LOS GATOS, Calif. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MAGNA, the intelligence, investment and innovation unit of IPG Mediabrands, today announced an industry-first strategic partnership with Roku, Inc. to deliver targeted advertising to OTT audiences. Through this partnership, IPG Mediabrands clients will gain accelerated access to the advanced advertising capabilities of the Roku® platform, including precision targeting, programmatic workflows, interactivity, and audience measurement.
MAGNA’s partnership with Roku further cements the agency’s video diversification efforts. During the 2016 Upfronts, MAGNA secured the largest ever Google Preferred deal and shifted a portion of clients’ TV advertising spend to YouTube. Partnering with Roku builds on these efforts, enabling MAGNA clients to reach viewers who have shifted their TV consumption to OTT. MAGNA clients already active with Roku include BMW, Coca-Cola, The Hershey Company, MillerCoors, JetBlue, Dunkin Donuts, Charles Schwab, IHOP, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Office Depot.
MAGNA is actively expanding its television advertising strategy across emerging platforms like OTT, enabling the agency to provide client solutions at the pace of the consumer. According to Nielsen, in December 2016, Roku represented 48 percent of monthly active streaming players. Roku data, coupled with the proprietary data stack of Cadreon, the programmatic arm of IPG Mediabrands, will provide clients with the ability to precisely target audiences on the Roku platform. Roku is also the industry’s first and only OTT platform to support Nielsen’s Digital Ad Rating (DAR) measurement. In an industry-first move, all IPG Mediabrands campaigns will be DAR measured, with the goal of bridging the gap between TV and OTT advertising.
“Last year, we made a concerted effort to provide marketers with viable sight, sound and motion opportunities beyond linear television,” said David Cohen, President, North America at MAGNA. “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.”
“By integrating advanced ad technologies directly into our TV operating system, Roku is able to offer advertisers the most advanced ad capabilities in OTT,” said Scott Rosenberg, Vice President of Advertising at Roku. “This partnership accelerates our work with IPG Mediabrands, and opens the door to close collaboration on new ad products in 2017.”
OTT viewing, and digital video more generally, are growing rapidly. Ad-supported viewing is now the fastest-growing segment on the Roku platform, accounting for half of the top 250 most-watched channels. These figures aligned with MAGNA’s latest Global Advertising Forecast, released in December 2016, which projected that digital advertising spend will surpass TV this year.
About MAGNA
MAGNA is the centralized IPG Mediabrands resource that develops intelligence, investment and innovation strategies for agency teams and clients. We utilize our insights, forecasts and strategic relationships to provide clients with a competitive marketplace advantage.
MAGNA harnesses the aggregate power of all IPG media investments to create leverage in the market, negotiate preferred pricing and secure premium inventory to drive maximum value for our clients. The MAGNA Investment and Innovation teams architect go-to-market investment strategies across all channels including linear television, print, digital and programmatic on behalf of IPG clients. The team focuses on the use of emerging media opportunities, as well as data and technology-enabled solutions to drive optimal client performance and business results.
MAGNA Intelligence has set the industry standard for more than 60 years by predicting the future of media value. The MAGNA Intelligence team produces more than 40 annual reports on audience trends, media spend and market demand as well as ad effectiveness.
About IPG Mediabrands
IPG Mediabrands was founded by Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) in 2007 to manage all of its global media related assets. Today, we manage over $39 billion in marketing investment on behalf of our clients, employing over 9,000 marketing communication specialists in more than 130 countries.
IPG Mediabrands is a new world agency group designed with dynamic marketing at its core. Our speed, agility and data smarts ensure we continue to create growth for many of the world’s biggest brands. IPG Mediabrands’ network of agencies includes UM, Initiative and BPN as well specialty business units including Ansible, Cadreon, Healix, Identity, the IPG Media Lab, MAGNA, Mediabrands Insights, Orion, Rapport, Reprise, and Society.
About Roku, Inc.
Roku pioneered streaming for the TV and aspires to power every TV in the world. As of Dec. 2016 the Roku OS powered TV streaming for 13+ million monthly active accounts. Roku is known for streaming innovation and high customer engagement, offering content providers and video advertisers the best way to reach streaming audiences. Roku customers streamed 9+ billion hours of video and music in 2016. Roku streaming players and Roku TV models are available in 10 countries through direct retail sales and licensing arrangements with TV OEMs and service operators. The company was founded by Anthony Wood, inventor of the DVR. Roku is privately held and headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif. U.S.A.
Roku is a registered trademark and Roku TV is a trademark of Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries.
