Roku adds Best Buy first-party data to boost ad targeting

Roku is boosting its audience targeting and measurement capabilities with the addition of Best Buy’s consumer database, the companies announced Friday. Through the partnership, advertisers can utilize first-party data from Best Buy Ads, the company’s retail media network that claims over two billion consumer interactions per year, when buying inventory on Roku, which in itself reports access to 70 million user accounts. The goal of the merged dataset is to allow marketers to reach a more exact audience based on consumer attributes, continually optimize the target over the campaign’s lifespan and measure outcomes. Read more: Retail media's measurement problem Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs The partnership comes as both first-party data continues to be a hot commodity for advertisers and competition in the streaming space paces to an all-time high. Although more inventory, such as Disney+ and Netflix, has entered the market, premium streamers have scarcity built into their decreased-ad-load models. In addition to the company’s data partnership, Best Buy will be the exclusive seller of Roku’s first self-produced TVs. The Roku Select and Plus Series TVs host the company’s interface on its own device and are available for purchase in Best Buy locations. The two companies will unveil the deal at SXSW on March 11, with a physical and interactive recreation of its popular Roku City screensaver, which plays on Roku devices when left idle. “We’re bringing together our entire business to build the future of entertainment and advertising—making the TV experience simpler, offering the right marketing, data, tech, and scale to drive real results, and helping win the entire streamer’s journey together with Best Buy,” said Julian Mintz, co-head of U.S. brand sales for Roku Media, in a statement. The announcement marks the first time Best Buy has brought its first-party data to a TV platform; however, Best Buy isn’t Roku’s first retail partnership. The CTV company announced a partnership with Walmart last year to build its shoppable advertising product.

Roku adds Best Buy first-party data to boost ad targeting

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