NewFronts: Roku Touts Ways To Reach Its Streaming Consumers

Roku City
Roku City (Image credit: Roku)

 

Roku said that it can help advertisers reach its users from the time they power up to the time they make a purchase.

At its NewFront presentation Tuesday, Roku showed of some of the streaming experiences that marketers can sponsor.

Some of Roku’s choice real estate is in Roku City, the digital downtown that pops up on Roku’s home screen. This summer, McDonald’s will be taking over Roku City, exposing its burgers and fries to nearly 40 million homes.

Brands can also host viewers as they search for content they want to watch with new home and garden and spots experiences that show off curated content on the Roku home screen.

Roku originals can also be sponsored. Ally Bank worked with Hello Sunshine to produce Side Hustlers, a docu series about entrepreneurs. 

“We’re uniquely positioned to make brands unmissable in TV because Roku is not fighting for turf in streaming—we are the turf,” said Alison Levin, VP  of Ad Revenue and Marketing Solutions, Roku. “This Upfront, we’re bringing the entire power of the platform, not just the pieces, to give marketers more of the scale, delight, and flexibility that they love in TV.”

Roku also talked about its new commerce partnerships, which give it data to improve ad targeting and in some cases, enable views to order and buy items they see on the screen and have them delivered to their homes. 

Roku retail partners include Best Buy, Cox Automotive, DoorDash, Kroger and Walmart.

The streamer also touted its Primetime Reach Guarantee. Roku is promising that it can deliver more viewers from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. than a top-five cable networks.

“Everything we do, from our first player to our latest Originals, is about getting you closer to your customers,” said David Eilenberg, Head of Content, Roku Media. “Many are renting you ad space, but only we’re building an entire ad-friendly world where viewer, content, and advertising come together at every step of the streamer’s journey.” 

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.