The Future of Ad Supported Streaming
Did you miss our recent Innovation Showcase? The CAF’s got you covered! Read the recap below or check out the webinar recording.
With recent market shifts, ad-supported streaming has become the talk of the town. Its popularity is surging to match consumer habits, and platforms like Netflix & Disney+ are matching this behavior with new AVOD offerings.
The Roku Channel is a top five channel on the Roku platform that reaches 80 million people in the US.1 In its five years, The Roku Channel has brought many first-of-its kind AVOD innovations and campaigns to market.
Here’s a quick snapshot of what we learned during the CAF Innovation Showcase that can help your brand break through the noise and stand out on ad-supported streaming.
Takeaway #1: Ad supported streaming services are growing at a faster rate than non-ad subscription based services. According to Roku data ad-supported streaming is particularly strong and growing 1.5x the rate of subscription streaming services.1 We believe that the tiering of subscription streaming services into ad-supported and ad-free services will accelerate this timeline, allowing advertisers to access a new audience that was not accessible on linear.
Takeaway #2 Find your Audience.
As a marketer it is important to reach a growing audience with buying power. Half of households streaming The Roku Channel have an 18-34 year-old present in home, and in homes with Gen Z viewers, The Roku Channel is one of the top apps on the Roku platform in the U.S.2 The Roku Channel is attracting younger more diverse audiences with higher HHI while those same audiences are declining and leaving linear TV. We expect other AVOD services are seeing similar trends. Using First-Party data you can personalize your message to your intended audience.On streaming marketers can tailor their message to specific audiences instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
Takeaway #3 Find your audience when and where they are watching.
Successful brands activating on ad supported streaming use contextual targeting in streaming to align their products with content that amplifies their brand, so you can reach sports viewers with sneaker ads and romance audiences with ads for dating apps. For example, the Roku platform offers curated spaces including the Sports Zone to assist viewers in content discovery. Contextual targeting can drive impact by aligning your brand with the right content to deliver full funnel results.
Takeaway #4: Align your brand with Hollywood storytelling and titles.
Whether a streamer is watching on demand content or live linear content, brands can leverage the full power of a streaming platform and spectrum of storytelling. Ad supported doesn’t mean less premium content, in fact it means more content and exclusive content for audiences that they can’t find anywhere else.
For example, the Roku Original biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story had the biggest opening weekend audience in the history of The Roku Channel and garnered more unique views and streaming hours than any other video-on-demand content launch in the history of The Roku Channel.2 Original content brings a highly engaged audience into the ad-supported ecosystem.
Takeaway #5: A great campaign on ad supported streaming provides value to both the consumer and the brand.
This mutually beneficial relationship can drive the most brand lift. Whether it’s curating a Edit Guide or an original show like Roku Recommends that aids in content discovery, creating branded long-form content like Jägermeister did with the Lesbian Bar Project, or developing a commerce experience that allows you to purchase items with just a few clicks of your remote, the opportunities when you leverage the power of the platform are endless.
You can break through the noise and stand out on ad supported streaming when you use streaming as a canvas for innovation and tell you brands story though creative, interactive, and data-driven storytelling.
1 Roku and ACR data, 2021-2022
2 Roku Internal Data
Ken Merrill-Cooke, Associate Director, Publicis Media
Approaching almost two decades with Publicis Media, Ken has held roles in Strategy/Planning, Buying/Investment and currently has responsibilities in Audience Research and Marketplace Intelligence. Serving as a resource across Publicis agencies, his focus ranges from strategic development with legacy media partners to cultivating new partnership opportunities with emerging providers. Within the area of Marketplace Intelligence and audience analysis he has a key responsibility of assessing sports and how it impacts the continually evolving media landscape.
Sam Armando, EVP, Director of National Video Intelligence; Investment Director, Publicis Media
During Sam’s 31-year career, all within Publicis Media, he has worn various hats, concentrating in the areas of national video investment and audience/marketplace analysis. Sam started his career concentrating on video audience research and marketplace assessment. He now leads the group that is responsible for empowering the family of Publicis Agencies to exchange intelligence, test new models and leverage scale to drive marketplace and measurement efficiencies. Through gauging the spectrum of national video viewing activity, Sam’s job demands expertise that touches competitive programming, audience assessment, viewer engagement factors, measurement, and a complete analysis of video marketplace conditions.
Becca Lefkowitz, Manager, Ad Revenue and Strategy, The Roku Channel
Becca is responsible for maximizing partner value on Roku’s owned and operated channel, focused on the growing content verticals within TRC which include Roku Originals, Kids & Family, Lifestyle and Espacio Latino. Becca brings over a decade of experience in the media buying, and advertiser sales industry across both linear and Connected TV. Before joining Roku, she helped to grow and break new business across Scripps Network’s/Discovery’s flagship brands including: Food Network, Cooking Channel, TLC and Oprah Winfrey Network. She is passionate about content and has been on the front lines of audience driven solutions and the acceleration of cord cutting which have paved a natural path into her current responsibility for growth and adoption around The Roku Channel.
Jeff Katz, US Head of Verticals, Restaurants and Travel, Roku
Jeff leads Sales for the Restaurants and Travel verticals at Roku. Based in Chicago, he and his team are responsible for growing partnerships with Fortune 500 brands and working with major media holding companies. He has deep experience in the video, social, and ad tech spaces with previous roles at NBC Sports, the Big Ten Network, and most recently at Snapchat.
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About the program
The Innovation Showcase series is one of CAF’s key thought leadership events. It brings together industry leaders to inspire, educate and engage Chicago’s advertising and marketing community by discussing topics currently facing the industry.