On Wednesday, Roku became the latest streaming company to unveil a self-serve ad platform. Roku Ads Manager, as it’s called, is part of Roku’s bid to reach new CTV buyer demand.
Self-serve is a rising trend in CTV land. Paramount launched its own self-serve ad manager over the summer, for example, and Disney expanded its self-serve campaign manager beyond Hulu last year.
But Roku is pitching its ad platform as a way for advertisers to buy and optimize campaigns across all the streaming inventory on Roku, not just individual streaming services, said Louqman Parampath, Roku’s VP of product management.
Ogee, an organic skincare and makeup brand, is using Roku Ads Manager to break into streaming. The brand spends heavily on social media, but social acquisition costs continue to go up, and Ogee needs to reach new audiences both efficiently and quickly.
“It always felt like a big leap to go from mostly paid social to advertising on TV,” Ogee Co-Founder and CMO Alex Stark told AdExchanger. But Ogee decided to work with Roku to kickstart its streaming ads so it could target commercial spots across a wide array of networks and streaming services.
Other brands using Roku Ads Manager at launch include Ice Shaker and P-nuff Crunch.
Inside Roku Ads Manager
With Roku Ads Manager, advertisers can refine campaigns for specific geolocations, TV networks or audience segments to target. Advertisers can also import creative assets from other channels, including social media, if that’s their preferred creative.
Buyers can optimize campaigns based on intended outcomes, such as site visits, app installs and product purchases, Parampath said. Reach is also an option buyers can choose, though Roku expects its ad manager to attract more performance-oriented advertisers, because they actively seek out self-serve CTV platforms, he added.
Perhaps most importantly, Stark said, brands can target their audiences across all the streaming inventory that lives on Roku, which includes major streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Max and Peacock, while controlling their budget allocation in a manner that’s similar to paid social.
Whichever way a buyer chooses to target, Parampath said, Roku Ads Manager creates campaign plans to reach as many users as possible who are likely to act on a brand’s desired outcome.
And speaking of action, Roku’s self-serve platform has attribution tailored for performance advertisers, Parampath said, including the ability to drop tracking pixels on cross-channel streaming campaigns. Roku Ads Manager also includes mobile measurement partners such as AppsFlyer.
The shoppable TV angle
Does it even count as streaming news nowadays if it isn’t shoppable?
In addition to traditional 15- and 30-second commercial spots, buyers can also use Roku’s ad manager to access Roku’s Action Ads offering, which overlays calls to action, such as a QR code or prompt to download an app. A brand, for example, might overlay a prompt to redeem a product coupon or a discount code, Parampath said, or encourage users to look for a store location nearby.
One reason Ogee is trying Roku’s campaign manager is the availability of shoppable video ads, Stark said. Interactive ads introduce more attribution to streaming ads, which is important because measurement is historically difficult for ads running on the big screen on the wall, Stark said.
Roku Ads Manager also has an integration with Shopify. Merchants can run shoppable ads on Roku that allow viewers to purchase items from Shopify using Roku remotes.
Streaming distributors and publishers have foisted shoppable TV on as many viewers and advertisers as possible. By introducing more ways to attribute ads directly to the TV screen, publishers can justify higher CPMs while buyers get a better idea of how their ads actually performed. Roku, for one, has been rolling out quite a few interactive and shoppable ad units in the past couple of years, including a full-screen takeover that allows Roku users to click around a virtual catalog of an advertiser’s products.
Initially, Roku Ads Manager will include Roku’s Action Ads in addition to instream video inventory.
By pairing broad reach with engaging ad formats, Stark said, Roku’s new campaign manager can give CTV first-timers a chance to reach new customers without sacrificing the targeting they know and love on social media and the open web.
