SAN JOSE, CA – In a major development in the maturity of national TV advertising addressability, Roku will acquire the advanced TV operations of Nielsen as part of a strategic partnership, the two companies announced today.
The deal brings a robust offering of ACR (automatic content recognition) from Nielsen to an existing ACR operation at Roku. It also brings Nielsen’s dynamic ad insertion tools to Roku.
The solution is for the Roku “glass” – meaning TVs that use the Roku operating system.
In its most recent earnings report, Roku said it was the number one smart TV OS sold in the U.S. and Canada, citing NPD’s Weekly Retail Tracking Service. Roku held 38% of the market share in the U.S. and 31% in Canada, the company said, citing NPD.
Late today, we spoke with Louqman Parampath, VP of product management at Roku, about the deal and its implications for marketers and national programmers. He explained that the new scenario will bring fundamental change to linear TV advertising by allowing advertisers to target consumers on a household or regional basis with specific advertising.
He calls the development a “transformational” moment for programmers and marketers.
The deal also expands the collaboration between Roku and Nielsen around cross-screen measurement.
