Connected TV ad spend in the retail media category is growing astronomically. From an estimated $813 million this year, Insider Intelligence estimates it will top $5 billion by 2027.¹
As with any emerging channel, best practices can seem elusive. Few brands handle their retail media strategy the same way. Some assign ownership to their internal shopper marketing team, often indicating a focus on lower funnel results. Others might rely on the expertise of agency partners. And despite the newness factor, retail media can also be handled by traditional media buyers who are typically focused on the upper funnel and maximizing reach.
One thing we know for sure: TV streaming is an essential component of any effective retail media plan. By combining the attention-grabbing power of television with the brains of digital, TV streaming offers a powerful canvas for brands’ retail media efforts.
Below, we highlight three reasons why TV streaming needs to be a part of your retail media strategy.
Meet your audience where they are: On TV streaming
As many advertisers know, linear viewership is dwindling.² In its place, consumers have taken up streaming. The time viewers 18+ spend streaming has more than tripled over the last five years.³ And as of last year, for the first time, TV streaming officially surpassed traditional television among A18-49.⁴
Meeting your audience where they are isn’t just about being present across every channel. A successful retail media strategy prioritizes the avenues where viewers are the most engaged and the most receptive to advertising. This requires constant attentiveness to consumer engagement trends. For example, consumers today are spending less time on once-popular social media platforms than they once did and more time with OTT services like TV streaming.⁵
Marketers are already calibrating to this new normal: Thirty-one percent plan to reallocate social budgets for CTV ad spend.⁶
Retail media network buyers are clearly leaning into CTV. The majority of RMN buyers –– at least 63% –– already invest in off-site display and video tactics like CTV, 15% more than other ad tactics.⁷ And another 32% of RMN buyers are considering leveraging CTV next year – more than any other channel.⁸
TV streaming data tied with shopper data drives results
A streaming ad campaign performs best when backed by powerful data. This is the advantage of Roku: We bring scaled first-party TV streaming data from our 75.8 million active accounts.⁹ Using this data with a brand’s own shopper data can drive results in ways linear TV could only dream of –– through niche targeting, personalized ads, and shoppable ad experiences.
The data-driven advantages of streaming don’t end with planning and strategy. Our brand partners also enjoy unprecedented insight into campaign impact. In a recent campaign with Red Baron Pizza, we started by using deterministic purchase data from our partner Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) to reach relevant households. After the campaign, we were able to match Roku ad exposure data with KPM sales data to see that the campaign had driven a 9.1% total uplift in household penetration.¹⁰ And the brand estimated that these exposures, only possible through the combined power of data, will result in $3.3 million in lifetime value for the brand.¹¹
“Retail media is our superpower, but knowing our consumers is only half the battle,” says Jenny Holleran, Group Director at Kroger Precision Marketing. “With Roku, we’ve been able to leverage the unique viewership of TV streaming to create solutions that matter for our brand partners and for our customers.”
TV streaming also opens up new ways to drive shoppable ad experiences right from the living room. Wendy’s worked with Roku and our partner DoorDash to bring on-demand delivery to their TV streaming ads. Unique click-to-order offers within Roku ads resulted in Wendy’s average order value that was 11% greater than for non-exposed customers.¹²
“As audiences shift from passive to active viewers, GroupM is thrilled to see Roku's continued progress creating shoppable experiences on the big screen and providing deterministic measurement to optimize business goals for our clients.” - Zaga Zeqiri, Director, Commerce Partnerships, GroupM
Full-funnel means full-funnel
When marketers think of retail media, they generally think about its ability to drive and measure sales. But retail media data can also support reach and brand awareness goals.¹³ Across Roku’s Commerce+ campaigns (KPM, Instacart, Walmart Connect), there was a positive lift for all tested brand metrics including brand awareness, brand favorability, and consideration intent.
“TV streaming partnerships engage the consumer in unprecedented ways, allowing brands to drive results from reach and awareness down through action and loyalty –– often with a single campaign,” says Lindsay Pullins, director of ad revenue strategy partnerships for Roku. “Brand marketers are only just beginning to appreciate the full power and opportunities of this space.”
Contact us to learn more about our Commerce+ Partners.
¹ eMarketer, Why retail media is the future of TV advertising, August 2023
² Nielsen, 2023
³ Roku analysis of Nielsen data
⁴ Based on average weekly reach | Roku analysis of Nielsen data, 2022
⁵ eMarketer, 2023
⁶ IAB, 2022 Video Ad Spend & 2023 Outlook Survey
⁷¯⁸ IAB, Outlook Survey, Nov 2022
⁹ Roku Internal Data, Q3 2023
¹⁰¯¹¹ Kroger Precision Marketing, 2022
¹² Roku Internal Data, 2023
¹³ Roku Kantar Norms Analysis, Commerce+ Brand Lift Studies, 2022-2023
