Roku on Wednesday introduced Activation Insights, a new tool designed to show advertisers who they’re missing on traditional linear TV, and who they can reach on OTT.
Roku says it can offer unduplicated reach on its platform, and give a boost to traditional media campaigns. Alison Levin, vice president of ad sales and strategy at Roku, said the product can help address the issues with ad budgeting for the shift to streaming. Brands can get closer to 100% intended audience reach by adding OTT to linear TV planning or shifting specific dollars from current TV budgets to OTT.
“With Activation Insights, brands can now reach those hard to find light TV viewers and cord cutters by understanding potential lift to linear campaign reach that can be obtained on Roku’s platform,” Levin said.
Roku is one of many companies working to close the gap between OTT viewership and OTT advertising spend. The company cited figures from Magna showing that almost 30% of viewing is now in OTT, but less than 3% of ad spend is allocated for OTT.
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Levin said that Activation Insights is an extension of Roku’s Reach Insights capability that allows a brand to calculate the unduplicated incremental audience it gains on OTT. With the launch, Roku is offering brands and agencies first-party data and insights from the 29 million active accounts on its platform.
Roku said its Reach Insights measurement tool has been used by companies including Baskin Robbins and RE/MAX. The company said it found that 86% of people ages 18-49 who saw a Baskin Robbins ad on the Roku platform did not see the ad on linear TV, leading to a 10.6% incremental reach. Similarly, 81% of users ages 25-54 who saw a RE/MAX ad on the Roku platform did not see the ad on linear TV, leading to a 9.2% incremental reach.
“Roku’s tool helps show us just how effective OTT is at reaching our advertisers' valuable consumers. It gives us a detailed look behind the GRP (gross rating point), allowing us to identify key audiences we’re missing or over/under exposed to linear TV ads but that can be effectively reached on their Roku devices,” said Michael Piner, senior vice president of video and data drive investments at MullenLowe, in a statement.