It was one of the most exciting insights from our recent Video-on-Demand Evolution 2024 study: 70% of streamers have taken action in response to a TV ad, including navigating to a brand website or adding items to a shopping basket, and they are 30% more likely than non-streamers to have done so.
But our study also identified an emerging behaviour – Canadians are now discovering new products and engaging with brands through the TV.
Our Video-on-Demand Evolution 2024 study found that 17% of streamers have scanned a QR code from the TV screen, 13% have downloaded a promoted app, and 10% have entered personal details into the TV to receive offers. These figures rise even more for Roku streamers, as shown in the image below.
According to the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, brand growth depends on nurturing mental availability – where customers can easily bring the brand to mind and recognise it quickly – and physical availability – the ability to buy from the brand in a variant, quantity and price they need.
Shoppable TV ad formats bring these two elements together, nurturing brand awareness with personalised campaigns, and introducing interactivity, so that advertisers can be the first brand of choice at the moment of purchase.
1. Roku offers shoppable ad formats that are simple for users
Shoppable ad formats available on Roku in Canada.
Simple, seamless, shoppable. That is the best way to sum up Roku’s ad offering in Canada.
From the customer’s perspective, shoppable ads make it easy to receive the brand offers that actually interest them, get to the brand website at the touch of a button, or immediately install an app they want. This eliminates the friction of entering online search engines, or searching the Roku Streaming Store to download a channel.
For the advertiser, the path to purchase or install is shorter, and there is clear intent from the customer to engage with the brand, having pressed OK on their Roku remote. By delivering the offer immediately to email, or by taking the consumer straight to the brand website, the customer bypasses searching and potentially not finding the product, or even worse, potentially heading to a competitor.
Shoppable ads on Roku ensure a combination of both brand building and direct response is met. The ads showcase the advertiser’s video in its full non-skippable length, but with an additional clickable overlay or QR code to receive the offer.
These formats demonstrate a true shoppable experience at the click of a button. That is the beauty of TV streaming, traditional linear TV can only offer a video ad without the ability to engage and convert customers.
2. Customers are accustomed to shopping through screens
Although consumers have been happy to return to stores in the past 12 months, Canadians like the convenience of online shopping, and continue to shop on mobile – according to research by PwC, 42% of Canadian consumers shop on their phone at least once a month, a percentage the firm expects to increase.
We’re used to the ease with which we can buy our weekly groceries online, different products from social platforms, or order takeout for delivery through an app. The ability to shop through the TV, the largest screen in the house, is the next step. For the advertiser, the opportunity is that the audience is already there, and they’re engaged.
Canadian TV streamers are watching an average of 22 hours of TV content a week, according to our Video-on-Demand Evolution 2024 study. Meanwhile, adoption of Smart TVs is on the rise, and TV viewing as a whole is heading towards TV streaming in ad-supported environments, with nearly three in five (59%) watching BVOD, AVOD or ad-supported SVOD services in an average month – a marked increase from 52% in 2022.
That’s a sizable window for opportunity for brands creating the right ads, served to the right people at the right time. Shoppable TV makes it possible for TV streamers to make these purchases at the moment of inspiration.
3. Shoppable ads have measurable outcomes
An example of a scannable video ad on Roku.
When multi-channel performance agency Peasant Media, on behalf of a mobile-first financial platform, used Roku’s scannable ads, the QR campaign achieved an 8.9x lift in brand awareness, and a massive 51% conversion lift in new account creation.
QR codes are evidently delivering for brands. But Roku’s other innovative ad products bring consumers even further down the purchase funnel, without the need for opening up their mobile camera to scan.
Doordash/Wendy’s video ad, with clickable overlay to receive offer
Wendy's and partner DoorDash used Roku's interactive and marquee ads to build brand awareness and loyalty. For five weeks, the ads ran with a clickable overlay, offering viewers $5 off orders of $15+, if they took action with their Roku remote, with offers being delivered straight to the streamers' mobile.
Those who were exposed to the campaign had an 11% greater average order value than non-exposed customers and lifted return on ad spend by 14%. The campaign found new customers, reactivated existing ones and created repeat customers.
More than two-thirds (78%) of the reached audience hadn’t seen the campaign on linear, demonstrating the potential of TV Streaming in brand building.
