Roku and UM partner to measure diverse-owned media networks

Roku and UM today announced an exclusive measurement partnership to provide the IPG Mediabrands agency with linear TV viewership data for diverse-owned media networks in the hopes it will accelerate advertiser investment.

Because of limitations in panel-based measurement, such as panel size and the cost for networks to implement it, small and young programmers have had limited access to traditional ratings used in striking deals with advertisers. Roku will utilize its Automated Content Recognition technology, which can identify what a household is watching over antenna, cable or satellite on a Roku device, to share audience metrics with UM and its sister agencies.

The partnership will hopefully “change the conversation from, ‘Are we doing [equity investments] because of moral reasons?’ to, ‘We are doing it because we actually can drive business,’” said Deidre Smalls-Landau, head of business equity at IPG Mediabrands.

The measurement will provide UM with two monthly reports—one for media planning, which will show average viewership by daypart across networks and average reach per channel, and the second for measurement, which will provide exact viewership for each program and performance for a campaign. 

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From the technology’s first findings, Roku found previously unmeasured minority-owned media partners reached approximately 16.8 million U.S. households and amassed more than 400 million ad impressions between December 2022 and February 2023.

The measurement “filled a need that no one else in the industry could fill at the time,” said Kristina Shepard, co-head of U.S. brand sales for Roku. “Clients and brands who have huge DE&I efforts, who really value this multicultural audience, need to provide planning and investment teams with access to linear data ahead of the upfront. This will give these brands the ability to buy smaller, minority-owned networks right alongside their larger, rated networks.”

The idea originally emerged from UM’s equity leadership, who identified measurement as a gap in the diverse investment market, said Smalls-Landau.

“The reasons why I think that this is important data to have is because it falls into the funnel of commitment to these communities that are influential, that are growing in nature, that have disposable income and consume content broadly,” said Smalls-Landau.

More than being able to compare numbers, the impetus was to give diverse-owned programmers an even playing field for clients evaluating strategies across the ever-growing media landscape. Smalls-Landau explained for brands to invest in and advertise to diverse communities, they should incorporate small, minority-owned programmers into larger strategies, and that there’s immense value in advertising with minority-targeted media and major media companies with verticals committed to diverse programming as well.

Also read: DE&I media investments may be impacted by the economy

Smalls-Landau said that historically, a media agency might cut multicultural investment budgets first in times of economic hardship. But as advertisers enter into this year’s upfront negotiations, the executive hopes advancements in equity for diverse-owned media partner such as this will “keep the pressure on the conversation and the commitment around equitable inclusion of diverse own media.”

The partnership, which will be exclusive to IPG Mediabrands for one year, continues a longstanding relationship between Roku and the agency network, namely Magna. The partnership also joins other efforts from the agency network in diverse investment, such as its annual Equity Upfront.

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CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that the linear TV viewership data would be provided for over 35 diverse-owned media networks. Roku and UM declined to specify the number of media partners.