Acquisition leading to enable marketers to plan and buy video ad campaigns
Roku entered into an agreement to buy Boston based demand-side platform advertising marketing company Dataxu. Dataxu provides marketers with automated bidding and self-serve software to manage ad campaigns that run on Roku’s devices and services.
The agreement is a mixture of cash and stock, is done in $150 million and approved by both of company’s directors. This agreement is meant to help Roku further grow its suite of tools for advertisers, at a time when its platform business is a larger contributor to Roku’s bottom line compared with hardware sales. Today the company has more than 30.5 million active users who watch via Roku’s OS either on Roku streaming media players or Roku TV.
With the addition of Dataxu, Roku will be able to provide advertisers with a data-driven solution. The deal will also bring in Dataxu’s experienced team, which includes talent in software engineering, data science, and analytics.
Partnership for better technology expansion
In stating the deal, Roku noted that the market for over the top advertising will continue to expand as the cord-cutting race heats up. Today, advertisers spend over $70 billion on traditional TV. Over-the-top viewing accounts for only 29% of TV viewing but has so far only captured 3% of TV ad budgets. With more consumers adopting streaming, automated solutions will help unlock those additional TV ad dollars.
Roku CEO, Anthony Wood said, “TV advertising is shifting toward OTT and a data-driven model focused on business outcomes for brands. The acquisition of Dataxu will accelerate our ad platform while also helping our content partners monetize their inventory even more effectively.”
Roku has not given any details about how many Dataxu employees would join the company after the acquisition. As competition increased around data-driven TV advertising, California Consumer Policy Act will regulate how companies collect and utilize data. Roku’s platform gives consumers more control over their data.
Dataxu, Cofounder and CEO, Mike Baker stated, “Our vision has always been to bring advertising capabilities to the most powerful form of media TV. Today Dataxu has been recognized as well known firm and our customers alike as a leading video-centric DSP, continuing to innovate with advanced OTT audience, forecasting, inventory, and measurement capabilities.”
