RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA — Roku and Amazon are integrating their connected TV operating systems to reach more than 80% of the U.S. market, promising to create even more massive scale for marketers.
“By combining those two data sets, we now have the ability to reach over 80% of the US CTV footprint through Amazon and Roku’s operating system, which is really powerful for marketers,” Jeff Katz, head of Emerging Sales at Roku, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Beet Retreat LA.
The partnership reflects Roku’s shift from walled garden approach to interoperability with major DSPs including The Trade Desk and DV360, making both inventory and data available across platforms.
Home screen becomes shoppable portal
Roku’s home screen reaches about 125 million homes daily — Super Bowl-sized reach — transforming from a static entertainment directory into an interactive commerce environment with animation, video, and clickable experiences.
“What’s unique about Roku being the number one operating system is we actually reach 125 million homes on a daily basis,” Katz said.
Automotive advertisers now use home screen “showrooms” that enable car design processes on TV screens with final carousel videos linking to local dealer inventory. Restaurant and CPG brands are expanding beyond traditional media and entertainment home screen advertising.
CTV transforms ad formats
CTV advertising has evolved beyond 30-second and 60-second video spots to include interactive shopping capabilities through retail media partnerships with Walmart, Best Buy, and others.
“Within those video ads, there’s all sorts of different capabilities like interactivity, where you have the ability to shop,” Katz said. “You can even add a product to your cart and then check out either through your mobile app or through a website.”
Pause ads, common for several years, are expanding beyond entertainment content into broader brand categories as Roku innovates home screen messaging.
Self-service democratizes access
Roku Ads Manager and similar self-service platforms from Peacock Universal Ads, Tubi, Vibe, Paramount, and Disney enable direct-to-consumer brands and small businesses to access CTV without DSPs or direct insertion orders.
“The importance of self-service CTV advertising means the ability to capture those DTC and growth brands, and even small and medium sized businesses that have historically run on Facebook and TikTok, YouTube,” Katz said.
Recent partnership with AppsFlyer provides mobile measurement partner capabilities that track Roku Ads Manager effectiveness, enabling DTC and growth brands familiar from Instagram feeds to advertise on television screens.
Sports zones solve fragmentation
NBA rights splitting across NBC, Amazon, ESPN, and Disney+ creates consumer confusion about where to watch games. Roku’s sports zones launched 18 months ago guide viewers to content across broadcast, cable, and streaming apps.
“It’s become incredibly challenging. It’s on an app, it’s on broadcast, it’s on cable. It’s really difficult as a consumer to find out where do I get to see my game,” Katz said.
Sports zones for NFL, NBA, and MLB show continued engagement growth. Roku extended the aggregation concept to genres including food and home improvement content.
AI enhances contextual relevance
Roku’s next phase involves using artificial intelligence to serve contextually relevant ads through first-party data and device-level targeting capabilities the platform has long possessed.
“By utilizing AI, we can make that ad that much more contextually relevant so that when you’re watching a program, that ad feels really natural to what you’re actually watching at that given time,” Katz said.
