• Roku Positions Itself for Broader Role in Ad Buying with New Platform

    Roku has launched OneView Ad Platform, a demand side platform (DSP), enabling ad buyers with a set of self-serve tools to create and manage campaigns across screens and ad formats. The move positions Roku to further increase the value of viewing data from its 40 million active accounts to help ad buyers allocate their TV, OTT and digital spending more effectively. As Dan Robbins, VP of Ad Marketing and Partner Solutions told me in a briefing “OneView Ad Platform is informed by TV but built to be omnichannel.” Launch partners include Drizly, Experian, Intuit TurboTax, Lexus and others.

    Roku believes OneView Ad Platform gives advertisers reach into approximately 80% of U.S. homes across OTT, desktop and mobile. OneView fully integrates dataxu, the DSP which Roku acquired last November, with viewership and identity data that has been core to Roku’s advertising value proposition. Roku uses automatic content recognition (ACR) technology for linear TV in its smart TVs to understand what programming and ads viewers have been exposed to.

    The data helps advertisers build OTT campaigns for incremental reach to certain audience segments. OneView Ad Platform means buyers can create and manage campaigns both inside and outside the Roku environment, and in display and mobile as well as OTT. Dan noted that Roku remains committed to being an open platform, maintaining dozens of relationships with other demand and supply side platforms and IAB standards.

    Roku said that over 100 unique segments are included in the new OneView Ad Platform so buyers can target proprietary audiences. Dan emphasized OneView Ad Platform is meant for both TV and digital buyers, but noted that all are increasingly motivated by performance and scale. OneView Ad Platform provides guaranteed outcomes for both certain KPIs like web site traffic or downloads, as well as in demo deliveries based on Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings.

    OneView Ad Platform also offers instant OTT ad inventory forecasting, which Dan said is particularly useful currently as different DMAs have different reopening strategies for local economies which can prompt varied campaign approaches.

    OneView Ad Platform allows Roku to expand the scope of its relationship with ad buyers, further optimizing the value of Roku’s viewership data. As time spent with OTT sources in Roku increases, so too will the value of this data will and ability to reach these audiences, making OneView Ad Platform a smart strategic move.