Underscoring the continued blurring of OTT and TV, Roku announced that it is now offering TV-style audience guarantees for advertisers using demographic metrics from Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR). The Nielsen-Roku partnership dates to 2015 when it was announced that DAR would be integrated with Roku’s ad SDK.

The move means that TV advertisers can buy ads across Roku’s ad-supported channels leveraging essentially the same currency as they currently use for traditional linear TV. This is important because as we all know, fewer people are watching linear TV today than ever, instead turning to OTT services that are delivered via connected devices. Ad buyers don’t want to lose their ability to deliver ads to these viewers.

In fact, Roku noted that 40% of its customers have canceled or reduced their pay-TV service, and according to Nielsen, 18-24 year-olds watched 46% fewer hours of linear TV in Q3 ’16 vs.  Q3 ’10. Roku has previously said that half of its top 250 most-watched channels are now ad-supported.  

In January, 2017, Roku announced a strategic partnership with MAGNA, intended to accelerate clients’ OTT campaigns, which the new DAR targeting will clearly support.

(Roku is a Branding Partner at the 7th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit, and Roku’s VP of Advertising will be participating. Early bird discounted tickets are available now.)