What is Roku Curate? A quick guide to Roku’s new data-and-inventory packages

As Connected TV (CTV) advertising evolves, advertisers need simpler ways to access premium inventory. Enter Roku Curate.

In a nutshell, Roku Curate is a premium advertising package that combines Roku's proprietary insights and inventory with high-value partner data. It provides advertisers with ready-to-use media packages that can be purchased and measured through marketers’ existing workflows.

“Curation has been a buzzword in the industry for a while, and for the most part it’s been owned by the platforms,” according to Miles Fisher, Senior Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships at Roku. “Roku Curate builds on this trend by letting buyers directly access the best of Roku and partner data, with the scale and performance of premium CTV.”

Here’s what advertisers should know about Roku Curate:

How does Roku Curate work for advertisers?

Roku Curate combines Roku’s valuable data and inventory with data from our partners — without adding unnecessary complexity.

Advertisers work with Roku directly to set up their desired Roku Curate media packages. Roku can then activate directly or send the package to the advertiser’s preferred demand-side platform (DSP) for activation.

Seasoned buyers will notice this is the basic structure of a private marketplace (PMP), but there’s an important difference between Roku Curate and a classic PMP. With a standard Deal ID or a PMP, the publisher sends inventory, while the targeting and decisioning happen at the DSP level. With Roku Curate, Roku packages the data and media supply for easier activation and lower fees.

“There's been disintermediation of quality in programmatic, so we're bringing premium inventory and premium data together by working directly with partners,”

- Miles Fisher, Senior Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships at Roku

Who is it for?

The ideal customers are large advertisers who want to reach premium audiences at scale with advanced targeting and closed loop measurement.

Where does the data come from?

Roku Curate combines Roku’s granular audience insights with in-market targeting data from partners like Best Buy Ads, Criteo, Fandango, Fetch, Instacart and Kroger. An advertiser can focus their buy on electronics shoppers, grocery customers and other qualified audience segments.

For these data partners, linking arms with the largest streaming OS in North America is a natural way to support advertisers’ full-funnel campaigns.

“By combining Roku’s scale with Best Buy’s first party data and holistic measurement capabilities, we’re driving awareness and consideration with clear visibility into downstream impact”

- Lisa Valentino, President of Best Buy Ads.

Is Roku Curate compatible with my upfront buy?

Yes! An important feature of Roku Curate is that buys can be applied toward spending commitments made during the upcoming upfront negotiating season.

That means advertisers can be assured that their deals for premium inventory are backed by the same powerful data and closed loop measurement that permeates Roku’s whole approach to serving our customers.

For more on Roku Curate, read the full press release, and contact our ad team to set up your first Roku Curate package today.