Roku expands measurement program to boost streaming advertiser experience

Streaming TV platform Roku announced it has expanded its Measurement Partner Program to include media mix modeling (MMM) so advertisers can fill in the measurement gap between older media and the growing streaming landscape.

What it does. Media mix modeling is currently available on Roku through an existing partner, marketing research company IRI. MMM allows brands to track and measure ad performance at the campaign level and then allow advertisers to adjust their budgets accordingly.

Roku’s MMM capabilities also allow advertisers to control for various factors that affect performance, including weather events and seasonality. Additionally, given IRI’s deep knowledge of retail intelligence, it can even account for shelf organization within stores.

Consumer packaged goods brands, as a result, aren’t just looking for a big splash at the top of the funnel. Instead, they can manage the reach and traction that ad impressions are making on users and households watching Roku.

Other partners in the program include Analytic Partners, Ipsos, Mediahub and Nielsen. Nielsen digital ad ratings are also part of Roku’s OneView buying platform.

Why we care. This expansion of the measurement program comes ahead of Roku’s first in-person upfront in New York, on May 3. As ad veterans know, upfronts are the traditional way that brands have locked in linear TV inventory for ages. Streaming services like Roku are joining this traditional cycle, but they still have to enable advertisers and agencies the opportunity to prove the impact that streaming has and compare it to other media in their budgets.

Read next: Roku announces clean room for streaming campaigns

About The Author

Chris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country’s first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “innovation theater” at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.