Vertical Integration: Roku's New Full Funnel Approach with VP of Marketing and Partner Solutions, Dan Robbins
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Dan discusses the rise of TV streaming services, the role of advertising in streaming, and how Roku’s company culture has helped it reach a user base of over 70 million households.
“Ease, choice, and convenience is the name of the game in television and that giving consumers the ability to choose what they want to watch, to get it easily, to do it in a way that doesn't require you to read a manual to figure out what to do. That was going to be incredibly important in entertainment.”
— Dan Robbins
As the VP of Marketing and Partner Solutions at Roku, Dan Robbins leads the marketing, research, analytics, events, design, and branded content strategies. Before Roku, he worked on several strategic partnerships and product rollouts at Nielsen. Dan was also named on the 2018 Broadcasting & Cable “40 Under 40” list, the 2019 GRIT Future list, and the 2019 Fellows Program at the Economic Club of New York.
One this episode of The Speed of Culture, Dan joins Suzy Founder and CEO Matt Britton. Together, they discuss the rise of TV streaming services, the role of advertising in streaming, and how Roku boosts eCommerce through its partnership with Walmart.
From Traditional to Streaming TV - Roku was founded almost twenty years ago with a vision that all TV and TV ads would be streamed. The company began building original players and sticks that helped people watch movies and TV over the internet. Roku then expanded by manufacturing its own TVs and launching the Roku Channel.
Going Beyond the 30-Second Spot - Roku uses data and deep insights to tailor individual streaming journeys for its user base. Roku is moving beyond the traditional 15-30 second spots by creating interactive and shoppable ads to make TV as easy to shop as social. They started by launching shoppable ads with Walmart. Now, Roku is expanding with built-for-streaming entertainment through the capabilities of the Roku Brand Studio. An example of this is Roku Recommends. Hosted by Maria Menounos and Andrew Hawkins, the weekly show highlights the best bets on the Roku platform—with partnership opportunities for brands.
Sports is Big Business on Roku - In an effort to make all TV streamable, Roku has made its way into sports. The brand recently launched Sport Zone. Designed to make sports streaming easy to find for consumers, the service pulls all the sporting events on the platform together. The brand also recently launched a Roku Original show with Rich Eisen on sports to help drive viewership to the sporting content.
Roku Discovery on the Cutting Edge of New Services - Roku’s discovery initiative makes it super easy to find content on the platform. Their Featured Free discovery experience helps consumers find and get access to all free content on the platform. Buzz allows studios and talent to share customized content.
Listen to Dan on the Speed of Culture podcast today to learn more about the rise of TV streaming services.
