Along with announcing a new ad measurement partnership with Nielsen, Roku last week also introduced ‘Roku Audience Solutions,’ a new solution to help channel publishers more effectively sell ads. According to FreeWheel, ad-supported over-the-top (OTT) viewership is up 380% year-over-year – numbers that are showing no signs of slowing down.
The new ad integration capabilities are available for publishers to use via Roku’s software development kit (SDK).
“Consumer TV viewing habits are evolving quickly to an on-demand, streamed experience. In 2014 we streamed more than three billion hours on our platform,” said Scott Rosenberg, VP of Advertising at Roku. “This transition promises huge changes in the way TV advertising is bought and sold. With our scale, user engagement and integrated advertising capabilities, Roku is uniquely suited to lead this evolution. Roku Audience Solutions is a big step forward for Roku and the industry, combining the measurement, targeting and interactivity of digital advertising with the branding power of TV.”
Outside of enabling publishers to leverage its ad technology via the SDK, the Roku team will work directly with publishers to help carry out these programs, utilizing its first-party data and its relationships with advertisers who have had OTT success.
