Roku partnered with AdPool to optimize its monetization strategy

Challenge

Maximizing ad yield for its popular streaming platform

Roku, the #1 streaming TV platform in the U.S., benefits from extensive viewership and a large, cross-platform content library, offering significant ad monetization potential. However, there are challenges in today’s market for streaming platforms, such as unsold ad inventory and stiff competition for advertising budgets, as viewer engagement continues to outpace ad investment in connected TV (CTV).

Many of the brands that buy Roku inventory, either directly or programmatically, have transitioned from linear TV and are focused on brand awareness and reach. Roku was interested in finding new monetization partners that could prove CTV as a performance channel and attract new advertisers to the streaming ecosystem.

One of the things we’re focused on at Roku is business outcomes. For different marketers, different business outcomes and KPIs are important — and we think that’s why some of them are choosing Wurl.

Wurl has really allowed us to drive more demand facilitation. The robust network that AppLovin [Wurl’s parent company, a performance-marketing channel] brings to the table, particularly for mobile advertising, has been an untapped opportunity for television… it’s been a real opportunity for Roku because historically the partners that we’ve worked with are brands that have always bought linear TV.

Miles Fisher

Sr Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships
Roku

Solution

Roku incrementally improved its ad yield by tapping into CTV revenue streams only available through Wurl

Through its use of Wurl’s AdPool monetization product, Roku gained access to exclusive demand from AppLovin, Wurl’s parent company. Boasting billions in annual ad spend, AppLovin is one of the biggest performance channels in the world. The AppLovin Network (known to advertisers as AppDiscovery) uses AI-powered targeting to help marketers realize their down-funnel ROAS goals. This partnership, which applied performance marketing dynamics to CTV supply, helped Roku engage with diversified and incremental advertisers—mobile app marketers.

AdPool also helped Roku enhance its inventory appeal to programmatic buyers through a secondary solution, BrandDiscovery. Using AI to standardize metadata and convert scene-level content signals into targetable contextual segments, AdPool’s integration with BrandDiscovery enabled Roku to tap into budgets allocated for contextual targeting, effectively scaling programmatic demand and driving greater ad revenue.

We’ve really seen Wurl continue to grow just by expanding the advertiser pool and diversity quarter over quarter. We see the same advertisers coming back with larger budgets, and we see a whole new category of advertisers that we haven’t engaged with previously. So, it really excites us holistically around this idea of performance advertising and streaming.

Miles Fisher

Sr Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships
Roku

Results

Wurl became one of Roku’s key monetization partners

With Wurl’s performance and contextual targeting solutions, AdPool helped Roku ensure every ad opportunity was matched with its ideal advertiser. In addition, more relevant ads kept Roku’s viewers engaged and tuned in—a very important KPI for the streaming platform. Overall, the quality and quantity of demand from AdPool have positioned Wurl as one of Roku’s key monetization partners.

The results we’re seeing from working with Wurl are really twofold. One, advertisers continue to invest, so that means that the platform is working for them. Thus, we’re seeing revenue for Roku, which is why we’re in it.

And two, sentiment scores are relatively high from a consumer perspective as we’re bringing more diversified advertisers into our ecosystem. It’s super important for the ad experience to continue to be strong, and that’s something that we’re very conscious of at Roku.

Miles Fisher

Sr Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships
Roku

In Summary

Roku tapped into an incremental pool of advertisers through turn-key demand facilitation from Wurl.

By using AdPool, Roku was connected to two unique sources of demand:

AppLovin Network (AppDiscovery) – representing performance-minded app marketers, new to CTV advertising, who will spend wherever they can achieve their down-funnel goals.

BrandDiscovery – representing advertisers focused on accurate, reliable contextual targeting in order to improve ad engagement, memorability, and down-funnel performance objectives.

With a simple VAST tag, Roku was able to access these demand sources and leverage its AI-powered targeting and metadata enhancement capabilities, without any additional resources from its team.

Wurl is fast, innovative, and a trusted partner. I think that’s what you need when you develop strategy and roadmaps. The ability to move quick is something that Roku values.

Miles Fisher

Sr Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships
Roku

Roku is an early pioneer of streaming TV and a leading provider of streaming devices and platforms. It offers users access to a huge number of streaming channels and apps, including live TV, movies, and music. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Roku has become a pioneer in transforming how people consume entertainment by focusing on simplicity, affordability, and seamless connectivity.

Struggling with low Ad Fill rates?

Wurl’s AdPool improves fill rates and boosts ad revenue by connecting publishers and streamers with high-quality, exclusive sources of mobile & contextual demand.

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