With its ad revenue already surging, Roku has come up with a way to lure more marketers into the OTT purchasing—show them what they’re missing by keeping their ad buys on linear TV.
The streaming company has announced Activation Insights, a new tool in its Ad Insights Suite of analytics products for advertisers. Culling data from Roku’s 29.1 million active accounts, Activation Insights compares the reach an advertiser is currently getting in linear TV with that it would get if it targeted the same audience in OTT.
According to ad agency conglomerate Magna Global, 29% of all TV viewing takes place on OTT platforms, but OTT platforms garner only 3% of ad spending.
Roku reported $151.4 million in platform revenue in the first quarter, up 77%year over year. With player sales still growing, as well, Roku expects to exceed $1 billion in revenue this year.
“Smart marketers are significantly increasing investments in OTT to reflect the dramatic shift to streaming,” said Scott Rosenberg, senior VP and GM of platform business for Roku, in a statement. “By adding the ability to tie advertising performance on linear with a specific audience that advertisers can gain on OTT, we are addressing a long-standing industry challenge for OTT media planning. We believe it’s no longer a question of when advertising budgets will shift to streaming but how much.”
