Case Study: Blu Dot surpasses 2,000% ROAS with Roku Ads Manager & Shopify

Key takeaways:

The challenge:

Furniture is the opposite of an impulse buy. Consumers take a long time to research, seek advice, compare prices, and weigh options before clicking the buy button. For brands in the category, that extended purchase journey requires a big focus on return on advertising spend (ROAS).

When Blu Dot, a modern home furniture designer, manufacturer, and retailer with a strong e-commerce business, first began testing CTV advertising in 2024, it was determined to understand the effectiveness of all paid streaming ad platforms and ad types. ROAS was a critical metric.

Here’s the story of Blu Dot’s CTV journey and how Roku earned its place in the company’s always-on media mix.

A small test that ran hot

With a small trial budget, Blu Dot’s initial campaign reached more than 211,000 households and delivered 8,486 page-view conversions. Blu Dot began seeing positive results quickly, just two weeks after testing began. Within four weeks it had achieved 1,010% ROAS.

Blu Dot quickly recognized the power of CTV when combined with a full-funnel design: By integrating awareness and purchase goals, CTV can drive performance even for a big-ticket category like furniture.

The strong early results made it a no-brainer for Blu Dot to scale with Roku. And the timing was perfect since Blu Dot's annual sale was just a few weeks away.

Leveraging the Roku Ads Manager Shopify Integration, Blu Dot bypassed complex technical setups. This native connection allowed the brand to track full-funnel attribution, linking CTV ad views on the big screen directly to purchases made on mobile or desktop devices. As a result, the campaign launched in days, not weeks.

“For CTV campaigns, Roku has been a top performer in driving ROAS. Comping to our other platforms, we have seen really strong ROAS, especially during our annual sale period. We have also seen highly efficient CPMs, lower than any other CTV partner we've worked with,” Claire Folkestad, Paid Media Strategist, Blu Dot

Scaling up for Blu Dot's annual sale 

To prepare for the big event, Blu Dot moved quickly from testing to full-funnel orchestration. It used awareness ads to build consideration and retargeting ads to convert high-intent site visitors into buyers. Sale-specific messaging created urgency, while Action Ads brought an interactive element.

With nearly half of all US streaming happening on a Roku device, Blu Dot partnered directly with Roku for direct access to millions of streaming households. It targeted HGTV viewers, renters, affluent homeowners, and home improvement shoppers, but it excluded past purchasers entirely to keep the focus squarely on net new growth.

When the annual sale started, Blu Dot didn’t just sit back and open its wallet. Based on Roku’s recommendations, Blu Dot refined its audience parameters during the first week of the campaign. For example, they removed age and income constraints to expand reach and shifted more of its budget to custom audiences and retargeting, where intent was the strongest.

“It was super easy to integrate between Roku and Shopify, making campaign set-up easy and straightforward. It was quick to set up campaigns in platform and to measure analytics/conversion tracking. Knowing Roku was integrated with Shopify made for a seamless, easy launch,” said Folkestad

The results were immediate and powerful. Purchase conversions skyrocketed from nine per day to 50. Blu Dot increased their investment by 10x, which delivered 2,308% ROAS and more than 50,000 page-view conversions.

Compared to its other CTV partners, Roku Ads Manager drove a 91% higher ROAS during its annual sale, with lower CPMs to boot.

Results: From pilot to permanent 

Blu Dot’s campaign with Roku Ads Manager turned the brand into a CTV believer. The annual sale ended, but Blu Dot’s streaming campaigns did not. What started as a test evolved into an always-on performance engine for Blu Dot.

Using Roku Ads Manager, the campaign moved from a pilot to a permanent performance engine. Here are the key performance indicators (KPIs) from the 11-week phase 2 period, reaching an overall ROAS of 2,308%.

For Blu Dot and other considered-purchase brands, CTV can be so much more than an awareness play. It can drive tangible, measurable impact.

Interested in learning how Roku Ads Manager can help you reach new audiences? Let’s talk: