- Best Buy and Roku wish to mix their respective strengths in retail media networks and connected TV (CTV) through a recent partnership, per a press release.
- Ads running on the Roku platform can now be targeted, measured and optimized against first-party data from Best Buy to extend relevance and improve performance. Best Buy operates a Best Buy Ads network that pulls on each brick-and-mortar and e-commerce shopper information.
- As a part of the deal, the buyer electronics giant may even be the exclusive retailer for the primary TVs designed and manufactured by Roku, called Roku Select and Plus Series. The collaboration could help each firms capture more spending as marketers ramp up their bets on retail media.
Roku and Best Buy see the chance to secure more brand dollars by wedding their data skill sets together. Through the agreement, Roku has a potentially stronger pitch for advertisers which might be hungry for first-party data with the deprecation of cookies on the horizon. Meanwhile, Best Buy gets access to a scaled CTV network and inventory. Roku currently reaches about 70 million lively accounts, based on the discharge.
The collaboration comes as 82% of advertisers were expected to extend their investments in retail media last 12 months, per eMarketer data cited by the businesses. That momentum isn’t expected to slow in 2023 despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment that’s led to pullbacks elsewhere. Researcher WARC forecasts that retail media can be the fastest-growing media channel globally this 12 months, reaching $122 billion in revenue.
Roku and Best Buy are promoting their partnership with an in-person activation on the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, this weekend. The pop-up brings to life a heavily memed Roku screen saver depicting a fictional city, with a house theater experience supplied by Best Buy.
Roku has turned more incessantly to collaboration to bolster its business, which has expanded into areas like original content. Last 12 months, it struck a partnership with Walmart — one other major retail media player — to pilot shoppable streaming ads. Roku viewers served Walmart ads can press a button on their distant to be sent to a checkout screen, with orders fulfilled by the big-box store.
On the retail end of the industry, more mature media networks are making the jump from basic sponsored search and display formats into premium areas like video. The grocery giant Kroger in September added CTV and video inventory into its programmatic promoting marketplace.
Roku and Best Buy teaming up comes as each encounter headwinds. Roku has been contending with tightening ad budgets and reported flattish revenue growth within the fourth quarter. Best Buy has felt a pinch as consumers reduce on spending. The retailer saw revenue down 10% in Q4, a key window that features the vacations. It recently said it could close as many as 30 stores this 12 months.
Read the complete article here
