Gen Z has reshaped the beauty industry by challenging brands to rethink how they develop and market products. This cohort appreciates quality ingredients and brands that embrace inclusivity, and they want to support companies that connect with them in authentic ways.
It goes without saying that Gen Z audiences are digitally native. If beauty brands advertise on linear TV, their Gen Z customers might never see them at all. That’s because Gen Z is streaming instead. In fact, TV streaming now reaches 70% of people ages 18-49, compared to 65% for traditional TV.¹ And Roku households (containing someone A18-24) spend more time streaming TV (14 hours per week)² than individuals A16-25 do on social platforms like TikTok (12.4 hours), YouTube (5.8 hours) or Instagram ( 3.8 hours).³ One in four active Roku households contain someone aged 18-24, meaning it’s fertile ground for reaching those important young buyers who likely aren’t watching traditional TV at all.⁴
On social media, Gen Z looks to beauty influencers on YouTube and TikTok for makeup tutorials and product recommendations. In response, beauty brands have leaned into social ads and influencer partnerships. But many are missing a golden opportunity to compliment those strategies with TV streaming campaigns. The numbers are clear: Almost all (96%) Gen Z adults in the United States subscribe to at least one streaming service, and 46% spend two hours or more each day streaming TV.⁵
In working with a wide variety of beauty brands and retailers, Roku has found that TV streaming ad campaigns drive big increases in brand awareness and purchase intent. To better connect with Gen Z specifically, we are sharing a few key strategies beauty brands should deploy. Specifically, we recommend shoppable TV experiences backed by advanced data reach.
Gen Z is a prime audience for shoppable ads. Younger consumers are already used to buying products through shoppable social ads. A compelling TV streaming ad can have the same inspirational effect as an ad on TikTok or Instagram — so it's wise for brands to add interactivity.
Almost half (48%) of consumers in all generations have paused an ad to shop online, and 49% of Gen Z shoppers said they are interested in purchasing products directly through a TV streaming platform.⁶ It makes sense. Digital-first consumers want to take action if they see an interesting product, regardless of the platform. They’re probably watching with a phone or tablet nearby anyway. Also, they want to engage with brands in unique ways, and shopping with a remote control certainly makes a brand stand out.
Shoppable ads have already helped beauty brands on Roku. In one recent campaign, a luxury beauty brand offered interactive ads featuring a QR code along with standard video ads — leading to a 21% increase in purchase intent, outperforming Roku norms by 2x.⁷
Another way to add commerce functionality to your Roku ad campaign is through our shoppable ads partnership with Walmart. Viewers seeing a beauty ad can simply press “OK” and proceed to checkout. Roku Pay makes it possible to automatically populate payment details. From there, one more tap of “OK” on Walmart’s checkout page completes the order.
A third option is to place a shoppable ad on the Roku home screen. Through a banner ad, consumers are led to an experience with options to “click-to-buy,” “learn more,” or receive a coupon code. Many beauty consumers want to try before buying; it’s tough to know how a specific shade of lipstick will look without putting it on.
The best way to find Gen Z streamers is to advertise on shows they watch, or offer targeted experiences on their Roku home screens. Roku’s first-party data on 70 million active accounts allows us to help beauty brands find Gen Z consumers, beauty enthusiasts, or even the head of households who may be making purchases for their Gen Z kids.
To go a step further, brands can tap into Roku’s partnership with Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) to access shopper data from Kroger’s 60 million households and 2,000+ grocery store locations. This partnership allows beauty brands to find customers who have recently purchased their brand, lapsed, or bought from competitors.
“Beauty brands have quickly accelerated and enhanced their targeting and measurement strategies as CTV capabilities have evolved. While mass awareness continues to be a core KPI best delivered on the largest screen in the house, the ability to now marry advanced audience targeting with shoppable capabilities make CTV a critical component for our clients’ strategy,” said Michael Singer, Roku’s head of beauty, CPG & household.
Using KPM data, Neutrogena was able to engage with light, lapsed, current brand buyers, and cleansing product category buyers with a streaming ad on Roku. The campaign helped Neutrogena achieve an 8% uplift in household penetration and a 5.5% uplift in sales. Also, streamers exposed to the video ad spent 4.2x more on Neutrogena makeup remover wipes than the average Kroger household.
Compared to digital ads, TV streaming ads with Roku can help beauty brands avoid the need for outdated cookies or IP address targeting. With Gen Z viewers in particular, this category is poised to gain real marketing improvements as a result of Roku’s combination of shoppable ad formats, our verified audience data and our partnerships with the biggest retailers, including Walmart and KPM.
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¹ Nielsen, March 2023
² Roku analysis of Nielsen data, 2023
³ “Measure App Life Report,” Feb 1, 2022
⁴ Luth Research, Profiling the Gen Z Consumer, May 2022
⁵ Morning Consult Survey conducted March 3-8, 2022
⁶ Roku + The Harris Poll Study, 2022
⁷ Roku internal data, 2022