• by Wayne Friedman , January 25, 2017

IPG Mediabrands’ Magna unit has made an “industry-first” deal with Roku, the digital streaming device/platform, to deliver improved advertising targeting and measurement to marketers.

Advertising clients of Magna, which develops intelligence, investment and innovation strategies, will get advanced advertising capabilities on Roku — targeting, programmatic workflows, interactivity, and audience measurement.

Roku’s OTT platform supports Nielsen’s Digital Ad Rating (DAR) measurement — an all IPG Mediabrands' campaigns that will be DAR measured.

David Cohen, president of North America at Magna, in release about the Roku deal, stated: “They offer the most sophisticated OTT advertising path to reaching customers.”

Magna believes this will further efforts for clients that have seen traditional TV viewers move to digital TV platforms. For the 2016 upfront TV advertising market, Magna made a deal with Google Preferred, which shifted a portion of clients’ TV advertising spend to YouTube.

Touting data from Nielsen as of December 2016, Magna says Roku has a 48% share among monthly active streaming players.

Existing Magna clients on Roku include BMW, Coca-Cola, The Hershey Company, MillerCoors, JetBlue, Dunkin Donuts, Charles Schwab, IHOP, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Office Depot.