Vevo still hasn’t completely settled on what it can get out of so-called “programmatic” online ad sales, but it is heartened that technology vendors are no longer just catering to cheap ad slots.

“(Programmatic) inventory is typically lower-tier, lower-quality inventory,” the music video distributor’s chief revenue officer Jonathan Carson tells Beet.TV.

“That marketplace is not what Vevo is about. It’s not very interesting for us to participate in. But that is the marketplace that programmatic plumbing was first crated to serve.”

As a “premium” publisher of music labels’ official videos, Vevo wants higher rates.

“Vevo has just gotten involved more recently as those pipes have started to be applied to higher-end premium content,” Carson adds. “That, all of a sudden, makes the programmatic space interesting for Vevo.”

Carson’s company has been working with AOL’s Adap.tv programmatic video ad tech platform for the last year on creating a private exchange to sell its premium inventory on an automated, programmatic basis. But he says the whole thing is still “in the early stages”.

Beet.TV spoke with Carson at the Adap.tv Worldwide Publisher Conference. Carson also interviewed with AdExchanger’s David Kaplan.