Roku has announced a partnership with Shopify that provides viewers the ability to purchase products from Shopify merchants directly from their TV through Roku Action Ads. This announcement is significant because it demonstrates the potential convergence of connected TV (CTV) with e-commerce.
When viewers see an ad for a Shopify merchant, they can simply press OK on their Roku remote to learn more about the product and purchase it. Viewers can use Roku Pay to complete their purchase. Once the transaction is processed, purchasers will receive an email confirmation from the merchant.
This integration is the first commerce integration for independent Shopify merchants on TV streaming. It creates a new advertising channel for Shopify merchants to reach a wider audience. Men’s apparel brand True Classic, the game-based connected rower Ergatta, and wellness brand Olly have signed on as initial partners.
With this new integration, viewers can now purchase products directly from their TVs after seeing an ad for a Shopify merchant. Here is how the experience looks, courtesy of Roku:
Although the partnership is just coming out of the gate, it offers some potential benefits, including:
- Shortened advertising funnel: viewers can now purchase products directly from their TVs after seeing an ad, which shortens the advertising funnel and gives Shopify advertisers more data about their customers.
- More customer data: Shopify advertisers can now collect more customer data, such as purchase history and shipping information, which can help them better understand their customers and target their advertising more effectively.
- Point-of-sale access: Shopify merchants can now reach a wider audience by advertising their products on Roku devices. This gives them point-of-sale access to Roku’s audience, which can help them increase sales.
This new partnership is a win-win for both Roku and Shopify, and it’s a sign of the growing importance of commerce on TV streaming devices.
Roku and Shopify have been partners in commerce for years. In 2021, Roku launched a marketing app for Shopify merchants, allowing them to build, purchase, and measure TV streaming ad campaigns. This was the first TV streaming app available in the Shopify App Store.
Also worth noting: two months ago, Roku revealed new ad products at the 2023 IAB NewFronts presentation. These products include AI capability searches that match a brand’s message and place their ads in real time, as well as an interactive Roku screensaver where businesses can advertise.
Roku is a major player in the fast-growing connected TV industry. For the first time, streaming viewership topped cable in 2022, and this trend is not going to reverse course as cord cutting continues. As reported in Axios recently, traditional television companies and major media firms are bracing for further declines in the ad market and yet another increase in cord-cutting this year. At True Interactive, we believe it’s important that businesses understand the growth of advertising on streaming platforms in context of the rise of connected TV. If you’ve not done so already, take a closer look at why connected TV is growing and how it could expand your audience. (True Interactive can help you with that.) Connected TV is enjoying 60-percent growth, driven by a public’s appetite for streaming that continues unabated.
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