Roku’s Clean Room Evolves Into Its New Form: The Roku Data Cloud

Three years after launching its own data cleanroom, Roku is trying to bring something new to the table.

On Monday, the company announced the launch of a new offering, Roku Data Cloud, which gives marketers access to more detailed streaming TV data through ad technology and agency API partners.

More specifically, the data cloud will be available through agency analytics services from Omnicom (Omni) and PMG (Alli), as well as measurement companies Innovid and iSpot. There will also be integration with Yahoo DSPs on an advertiser-specific basis, though that is expected in the second half of this year.

Miles Fisher, senior director of strategic ad partnerships at Roku, told AdExchanger that the company does not plan to charge a SaaS-like fee for data, as many vendors in the space do.

“We work in the media industry. We’re not in the data business,” Fisher said. “We don’t want to sell data for CPM.”

No more yelling at the clouds

The data cloud information itself comes directly from Roku’s Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) and first-party signals, including signals from customer registrations and purchases within the operating system. For example, the ACR data feed enables audience segmentation based on viewing patterns, while OS data can identify potential demographics for targeting.

The Data Cloud resource and services are partially self-service depending on the needs of the advertiser. Roku’s Data Science team works closely with partners such as PMG, Omnicom and Yahoo, but allows measurement partners to “do the analytics themselves,” Fisher said.

For PMG in particular, the data cloud is built into the agency’s own analytics and reporting solution, Alliso clients will be able to interact with Roku data directly.

PMG’s previous relationship with Roku goes back at least a decade, including PMG’s recent acquisition of independent agency Camelot, said head of partnerships (and former Camelot CEO) Sam Bloom.

Working with the new data cloud, Bloom said, has been particularly helpful for clients in the financial services, QSR, retail and travel categories, who appear to be “bidding more” — in other words, buying more ad inventory.

“When we bring in Roku data, we see clients lean more and feel more confident about the results because it’s more of the data they’re used to,” Bloom noted.

What does peak performance look like?

Despite gaining popularity compared to linear television, CTV is very difficult to measure compared to other digital advertising channels. (“Attribution is a last-click world, and there really aren’t any clicks in TV,” Fisher said.)

Ideally, the Roku Data Cloud will improve reach for CTV’s audience on a larger scale, especially considering that the company estimates that one in three new TVs sold in North America comes with Roku software built-in.

Clients with mid- and high-end campaigns “want them to perform,” Bloom said. As for CTV, “we now have the data to do these things.”