LOS ANGELES – Two years after Roku starting working with Nielsen on audience measurement it’s become the first OTT platform to offer demographic guarantees based on Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings. “It’s a huge mile marker for our industry,” Jim Lombard, Head of Advertising Sales, says in this interview today with Beet.TV during a break at the 2017 Transformation conference of the 4A’s.
The advancement of Roku’s video ad platform capabilities helps advertisers reach audiences on its 300-plus channels that are drifting away from linear television while using detailed demographic metrics comparable to linear TV. “It allows for advertisers to transact the same way as they would with measurements in the linear space in the OTT space,” says Lombard.
Two years ago, Roku announced that it was working with Nielsen on audience measurement deals. The next logical step was audience guarantees, particularly since they are becoming more popular with linear TV buys.
“Essentially, what we’ve done is Roku registration data is matched with a third-party vendor,” Lombard explains. “The metadata is passed through in the ad call, and then Nielsen uses their measurement tool to be able to verify age and demo against that ad call.”
One of the ways Roku has differentiated itself is that its technology enables its channel partners to do targeting, measurement and interactivity. The company also has its own sales team that sells and monetizes inventory across more than 300 channels.
It’s also the only platform that has both comScore and Nielsen, according to Lombard.
While advertising on Roku is predominantly video-based, it also offers custom content. Lombard cites the example of Showtime’s Billions, which was offered on Roku before linear TV “free to consumers, courtesy of Audi.”
He believes that in the future, “All television is going to be streamed and with that all the ads will be streamed.”
This video is part of series produced in Los Angeles at the 4A’s Transformation ’17. The series is sponsored by Extreme Reach. For more videos from the conference, please visit this page.
