Streaming TV generates a flood of viewership data – but there’s a catch. By the time that data reaches media planners, the campaign has probably already moved on.
Horizon Media and Roku are trying to change that dynamic.
On Wednesday, Horizon announced a direct integration with Roku to pipe its TV data into blu., the agency’s homegrown data and intelligence platform. The duo asserts that this is more than just another data integration; it’s a joint product road map to tackle the persistent challenges in streaming TV ad buying.
Brands need to “connect the dots” between when someone sees an ad and when they take an action, said Samantha Rose, EVP and Head of integrated investment and programmatic at Horizon. They have a better chance of achieving their intended business outcomes if they can act on those insights while a campaign is still in flight.
Because Horizon and its clients get Roku’s TV data “in house,” as Rose put it, they can apply it earlier in the media planning process, which improves targeting and optimization.
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Before, Horizon would have to request campaign information and insights from Roku throughout a campaign, Rose said, “like we would [with] any media partner.”
But “now,” she said, “we’re going to have that [data] on an ongoing basis, in close to real time.”
Getting Roku’s TV data earlier helps brands more accurately reach their target audiences across Roku’s ecosystem of media sellers. Improved data access should “really reduce the delay between observing meaningful campaign signals and acting on [them],” said Sal Candela, VP of global agency partnerships at Roku.
But speed isn’t the only advantage.
Roku’s device and audience data sets allow Horizon to plan, activate and measure media based on “a much larger and deterministic data set,” Rose said, “which we need to make sure we are being more specific and accurate in measurement.” That’s a noteworthy shift away from panel-based audience data, which is more probabilistic by nature.
A+E Global Media, for example, expects the stronger integration between Roku and Horizon’s data to help it expand its audience reach to more relevant viewers.
“The challenge we’re grappling with today is that viewership data is incredibly siloed,” said Elizabeth Luciano, EVP of marketing at A+E. Centralizing disparate data sources into a common intelligence platform helps create a more comprehensive view of how people watch content, she said.
For instance, A+E expects to have a better sense of which audiences generate higher conversion rates based on information about viewing habits, such as genre preferences, Luciano said. From there, A+E can fine-tune which audiences and genres to target – and at what frequency – to grow its viewership base and keep people more engaged.
In short, she said, advertisers get a clearer picture of how viewers watch and a faster path to discovering which ones are worth reaching again.
