We could be on the verge of some major shifts in the streaming advertising landscape, with news of a new deal between Amazon Ads and Roku. It’s suggested that this new deal will give media buyers access to four-fifths of domestic connected-TV households. We have Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, with the details.
Reaching 80% of US Connected-TV Households
It is expected that the deal will launch from Q4 of this year. Amazon’s DSP (demand-side platform) will be used to place ads across top-viewed platforms, including both Prime Video and Roku Channel, as well as offering other services for the Fire TV and Roku operating systems.
This system has already been trialed, with pretty interesting results reported by both companies. They are suggesting that 40% more unique viewers are reached, without extra cost to the buyer’s account. It also lowered the frequency of ads shown to a specific user (by roughly 30%), allowing for tighter targeting of ads and less repetition to users unwilling to bite. Taken together, this pretty much triples the value per ad spend compared with other options.
Partners and Rivals
It’s an interesting bit of teamwork, certainly, especially given that Amazon and Roku are rivals in several aspects of their business. However, given that Amazon actively sells Roku-connected devices and Prime Video is now available among Roku’s offerings, they are also partners with overlapping interests. Both also have a strong customer focus and rely heavily on their marketing portfolios for new opportunities.
Advertisers will, no doubt, be happy for expanded access to a broad consumer base, especially paired with the (claimed) savings on ad inventory spending.
As we know from tech circles, once a new technology is brought to market, we typically see competitors eager to get their own slice of the action. Does this mean we will see a widespread change in how advertising is delivered for other streaming platforms? It’s too early to tell, but there are certainly some interesting changes coming in the streaming advertising landscape.
Film and Television 