Key Takeaways:
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PureGym used Roku Ads Manager to support its ambitious New York expansion, reaching prospective members near 50 new locations.
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A two-part strategy paired video ads for broad awareness with retargeted Roku Action Ads, inviting viewers to sign up using their Roku remotes.
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The two-month campaign generated nearly 1,000 purchases, nearly 150,000 page views, and the audience was unique – reaching nearly 400,000 viewers who were not exposed to its YouTube videos.
The Challenge: Build demand in a new market
Breaking into New York’s crowded fitness market is quite the workout.
PureGym, a leading UK fitness brand, was preparing to introduce its affordable, flexible membership model to New York by opening 50 new locations. The growth opportunity was significant, but so was the competition. Across the five boroughs, consumers can already choose from high-end fitness clubs, boutique studios, and established budget-friendly chains.
To succeed, PureGym needed to accomplish a few things:
- Build awareness among fitness-minded New Yorkers living near its new locations
- Reengage people who had shown interest but had not yet purchased a membership, offering a simple path to join
- Reduce waste by excluding new and current members
Paid social was an obvious option, but rising CPMs and intense competition for attention meant the message might gain little more than a passing glance in someone’s endless scroll, so while that was a part of the mix, PureGym turned to a bigger screen.
In short, PureGym needed a channel that could complement its existing digital strategy, capture attention in a compelling way, and connect brand-building with measurable action. So it turned to connected TV ads with Roku.
While we can gain a lot of efficient reach in what we’re doing on YouTube, we’re always running the risk of repeatedly advertising to a demographic who will only watch YouTube and nothing else. By ignoring other players in the CTV space, we sacrifice incremental reach and an entirely separate catchment of customers that are specific to those channels.
- Conor Chriscoli, Programmatic Display Manager, PureGym
The dual strategy: raise awareness and drive conversions
PureGym used Roku’s self-serve platform, Roku Ads Manager, to structure its CTV campaign around two complementary objectives: building awareness among people who are new to the brand and driving conversion among higher-intent audiences.
“We were aware of Roku’s position in the US market, and with the ad technology they have available through their products in the home, we knew that there was a lot of incremental reach available outside of what we were already doing in our video media mix,” added Chriscoli.
Approximately 80% of the budget went to video ads designed to introduce the brand to prospective members. Think 15 or 30-second spots shown while people streamed TV shows and movies on their Roku device, using services like Peacock, The Roku Channel, and Hulu. The campaign targeted adults aged 18–44 across 170 ZIP codes surrounding PureGym’s new locations.
The remaining 20% supported interactive Roku Action Ads targeting those who previously visited PureGym’s website. These ads featured a clear incentive: 50% off the first month and a $0 joining fee. An on-screen prompt invited viewers to sign up by simply pressing the OK button on their Roku remotes. Instead of relying on viewers to remember the offer, find their phone, or search for the website later, the format turned attention into immediate action.
By using Roku, we have flexibility by not having to commit large quantities of our TV budget at once. It’s undoubtedly a lot more cost-effective, especially when you’ve got an in-house team across multiple countries that’s able to collaborate quite easily. To be able to turn around a campaign build in under a day alleviates quite a lot of pressure on other parts of the business.
- Conor Chriscoli, Programmatic Display Manager, PureGym
PureGym also used audience controls in Roku Ads Manager to exclude current members or people who had purchased within the previous 90 days. The team also installed a frequency cap of 10 impressions per seven-day period to maintain visibility without overexposing the same households and ensuring new households were seeing the ads.
By inviting viewers to sign up with their Roku remotes, PureGym shortened the path from interest to action.
The results: incremental reach and more members
Over the 54-day campaign, PureGym generated 963 attributed membership purchases at a $62.23 cost per acquisition.
The campaign also drove meaningful activity beyond the final conversion. It generated 149,276 page views, bringing a substantial pool of prospective members to PureGym’s website. Plus, 9,590 add-to-cart and adding payment-information events indicated that many visitors progressed well beyond casual browsing and toward membership purchase.
Roku also helped PureGym reach audiences that its existing video strategy was not capturing. According to PureGym’s platform data, the campaign reached 390,000 viewers who were not exposed through YouTube. That incremental reach came without a higher media cost and a lower CPM than other channels.
In total, the campaign delivered more than 7 million impressions while extending PureGym’s reach to streaming audiences YouTube could not reach on its own.
In just 54 days, PureGym drove 963 attributed membership purchases while reaching audiences beyond its existing video strategy.
Turning a New York foothold into nationwide growth
With a foothold in New York, PureGym is now expanding into other U.S. markets, with Roku advertising set to play an important role in its growth strategy.
For brands opening new locations or entering new markets, the lesson is clear: Roku Ads build demand, reach audiences beyond existing channels, allow hyperlocal targeting by zip-code level, and give prospective customers a direct way to respond.
Ready to put streaming TV to work for your growth plans? Explore Roku Ads Manager and launch your first campaign with as little as $500.
02Source: TiVo Video Trends Report, Q2 2024; Accenture: Reinvent for Growth in the Media Industry, 202