The upfronts remain central to the annual TV planning process, as brands lock in premium ad buys for the year ahead.
But the shift to connected TV (CTV) implications for how marketers capitalize on and execute upfronts.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Beau Ordemann, VP, head of advanced TV, Yahoo Advertising, explains how a partnership with Roku aims to address that trend.
Roku partnership unlocks convergent TV
In January, Roku announced a three-pronged tie-up with Yahoo’s demand-side platform:
- Enabling Yahoo ConnectID through the Roku Data Cloud.
- Directly connecting the Roku Exchange to Yahoo Backstage.
- Activating Roku audiences on the Yahoo DSP.
The net effect is helping advertisers to access Roku inventory. The pair also plan to apply Roku audiences in the Yahoo DSP for enhanced targeting and performance across an entire campaign.
“Marketers really have never had to work harder to show the value of their ad spend and to drive ROI,” said
Speaking at Beet Retreat San Juan 2025, Ordemann said Yahoo is becoming the first DSP with access to Roku’s ACR data across all supply for select advertisers, which is “pretty game-changing” for driving incremental reach to linear.
“We really see it as a win-win-win for marketers that use both Yahoo DSP and Roku,” he explained.
Yahoo DSP certified by Disney for live sports
Yahoo is also partnering with one of the biggest media beasts around, Disney, on live sports.
In a VOD age, live sports continues to excite marketers keen to reach highly engaged audiences at scale. But DSPs have traditionally struggled to scale quickly against spikes in viewership.
Yahoo hard last year release an “enhanced pacing algorithm” catered to live sports and events with 10 times faster bid responses. At CES, Disney announced Yahoo DSP as one of only three DSPs certified for live sports and events.
“We’ve proven we can do it – we can adjust the scale and deliver at scale with increased bid density,” Ordemann said.
“We can pre-approve pre-ingest and pre-approve creative so that marketers don’t have to miss out on those first few commercial breaks,” said Ordemann.
You’re watching coverage from Beet Retreat San Juan 2025, presented by Cognitiv, Index Exchange & TransUnion. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
