Citing Rapid Shift to Cord-Cutting, Roku Bows Linear, OTT Audience Measurement Tools

Roku announced Ad Insights Wednesday, a way for marketers to measure campaign reach and effectiveness on linear and over-the-top content. The tools help brands analyze the engagement of TV audiences as they “rapidly shift” viewing to streaming, Roku said. Insights are derived from Roku’s first-party data, along with linear and streaming viewership habits of millions of active accounts and billions of streaming hours, said the company, citing a time of “significant linear viewership decline.” Traditional pay-TV providers -- cable, satellite and telephone companies -- lost 1.7 million subscribers in 2016, it said, citing MoffettNathanson figures, “and the pace is accelerating with more than 2.6 million cutting the cord through September 2017.” The new Roku ad offering includes ways to quantify campaign reach by demographic segments across linear TV, OTT, desktop and mobile; a way for TV networks and content owners to measure effectiveness of content promotions they run on various media; a way for marketers to target and measure campaigns delivered to Roku users who don’t have traditional pay-TV subscriptions; and real-time feedback from short on-device surveys.