and you don't need to own one of those.

But there are other areas -- like data, managing your data, and having a really good handle on what is going on with your audience -- and I think that's where we really want to have ownership. That's where our management has aligned on that strategy.

RTMD: Thank you for your time.