Dive Brief:
- Magna, a unit of IPG Mediabrands, and Roku announced a strategic partnership that gives IPG clients access to targeting, programmatic workflows, interactivity, and audience measurement on Roku’s over-the-top video audience according to a joint press release.
- The release said Magna has been actively expanding its TV advertising strategy with David Cohen, President, North America at Magna, stating: “Last year, we made a concerted effort to provide marketers with viable sight, sound and motion opportunities beyond linear television. Now, we’re continuing to diversify the mix, transcending audience demographics while leveraging data in a new and exciting way through our partnership with Roku. They offer the most sophisticated OTT advertising path to reaching customers.”
- Roku supports the Nielsen Digital Ad Rating standard and, according to the release, is the only OTT platform to do so.
Dive Insight
As cord cutting continues, brands are looking for ways to reach viewers no matter where they are. Digital video ads are already a quickly growing category and developments like this point to 2017 may be an even more exciting year in the space as key partnerships take shape.
This partnership illustrates the blurring line between the different types of video advertising. Not long ago, linear TV was a category unto itself while OTT was essentially lumped in with all other digital advertising. Now with Nielsen’s DAR ratings, brands are offered an easier path to combining linear and OTT ads given the similar way ads are measured and bought. The entire process should eventually lead to video advertising being a category of its own that spans linear TV to six-second spots on social media platforms.
With the Magna/Roku deal, the process could be relatively seamless from linear TV advertising, with Roku’s digital platform also able to provide audience data that will allow for a much higher level of ad targeting and measurement and gives marketers access to the advantage of programmatic.
