How do marketers know that their ads worked? It’s a question as old as advertising itself.
Now that TV streaming has gone mainstream, digital marketing tools have enabled marketers and agencies to measure TV ad success like never before.
In first-to-market and exclusive collaboration, Roku and Microsoft Advertising are taking ad performance attribution to a new level — measuring how Roku TV ads impact online searches and browsing behavior.
“We’re excited to announce our industry-first collaboration with Microsoft. For the first time ever, you’ll be able to see how TV ads, both linear and streaming, influence search and search purchase behavior,” said Alison Levin, Vice President of Ad Revenue and Marketing Solutions at Roku, during a webinar announcing the collaboration. (Watch it here)
The Roku-Microsoft Advertising collaboration gives marketers insight into how consumers research, consider, and ultimately purchase products. For example, a car company can learn if a TV streaming campaign led to an increase in generic searches for phrases such as “where to buy an SUV with a sunroof” or branded searches featuring the vehicle’s make or model.
“We’re going to take away the guesswork, take away the assumptions, and bring cold, hard facts to the table,” said Lynne Kjolso, Vice President, Global Advertising Business Team at Microsoft. Bing, which now averages 7 billion searches per month, brings real scale to this measurement opportunity.
With cookies on the verge of obsolescence, digital media decision makers are seeking new ways to measure the effectiveness of their advertising across devices. TV streaming is a bright spot in measurement, as it is not as reliant on cookie-based attribution. As such, insight into how streaming and search work together could have an influence on audience planning decisions going forward.
“We think we can help marketers solve this challenge of cross-device attribution,” said Kjolso, “and that is going to help them create much more solid strategies for cross-channel measurement and execution.”
The Roku-Microsoft Advertising collaboration has already shown incredible results in the retail and technology verticals. In initial tests, TV streaming ads delivered on Roku led to a higher percentage of users searching for the advertiser’s brand post-exposure, relative to linear TV ads. The research also found that TV streaming ads on Roku increase branded searches as well as advertiser clicks on search engine results pages, and that lift in searches and clicks are highest after a user is exposed to Roku TV streaming ads multiple times.
That’s not all.
“We also found that Roku TV streaming ads generate increased brand engagement as well as increased overall brand presence with users who may not have been exposed prior,” according to Addison Nitto, Senior Global Analytical Lead, Financial Services at Microsoft.
Here are the metrics for each vertical:
Megan Barnicle, Analytical Lead at Microsoft Advertising added that Roku TV streaming ads generated a positive lift across all analyzed timeframes.
“Post exposure search and click lift was highest in both verticals beyond one month, indicating that Roku TV streaming ads drive lasting impact on influencing consumers in both verticals,” said Barnicle.
The takeaway for marketers? TV streaming ads drive consumers to take action and begin their purchase journey. Marketers can win by activating Roku TV streaming ads alongside an evergreen search strategy on Microsoft.
“You can increase affinity for your brand through TV streaming ads on Roku. Now is a great time to reach users who are streaming content,” said Nitto. “Strong keyword coverage in searches is important to capture users who are actively seeking your brand after post-exposure.”
In the next coming months, Roku and Microsoft Advertising are working together to deliver even more combined data and insights across verticals. To learn more about how Roku is partnering with Microsoft Advertising, watch the webinar.