Dinner and a movie. Few things go better together.
Make it TV streaming and food delivery and you’ve got an evening of entertainment that’s both affordable and increasingly popular. In fact, according to Roku internal research, one-in-three Roku users order takeout or food delivery weekly.¹
Roku recently partnered with DoorDash to make these experiences more accessible than ever. Here’s how it works: Streamers see an ad for a restaurant — perhaps showing a juicy cheeseburger and crispy fries at a discount. They simply interact with the TV ad offer, receive the promotion through SMS or email, and are led to the storefront directly in the DoorDash app to redeem. DoorDash is also offering Roku users six free months of DashPass, its membership program with free delivery on eligible orders from thousands of restaurants, grocery stores, and retail stores.
To discuss the partnership, Lindsay Pullins, director of ad revenue partnerships at Roku, joined Peter Giordano, GM of ads strategy and platform at DoorDash, for a fireside chat at Brand Innovators Marketing Leadership Summit during SXSW. They discussed the rise of shoppable TV experiences and how this Roku-DoorDash pair-up offers something coveted by marketers — an ability to drive both upper funnel reach and awareness as well as lower funnel sales within the same activation.
Here are some takeaways from their conversation.
More than 70% people eat in front of the TV.² Our team at Roku wanted to create a convenient and interactive way for streamers to order with their TVs.
“TV has traditionally been a lean back, look at the TV screen in your living room experience,” said Pullins. “We’re seeing now that folks are engaging with their TV screens and interacting. We are doing a lot of innovation in that space, and we’re continuing to test and learn — which led us to the conversations with DoorDash to figure out how to blend streaming and interactive in a really cool user experience.”
Marketers have always been interested in increasing upper-funnel reach, ad frequency, and brand awareness. Many are now pressured to deliver direct attribution too. The DoorDash and Roku partnership is designed to give marketers the whole package. They can tap into Roku’s accounts on the largest screen in the home with sight, sound, motion and interactivity. Brands also get lower-funnel, closed-loop attribution proving that customers clicked their ad and followed through with a purchase.
Giordano said,
More than one-third (36%) of Roku users are interested in receiving interactive offers on their TVs, including a scannable QR code or text message.³ With such offerings still in their nascent stages, it’s important that these experiences are not clunky or cumbersome. Interacting with your TV should be as easy as it is on social media with a seamless path from discovery to purchase.
As Roku began working with DoorDash, Roku wanted to develop an offering that is additive to the streaming experience and natural to how people already make purchases.
“We’re not trying to teach consumers to do something they’re not accustomed to doing,” said Giordano.“There’s no new behavior to learn and they don’t have to miss a beat in the show they are watching. We’re really excited about the consumer experience.”
Although the DoorDash/Roku partnership has been live for less than two months, early results are strong. Wendy’s pioneered the new experience by offering Roku subscribers exclusive access to $5 off with any Wendy’s purchase of $15 or more.
“The conversion rate for people who click the link, redeem the offer, and check out from Wendy’s is very strong and higher than what we see in other marketing channels,” said Giordano. “It shows that someone who sees that ad on Roku and takes that action is a high-intent consumer.”
Watch the full fireside chat here to learn more and subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates from Roku Advertising.
¹ Roku Internal Survey, Restaurant Insights 2022 | Survey of 750+ Roku users from 5/16-5/28, 2022
² LA Times
³ Roku Internal Survey, Restaurant Insights 2022 | Survey of 750+ Roku users from 5/16-5/28, 2022