Mobile app advertising, monetization, and insights company Liftoff is bringing together inspirational women from across the mobile industry to share their stories. In this series, we’ll explore their achievements, the challenges they’ve overcome, and their vision for the future, offering insights from the experts shaping the world of mobile apps and technology.
This month’s article focuses on Amanda Dean, VP of Programmatic Partners and Strategy at The Weather Company, which includes digital properties such as The Weather Channel app, weather.com, and Weather Underground, wunderground.com.
Can you start by walking us through your career path and where you are today?
I actually started selling advertising in college for the university newspaper, calling on local businesses. After one semester, I had sold so much business that I had to hire my roommates to collect orders and do graphic design. Together, we doubled the size of the newspaper ad business, and I was hooked!
After I graduated, I got a job at my local newspaper selling classified ads for a short while before joining The New York Times in 1999 to sell print ads. Then, with the growth of the internet, recruitment advertising was one of the first areas to boom online. I got promoted to outside sales, selling recruitment ads for print and digital in 2001. That’s when I saw the power of the internet. If these sites could take billions of dollars out of the static pages of newspapers, what else could the internet do?
About 12 years and many leadership roles later, I was ready for a change. So, I took an opportunity at The Guardian, a UK-based newspaper that was growing its US market. Building a business and being in a start-up-like atmosphere was a challenge I had been looking for. It was one of the coolest experiences in my career! Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
The Guardian helped break the Edward Snowden news, and it was a fascinating time to be part of another award-winning newspaper. Combining the natural buzz the paper created with the programmatic skills that I learned at The New York Times, we turbocharged revenues. We aligned SSP partners, developed a PMP strategy, and dove headfirst into programmatic sales for the US business.
From there, I moved to Rodale, Inc., a lifestyle magazine and web publisher, and then, in 2016, to weather.com, the website of The Weather Channel brand, where I helped build a robust and lucrative programmatic partner sales and strategy practice
Tell me more about your role at The Weather Company
My current role is VP of Programmatic Partnerships & Strategy, focusing mainly on The Weather Channel app and weather.com digital properties. My team and I shape our monetization strategy through SSP, DSP, and ID partnerships to drive global revenue growth.
I love what I do, whether it’s onboarding new formats, partners, and ID solutions or working with the legal and privacy teams to ensure our efforts are privacy-forward and protect users. At the end of the day, as the world’s most accurate weather forecaster, we are proud to provide reliable, actionable weather data and insights to people and businesses around the globe to help them make decisions.
What does The Weather Company do?
Most people know The Weather Company best for our flagship consumer digital brand, The Weather Channel app and weather.com. It’s one of the most trusted U.S. brands and helps power weather on over 2 billion devices worldwide. We’re proud that we’ve been recognized as the world’s most accurate weather forecaster for several years in a row. Our mission drives us.
First and foremost, we strive to keep people safe and informed when inclement weather threatens. During sunny days, we help them plan their days and delight them with our fun games, Morning Brief newsletter, and Weather Explained videos.
Why have you stayed in the mobile industry?
The mobile industry is where the eyeballs are! In advertising, you want to be where the people are. It is amazing how much you can do on your phone. You don’t even need a laptop anymore. It’s the innovation and the possibilities that keep me excited about having a career in the app and mobile industry. It’s essential to keep that in mind.
We don’t always know what tech will bring us. There will always be challenges, but challenges present golden opportunities to innovate and reinvent ourselves to continue serving our customers.
How have you overcome some of the difficulties you faced in your career?
I was very fortunate to have a fantastic group of women leaders as role models at The New York Times, but even then, I had to be my own advocate and learn to be patient. Over time, many of the difficulties I faced in my early career slowly disappeared or evolved to not be a problem.
Being resilient and having a strong network has helped. Even today, I lean into my network often! We have a Slack channel, we ask each other questions, and we have issues that we work through together. Overcoming difficulties is all about how you frame them and your mental toughness. Having a great support network is key!
What are the big trends in mobile programmatic advertising, and what do you think will make the most significant impact in the next few years?
It’s been fascinating to watch what’s happened in the EU and users’ willingness to provide data. Giving over that information can allow the user a better, more relevant experience, and there’s increasing recognition of that trade-off. People are becoming more comfortable with it, but for how long is the question.
Media owners and industry players must unite to educate people on why we’re doing what we’re doing. Quality journalism is not free. There has to be a value exchange. It will be interesting to see how people consume content and what they’re willing to give to get that content — will it be money, data, or a combination of both?
Is there anything that you think organisations can be doing to adjust to changes in the privacy landscape?
Go into learning mode and stay nimble. Get to know your audiences and learn what they will accept from your brand. Use A/B testing to find out if they are willing to register, for example. Different cohorts have different levels of what they think is an acceptable trade-off. But, and this is key, prepare to be transparent. Let users know what they can expect, and get your audience comfortable with changing landscapes.
As marketers, we need to lean into data signals that can deliver results, and we need to do it in privacy-forward and ethical ways. I’m lucky that in my role, weather checks all the boxes. It’s nature’s own predictive algorithm, influencing how we feel, what we try, what we buy.
Forecasts drive nuanced consumer behavior and generate a lot of data. The key is not how much data you have but how well you translate and apply that data so it scales. At the same time, it should feel personal and add value to people’s lives. That’s where AI is valuable. It helps us mine the data for insights in an ethical and responsible way.
What do you think are the best practices for ensuring transparency and accountability?
First, make sure you have a good relationship with your privacy legal team and that your organization diligently works towards having a safe ad tech stack and a trusted environment for consumers and brands. You need to be diligent, have oversight, and vet your partners.
Make sure your audience knows why the ad is there and that there is a close button on the ad. Keep an eye on analytics vendors and resources like the TTD 500 to give brands and advertisers a sense of who’s doing it right, who’s being above board, and who’s convening a true human audience worth advertising to.
Is there any advice you would give to others looking to build their strategies?
Read as much as you can about what’s happening in the mobile universe because mobile changes faster than some other platforms.
Optimize your programmatic strategy, have the right partner mix, and use the right ad formats. Do your homework, see what else is out there, and ask your audience in focus groups or polls. Check whether they like this new format, this new color scheme, or what sort of things they would like to see.
When it comes to monetization, what are your partners asking for? The big thing in mobile lately has been signals. Are your ads.txt tight? Or are you letting in less-than-above-board advertisers? It’s almost like a seller-beware scenario. The Weather Company prides itself on quality, and we want to work with trustworthy brands and advertisers.
One of the things that’s been interesting to see in mobile is the rise of cohort advertising and individual targeting capabilities. You’re able to create more interesting cohorts and give advertisers the opportunity to test different kinds of messaging for different audiences and learn from the results. You might see that “maybe this isn’t my audience” or “it’s a little bit different from what I thought.” These findings can help open up new markets or a new product line.
What is it like marketing a weather app?
Let’s first talk about why the weather is more important than ever. It’s always been pervasive in our lives, influencing nearly every decision we make. Think about it — who isn’t impacted by the weather? That’s why the weather app space is becoming increasingly crowded. There are over 1000 weather apps available, and people can get their forecasts from a lot of places.
However, not all forecasts are created equal. At The Weather Company, we thoughtfully combine human expertise with advanced technology to provide accurate forecasts and timely alerts to more than 360 million people monthly. They include users who come to our digital properties, like The Weather Channel app, or the thousands of businesses who rely on us across various industries.
It has to start there — that is how we cultivate trust. However, the real value is when we go beyond the forecast to extract and deliver actionable insights for consumers and brands.
What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before you made the move to mobile?
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable! The pace of change in mobile is never-ending. In my early career in print, there was not a lot of change, and the medium stayed more static. For example, in 2007, we put a QR code on a financial ad in The New York Times, and nobody used it because you had to download an app. But now? It’s commonplace, and users are happy to engage with that tech.
What are some of the common barriers that you’re still seeing as a woman in mobile?
Women in all areas of business face a similar challenge: that being confident and capable is often misread as being bitchy and bossy. You have to be your own advocate, be true to yourself, and try to find allies in your company. There will be times when it’s going to be hard.
At the same time, know that many of us have been there, paving the trail and will continue to, and we’re there to help. A big part of surviving and thriving is dependent on you reaching out to your network. If you don’t have one, reach out to me. We’ll create one, or you can come and join mine because community is so very important. We, as women, need to band together.
Have you noticed any big changes in the last decade?
Yes! Absolutely. Even the number of women entering the industry and at senior levels is impressive! New entrants now have women role models to look up to, which so many of us did not have. It’s wonderful to see the tech industry getting more diverse, not just in gender but also in race and creed. Good organisations reflect the real world in all its different ways.
So, what advice would you give to other women looking to break into ad tech?
Network, ask questions, do some research, and talk to somebody in it. AI is not going to tell you how it is, but I’m confident most of us, if asked, will be willing to answer the tough questions. That’s the beauty of technology and the mobile industry today — there are lots of ways to enter the profession, and many of us are willing to help.
