MarTech Interview with Jay Baum, Chief Commercial Officer at Tremor Video

Tell us about your role and journey into Technology. What inspired you to be part of Tremor Video?

I am the Chief Commercial Officer at Tremor Video. I oversee Data Partnerships, Data Operations, Corporate Partnerships, Supply Operations, Ad Operations, and Creative. A little over five years ago, I was working on the agency side managing a National Television team, so it has been a big change for me, but one that I was excited to make.

I knew five years ago that I needed to make a move that provided me additional exposure to the AdTech and digital side of the business — and when I met with Tremor Video, I knew it would be a great fit. We each had value that we could bring to the table that would benefit each other.

Through my five years at Tremor Video, I have continued to take on new and challenging roles that have brought me to my current position.

Tell us about your recent announcement to bring native ads to LG Smart TVs. How would it impact Video Advertising on TV?

Tremor Video provides entertainment advertisers and apps with highly visible placements that are native to the smart TV experience across millions of Connected TV devices — helping them to stand out with content discoverability in the battle for share of consumer viewing time.

Which other OEMs are already using your tech/planning to collaborate with?

We are currently focused on our LG Electronics partnership, which brings our Video Advertising platform to their award-winning webOS smart TVs.

How is Tremor Video’s TV Advertising offering cut through the competition?

LG Electronics is selling the launcher ads exclusively through Tremor Video. This is the first time LG is selling first impression units — premium ad placements that immediately reach a consumer.

How would your existing partners and customers benefit from Native Ad supplies to LG Smart TV?

The ad units will run in a highly visible position on the LG smart TV’s home screen — helping to drive viewers to an app or drive tune-in campaigns for specific shows and movies. These top-of-mind promotional placements can support the overall subscriber growth to streaming services and apps supported on LG smart TVs.

How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a Business Leader?

At Tremor Video, we offer an AI-centric DSP to allow for the most effective and efficient Video programming. With each campaign mandating nuanced KPIs and demonstrating different traffic behaviors, it’s only natural to strive for a personalized buying approach based on the unique needs of each campaign. DSPs have been striving to achieve this throughout the years and have slowly progressed from replying upon a human set of rules per campaign to Machine Learning decision trees, and now to neural networks.

In the case of the latter, our DSP technology analyzes the runtime performance of each campaign and generates an automated bidding strategy algorithm tailored to that specific campaign. Therefore, no two campaigns are leveraging the same buying strategy — achieving utmost efficiency.

How do you inspire your people to work with technology?

I’ve found that the people I’ve worked with over the years have always had a natural curiosity for technology and its constant evolution. If I have to inspire them to work with technology, they’re probably in the wrong industry.

One word that best describes how you work.

Impactful.

What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?

In no particular order: Slack, Zoom, LinkedIn, Outlook, and the Yahoo Fantasy Sports app.

What’s your smartest work-related shortcut or productivity hack?

Since I have a long commute to and from work, I try to use that time to handle work-related emails and prepare for the day ahead.

What are you currently reading?

I go back and forth between general news or industry-related articles and books. I consume everything on my devices — phone, computer or iPad (for books).

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

At my first agency, the head of our department always preached “work hard, play hard.” A very simple concept, but one that always stuck with me, especially spending more than 15 years on the agency side. Now that I am a little older, I may not play as hard, but I definitely still work as hard!

Something you do better than others – the secret of your success?

Listen. Often times people are too caught up in providing their own thoughts or solutions and are not entirely focused on the full picture of what it is their client or colleague is really asking for. It’s a skill that also helps at home.

Tag the one person in the industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read

Bill Gates.

Thank you, Jay! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.