Roku Inc. highlighted several new advertising solutions including shoppable and dynamic insertion capabilities during its NewFront presentation May 3.
The company, which counted some 61.3 million active accounts at the close of the first quarter, also placed its OneView ad-buying platform front and center during the event.
OneView offers the ability to garner linear TV insights from more than 20 million homes, while giving advertisers access to proprietary audiences across 100 unique segments, based on behavioral insights from Roku.
Marketers can use OneView to calculate the availability of ad inventory while allowing for the management of reach, frequency and performance across connected TV, desktop, mobile and linear TV. Brands can also guarantee outcomes within demographic deliveries, website visits or mobile app downloads.
Company executives also discussed new additions to OneView aimed at driving more business during the upfront selling season. During the upfronts, content providers look to sell linear and digital schedules to media agencies and their clients ahead of the upcoming TV season.
Roku is integrating dynamic linear insertion into traditional TV ad spots on broadcast or cable. In the example given during the presentation, a spot for cat food may be airing nationally. But by referencing user data and preferences, Roku could discern that a viewer may own a dog, so a commercial for dog food is a better ad match. Conversely, if the user does not own any pets and is in the market for a new vehicle, an ad for a pickup truck might be more effective.
Julian Mintz, national brand team lead at Roku, said Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.'s Discovery Channel (US), AMC Networks Inc.'s AMC (US) and Paramount Global's Paramount Network (US) have jumped into dynamic linear ads to make their messaging more relevant and valuable. He said Roku's upfront partners can be the first to test these capabilities via OneView.
As for shoppable TV ad executions, Roku will add an overlay to extant commercials so viewers can click alongside the message. Mintz said Roku will optimize the panel placement in an area, whether on the left side or bottom of the screen, where consumers are most likely to pay attention. Viewers can send a message to the phone number they have on file with Roku and link to the attendant company's site, and then commence shopping.
OneView will allow for measurement of the shoppable ads' performance vis-à-vis other campaign elements, according to Mintz.
Dan Robbins, vice president of ad marketing, touted Roku's advertising watermark program, a new technology that checks the authenticity of spots running on Roku devices. That way, he said, marketers know their campaigns are reaching Roku users. Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery are among the companies using the watermark, which Robbins labeled "the Good Housekeeping seal for streaming."
He also pointed to Roku's clean room, a privacy-first environment where advertisers and agencies can use their encrypted first-party data to facilitate planning and measuring campaigns, in concert with audience and linear TV data from Roku's direct consumer relationships. "Planning or measuring TV has never been simpler, safer or more scientific," said Robbins.
Roku has also expanded its measurement partner program. The company does not push one currency, but rather is focused on the full sales funnel as it works with more than 20 firms that "do everything from reach to reaction," said Robbins. Now, Roku is adding marketing mix modeling through such companies as Ipsos SA and Nielsen Holdings PLC.
Looking to build on its customers' propensity to initiate online searches after seeing ads on its devices, Roku announced a partnership with Microsoft to explore the impact TV, both streaming and linear, can have on online search and browsing. Advertisers will learn how TV ads can help consumers seek out new brands, products and information online.
On the content front, The Roku Channel, a top-five vehicle on the streaming platform, is bulking up its originals with additional season orders or new entries.
The company has renewed Kevin Hart's "Die Hart"; "Most Dangerous Game: New York"; and "Chrissy's Court" with Chrissy Teigen and her mother, Vilailuck "Pepper Thai" Teigen. Roku also has the U.S. streaming rights to "Children Ruin Everything."
New entries on tap include "Slip," starring Zoe Lister-Jones; "Honest Renovations" with Lizzy Mathis and Jessica Alba; and a new season of "The Great American Baking Show," featuring Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood. Additionally, Roku is cooking up a number of new culinary shows with Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse and Christopher Kimball.
The presentation closed with a clip of Daniel Radcliffe portraying "Weird Al" Yankovic. The biopic about the parody king, titled "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," is set to be released exclusively this fall on The Roku Channel.
