• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 3, 2023

At Tuesday’s IAB NewFronts, Roku announced new, AI-powered contextual capabilities that will let brands automatically run ads next to relevant moments in every show and move on The Roku Channel.

The capabilities, which will be available later this year, search Roku’s library for “iconic plot moments” that match a brand’s message and insert relevant ads in real time. The placements require that advertising brands provide Roku with their campaign themes.

“Showing up in your big moments is critical and doing so in all of the best content is business-changing,” said Julian Mintz, Roku’s co-head of U.S. brand sales. “This is content meets context meets concierge, big reach in all of the best content made easy.”

Examples cited included an apparel brand’s ad being inserted in “Project Runway” after Tim Gunn says “Make it work,” and a wireless company touting a new phone line with ads inserted during the movie “E.T.” each time the main character “phones home.”

Roku also announced a new lineup of Roku Originals, along with expanded opportunities to advertise in original content and on its home screen and screensaver, and a reach guarantee in prime time.   

Brands can now sponsor by-genre content, starting with sports and home and garden categories, curated for featuring on Roku’s home screen during content discovery. Using the Roku search function will in some cases bring up a collection of content sponsored by an advertiser, such as Walmart “presenting” the home and garden content collection.   

The cityscape-themed screensaver, “Roku City,” which up to now has been used to suggest content to viewers, is now open to brands. This summer, McDonald’s will become the first advertiser to be integrated into the artwork. The screensaver is used in about 40 million homes, according to Roku.

Roku’s new Primetime Reach Guarantee promises brands they will reach more TV households in prime time than the average program airing on a top-five traditional cable channel.

“We’re uniquely positioned to make brands unmissable in TV because Roku is not fighting for turf in streaming — we are the turf,” Alison Levin, Roku vice president of ad revenue and marketing solutions, stated in a press release.

“Americans spend more time on Roku than any other TV platform, which means they spend more time here with Netflix and Hulu and Disney+ and even more time streaming CBS, NBC ABC, and Fox,” Roku Media President Charlie Collier told attendees. “Think about this: 50% of all Super Bowl streaming took place on Roku this year.”

Roku also touted new commerce partnerships, including its latest, with Instacart, which joins Best Buy, Cox Automotive, DoorDash, Kroger and Walmart. The partnerships combine retail media with streaming TV ads to promote CPG brands, matching Roku first-party data and partner transaction data to quantify the ads’ impact on product sales.  

New Roku Originals include “Side Hustlers,” an “entrepreneurship docuseries” produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company and Ally; “Celebrity Family Cook Off,” executive produced by Sofia Vergara and hosted by Manolo Gonzalez Vergara; and “Carpe DM with Juanpa,” featuring social media star Juanpa Zurita. Renewals include “The Great American Baking Show,” featuring Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Ellie Kemper, and Zach Cherry, and “Honest Renovations,” featuring Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis.