Marketers face a challenge today: The average U.S. Roku household now sees over 3,200 TV ads per month¹. Great video ads alone don’t guarantee your brand will cut through the clutter.
That’s why today we’re sharing four key strategies to make brand storytelling unmissable. There’s a secret sauce to streaming success that brands should know: The magic of Roku is the full platform experience, not just the pieces. Here are four key steps to make your brand shine on TV:
1. Own the entire streamer’s journey
What does it mean for your brand to be unmissable on TV? It means showing up in every moment of discovery, joy, and inspiration – from the time users “power on” their devices to the “purchase complete” message received after buying a product just advertised. It’s so much more than renting ad space. That’s why we call it the streamer’s journey.
This year, we’re adding creative depth to the streamer’s journey, giving viewers and advertisers new ways to build, experiment, delight, and explore with Showrooms.
Picture this: An automotive brand is launching a new model, so the brand takes over Roku’s Marquee — prime real estate on the home screen for more than 71 million active Roku accounts.² That’s more than the number of people who watched the Oscars last year, which means the brand can achieve big impact, quickly.
When streamers press “OK” on the Marquee, they’re led into the advertiser’s Showroom to learn more about features, customize their dream car, and test drive right from the comfort of their living room.
And with the help of data from Roku’s Commerce+ partners, the advertiser can understand where Showroom visitors are in the auto purchase journey and whether they’re more likely to purchase their car over a competitor.
Roku leveraged Showroom (pictured below) to market our own products. The experience allows streamers to explore our new line of televisions. We’ll open our first branded Showrooms later this year just in time for the holidays—and expand to other retail and shopping categories, including apparel, early next year.
2. Turn your brand into the entertainment
Roku has long worked with leading entertainment brands to build their businesses in streaming. Now, all types of brands can become the entertainment in TV, too.
The first step is understanding which stories and messages resonate. TV streaming platforms have unmatched insights into what makes content “can’t-miss”—and how and where to meet your audience.
Brands can leverage Roku’s platform to share their stories beyond digital and social platforms and reach a valuable and otherwise unreachable audience. That’s why when American Express launched season 2 of Business Class, its series about real-life lessons from real-life entrepreneurs, it launched on Roku.
Brands are increasingly becoming more central to entertainment, from the upcoming Barbie movie to 2023’s Air, a film about Nike’s pursuit of Michael Jordan. Streaming platforms like ours can help you be the entertainment—with your brand as the star.
Ally Bank and Hello Sunshine recently created Side Hustlers, a five-episode series celebrating investors helping young women turn their side hustles into main hustles. As the first all-digital bank, Ally wants to uplift its communities and inspire tomorrow’s business leaders.
Advertising experiences with real purpose, designed to drive real business results. That’s only possible with the data, distribution, and storytelling of a TV platform like Roku.
3. Harness the power of data and machine learning
Data and creativity work better together. Now, we’re offering marketers access to a treasure trove of data and machine learning capabilities to help refine their creative decisions in ways that weren’t previously possible on TV.
For instance, a streaming service is using new machine learning capabilities from Roku to suggest new creatives on Roku’s Marquee. We’re conducting real-time, multi-variate tests to learn what ideas are driving viewership and tune-in.
Imagine having insight into the choices people make when navigating their phone’s home screen? We can do that on television too.
4. Make your ads shoppable
Social platforms have taught users to shop their feeds. At Roku, we believe shopping on TV can be as easy as it is on social.
Streaming advertising often wins with simple and intuitive experiences. For example, our Action Ads with Walmart let viewers press OK on Roku ads to learn more and buy directly from their TV screens. Walmart ships the product to their homes. No QR codes. No numbers to punch in.
And after millions of interactions with brands such as Enfamil and Crest, our data and tech are driving performance up to 10X better than QR codes.
Television has always built brands. But streaming introduces opportunities never seen on TV — opportunities that shorten the path to purchase down to an instant.
Unmissable is possible with the power of a platform
These four keys to creative success—embracing the streamer’s journey, thinking like an entertainment brand, harnessing data and machine learning, and making ads shoppable—help brands break through the clutter, engage viewers, and drive results.
As television evolves, Roku is here to support you. Our goal is to make sure that your brand story gets in front of the audiences that matter most to you. Think of our platform as the palette to make your creativity truly unmissable.
Contact us to learn more about Roku’s platform and creative offerings.
¹Roku internal data. US Roku Households, Streaming and Linear TV viewership, April 2023
²Roku internal data as of March 2023
