In recent years, automatic content recognition (ACR) has emerged as a critical tool for marketers to gain a detailed understanding of the content and ads their desired audiences view across linear TV, streaming, and gaming environments.
Here at Roku, our history with ACR goes way back. We recently won an Emmy in Technology & Engineering for the role our teams have played in developing and rolling out ACR at scale. These teams came to Roku through a series of acquisitions — of Enswers, Gracenote ACR, Zeitera, and Sorenson — assets that formally became part of Roku in April 2021 when we acquired Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising business.
The window ACR provides into viewing behavior has the power to transform how marketers approach TV ad planning and measurement, says Virginie De Bel Air, Roku’s director of product management.
“It can help marketers optimize campaigns and give them a full sense of what's happening on the Roku screen, regardless of whether viewers are coming from linear or streaming,” De Bel Air says. “That's the power of ACR."
We spoke to De Bel Air about Roku’s privacy-preserving system to ACR, how marketers are using ACR data today, and how the technology may inform the future of measurement.
It starts with a robust reference catalog of content. In our case, we have an extensive library of linear channels, advertisements, and games.
If a Roku TV Viewer has opted-in to ACR data collection and is watching TV, for instance on their cable box, or playing a game on their console, we take a fingerprint of that content and match it to our catalog. This allows us to understand on a second-by-second basis what content viewers watched on linear TV, what ads they saw, and how much of an ad they viewed. We can also understand what games they played.
Such granular measurement is unprecedented. It simply did not exist before the invention of ACR. In those days, advertisers’ understanding of what people watch on linear was limited to the Nielsen panel, representing 42,000 households in the US, and data from set-top box providers.¹ These sources have inherent blind spots. For instance, the Nielsen panel is not great at measuring the long tail, and set-top box data only represents pay TV viewers and not viewers watching free TV via their antenna. Additionally, the set-top box might still be on even if the TV is off, leading to data inaccuracies.
We have a great content catalog and robust Emmy-winning tech, but what really sets Roku ACR apart is its unparalleled scale. As the #1 selling smart TV OS in the U.S. and with around 40% TV unit share, we have the greatest reach among TV OS providers.² This scale is underpinned by robust first-party data Roku users share with us when they register.
Roku ACR data can be used in planning, activation, and measurement. Roku can help advertisers understand who they reached on linear, as well as who they did not reach. Based on this knowledge, advertisers can activate campaigns on Roku Media specifically targeting those unreached audiences and anti-targeting those already exposed on linear. This greatly helps advertisers optimize their reach and frequency, reducing wasted spend.
ACR is also used as one of the signals to help create rich behavioral reach segments, like heavy sports viewers. Finally, we apply ACR in conjunction with reporting and identity, enriching our insights and helping us ensure ads are relevant.
We're focusing on expanding our coverage. For instance, we have been investing in expanding our political ad coverage in preparation for the 2024 US presidential election. We will make this additional data set available in the clean room to strategic advertisers and agencies.
With gaming, we're just starting to scratch the surface. For instance, in the U.S., more than 50% of the devices connected to Roku Smart TVs are gaming consoles.³ With ACR, we know which games are being played on those consoles and for instance can help game publishers promote a new game release to players who previously played their games in the case of a new game in a franchise or players of a certain game genre, like players of Action Role-Playing Game (RPG).
ACR will play a big role in measurement. With the shift to streaming and the rise of ad-supported VOD and FAST channels, measurement is fragmented, making it hard for brands to understand their unduplicated reach across media. I believe that Roku ACR because of its reach as #1 TV OS in the U.S., and it's tied to first-party data can play a big role in that third-party measurement.
"Hacks" on Max, is such a fun show. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder are so good in it. I also watch “Tiny House Hunting” on TRC, I find people making the transition to tiny house living and a smaller footprint fascinating. I am a San Francisco city girl at heart but with the fantasy of one day owning a tiny house somewhere close to nature.
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¹ Nielsen
² Q1 2023
³ Internal Roku Data, 2023