How do TV streaming ads impact online and search behaviors? New research from Roku and Microsoft offers critical new insights.
Microsoft Advertising and Roku Advertising recently announced an exclusive collaboration to give marketers a clearer view into how people research, consider, and ultimately purchase products. One of our first projects was an analysis of consumer behaviors across Roku TV streaming ads, Microsoft Audience ads, and searches on Bing!
How do different channels impact the path to purchase?
When people see a Microsoft Audience ad or Roku TV streaming ad, does it incentivize them to search online or click on a brand’s ad? What is the impact of these ad formats working together? To answer those questions, we measured online actions driven by media buys across both Microsoft and Roku.
The analysis led to some fascinating and actionable insights that are now available in our new whitepaper Reimagining Cross-Channel Measurement. Here’s one: TV streaming drives people to search online.¹ In fact, Roku TV streaming ads lead to a 9% increase in brand searches per user and an 11% increase in clicks per user.²
It shows that TV streaming isn’t just an upper-funnel awareness tactic, it leads to down funnel actions too.
We also found that TV streaming ads show the highest lift in searches and clicks after users are exposed to an ad multiple times. While advertisers may think frequency capping is necessary to prevent repetitive exposure, our analysis determined that exposure to a Roku TV streaming ad (11 times) drove higher lift than any other frequency.
The whitepaper includes plenty of other insights, like the rate that people search for a brand or product after seeing a combination of Roku ads and Microsoft Audience ads; and the rate of clicks on Microsoft Audience ads after consumers are exposed to Roku ads. It also shows how consumers respond to ads differently depending on the industry vertical of the brand being advertised. The specific findings have new implications for tech, retail and travel marketers.
How Microsoft and Roku are helping advertisers connect the dots
In an era when people engage with brands across an ever-growing number of devices, media, and platforms, customer journeys are anything but linear, and marketers need help to understand how consumers discover and buy products.
Microsoft and Roku offer a combined solution that will provide better cross-channel measurement.
Here’s an example: Let’s say a wellness company advertises a yoga mat on Roku. Through our partnership with Microsoft Advertising, we can now tell if that Roku ad led to online searches for the specific brand or related searches like “yoga mats.”
In a post-cookie world, such insight is incredibly valuable. But that’s just the beginning. The data analysis available through our partnership empower marketers to bring TV strategy and digital strategy teams together, so they can leverage consumer behavior insights to power full-funnel campaigns.
Lynne Kjolso, VP of global partner and retail media at Microsoft Advertising explained that the combined offering is a game-changer.
“Together, our platforms are a marketer's superpower. For the first time, our advertisers can understand and measure the role TV streaming plays in shaping online and search behaviors. We're honored to be collaborating with Roku.”
The partnership is so unique because it helps marketers understand how consumers interact with digital ads across platforms to an extent not achieved before, said Alison Levin, VP, ad revenue & marketing solutions at Roku.
Download the whitepaper to unlock the full insights.
¹ Microsoft + Roku Internal study data from Retail/Technology/Travel Advertisers, April-July 2022
² Microsoft + Roku Internal study data, examined MSAN exposures from 17 clients within the Retail vertical, 5 clients within Travel vertical, and 14 within Technology vertical, all in congruence with advertiser agnostic search activity, April-July 2022.
