Roku promotes its new advertising products, including an AI that combines campaigns with TV moments

In Roku’s last quarter, the company released better-than-expected revenue of $741 million, but it worried investors with its warning of an uncertain ad market and declining average revenue per user. Today at IAB NewFronts, the streaming media company unveiled its latest advertising products to potentially help you tackle the latter, if nothing else. These included new opportunities to advertise on the Roku home screen, within your original content, and even on your screen saver, among other things. It also touted its use of contextual AI to automatically run ads right next to the most relevant moments in shows and movies on The Roku Channel.

The company explained that its new artificial intelligence capability searches Roku’s library for “iconic plot moments” that match a brand’s message and place its ads in real time. To work, marketers will first tell Roku the theme of their campaign. The AI ​​searches the library to match the campaign to key moments. For example, when Tim Gunn says “make it work” on “Project Runway,” a clothing brand could insert his message.

Roku also announced a new Roku Originals slate, which will include a business docuseries, “Side Hustlers,” produced by Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s media company that was sold in 2021. for $900 million to Candle Media, the company run by former Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, which now has its hand in numerous pies across the streaming landscape. The digital bank Ally also participated in this production that focuses on people who turn their side job into their main business.

Other new originals coming this year include “Celebrity Family Cook Off,” a series produced by Sofía Vergara and hosted by Manolo González Vergara, and “Carpe DM with Juanpa,” which will feature social media star Juanpa Zurita, among others. Roku said it will also renew “The Great American Baking Show,” with Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Ellie Kemper and Zach Cherry, and “Honest Renovations,” with Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis.

The company claimed that its originals were giving out better that wire, and even better that transmission hearings every day.

The streaming company also used its time to introduce marketers to how to reach its now 71.6 million active accounts on its service through new ad products and placements.

The field, delivered by Roku Media Chairman charlie collierpromoted Roku’s reach in the US

“Americans spend more time on Roku than any other TV platform, which means they spend more time here with Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ and even more time watching CBS, NBC ABC and Fox,” Collier told the audience. “Think about it: 50% of all Super Bowl broadcasts were on Roku this year,” she added.

During the event, Roku shared some of its latest advertising offerings. It noted that its “Roku City” screen saver, which floats a cityscape on the TV screen while the TV is idle, will open up to brands. While previously, the city screensaver would prompt users with suggested content to stream, it will now be able to feature other brands as well. This summer, it will feature the McDonald’s brand as part of the artwork, for example, as its first brand partner in the new advertising offering. The screen saver is used by nearly 40 million households, Roku said.

The company also introduced new discovery experiences that allow brands to host content in areas like Home & Garden and Sports Experiences that curate content from across TV on the Roku home screen. Now, when users turn to Roku search, they can see a featured collection that is “brought to you by” an advertising partner; for example, Walmart was shown “introducing” the Home & Garden collection.

Roku also shared that Instacart was its latest Commerce+ partner, joining others like WalmartBest Buy, Cox Automotive, DoorDash, Kroger and more in their shopping ads and other retailer-focused initiatives.

Commerce+ is designed to shorten the path to purchase for consumers, Roku explained.

For example, Wendy’s offered Roku users a $5 discount with DoorDash through a home screen ad and then used DoorDash data to help measure the impact of its ad spend. The campaign grew Wendy’s order sizes primarily among new and existing customers and delivered a positive return on investment many times over, the company said.

Other news for marketers included Roku’s introduction of a primetime reach guarantee, which it claimed to be the “scoop” on streaming. Essentially, the guarantee is committed to the brands that may reach further TV homes in primetime that he average program ventilation in to above-five wire channel on traditional television.

“We’re in a unique position to make brands unmissable on TV because Roku isn’t fighting for territory in streaming, we are the territory,” Alison Levin, Roku’s vice president of marketing solutions and ad revenue, said in a statement. Press release. “We are bringing the full power of the platform, not just the pieces, to give marketers more of the scale, joy and flexibility they love in television.”