Roku to Acquire Nielsen’s Advanced Video
Advertising Business, Accelerating Roku’s Launch of Dynamic Ad
Insertion for TV Programmers and Marketers
Nielsen and Roku Will Expand Traditional TV and
TV Streaming Coverage Across Roku’s Platform to Help Standardize
Cross-Media Measurement
Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) and Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) today
announced a strategic alliance between the two companies that will
help shape the future of media measurement and TV advertising in a
streaming-first market. Roku has entered into an agreement to
acquire Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising (AVA) business, which
includes Nielsen’s video automatic content recognition (ACR) and
dynamic ad insertion (DAI) technologies. The acquisition will
accelerate Roku’s launch of an end-to-end DAI solution with TV
programmers. In addition, Nielsen and Roku will enter into a
strategic partnership to integrate complementary Nielsen ad and
content measurement products into the Roku platform and further
advance Nielsen ONE, the company’s cross-media measurement
solution.
“Tens of billions of dollars continue to be spent annually on
traditional TV advertising,” said Louqman Parampath, VP of Product
Management at Roku. “Combining Nielsen’s AVA technology with Roku’s
innovative ad tech and scale will enable us to deliver the benefits
of TV streaming advertising to traditional TV. Roku will bring the
promise of DAI to the market for the first time ever at scale —
providing better targeting and measurement for advertisers,
creating easy integration and additional revenue opportunities for
programmers’ ad sales teams, and improving the TV experience for
viewers. We’re also excited to become a key strategic partner for
Nielsen in their new cross-media measurement products, and jointly
drive toward greater transparency and accuracy in TV streaming
measurement."
This announcement builds on years of close collaboration between
Roku and Nielsen. The two companies will enter into a long-term
commercial agreement to leverage Total Ad Ratings (TAR) on the Roku
platform. Specifically, Roku’s media sales and ad-buying platform,
OneView, will natively integrate Nielsen “always on” Digital Ad
Ratings (DAR) for advertisers. Roku will also enable publishers to
implement Nielsen Digital Content Ratings (DCR).
“The measurement of ads and content on Roku devices will
accelerate the path to a single, deduplicated cross-media
currency,” Scott N. Brown, GM, Audience Measurement, Nielsen. “As
Roku brings the power of dynamic ad insertion to all forms of TV,
we’re excited to help monetize the addressable market by measuring
smart TV as a currency, which Nielsen can do at scale.”
The collaboration with Roku will substantially expand the
footprint of smart TVs and other devices, nearing 100 million in
total, in which Nielsen can enable media sellers and buyers to
measure and better monetize addressable advertising.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of
2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Upon closing, Roku
looks forward to welcoming Nielsen AVA employees and taking
ownership of an extensive portfolio of foundational ACR and DAI
patents. Roku TV models, which are powered by the No. 1 selling TV
OS in the U.S. in 2020, already include ACR today, and will include
DAI in the near future.
About Roku, Inc.
Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. We connect users to the
streaming content they love, enable content publishers to build and
monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers with unique
capabilities to engage consumers. Roku streaming players and
TV-related audio devices are available in the U.S. and in select
countries through direct retail sales and licensing arrangements
with service operators. Roku TV™ models are available in the U.S.
and in select countries through licensing arrangements with TV
brands. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. U.S.A.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements that
are based on our beliefs and assumptions and on information
currently available to us on the date of this press release.
Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from those
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These
statements include but are not limited to the benefits of the
pending acquisition of Nielsen’s AVA business by Roku, the
anticipated timing of the closing of the acquisition, the benefits
and features of future product or service offerings resulting from
the acquisition, entry into the strategic partnership between Roku
and Nielsen, the benefits of the strategic partnership between Roku
and Nielsen, including the offering of TAR, DAR and DCR on Roku’s
platform, and the expansion of DAI to other TV OEMs. Factors that
may cause our actual results to differ materially from those in any
forward-looking statement include: the risk that the transaction
may not be completed in a timely manner or at all; the risk that
the parties will not enter into the strategic partnership; the
ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed
acquisition and the proposed strategic partnership, including the
possibility that the expected benefits from either the proposed
acquisition or the proposed strategic partnership will not be
realized; the impact of the acquisition on the AVA business; our
ability to retain key AVA personnel; our effectiveness in
integrating the AVA business and operations with our business; the
effectiveness of the strategic partnership between Roku and
Nielsen; our ability to realize our broader strategic and operating
objectives; the effect of the announcement of the acquisition and
the strategic partnership on Roku’s and Nielsen’s respective
businesses; and the effects of any litigation or other proceedings
to which we are or may become a party.
Further information on these and other risks and uncertainties
are included in the reports Roku, Inc. files with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including our Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2020 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of
reports filed with the SEC are posted on Roku’s website and are
available from Roku without charge. Except as required by law, we
assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements
publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ
materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking
statements, even if new information becomes available in the
future.
Roku and the Roku logo are registered trademarks and Roku TV is
a trademark of Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries. Trade
names, trademarks and service marks of other companies appearing in
this press release are the property of their respective
holders.
About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global measurement and
data analytics company that provides the most complete and trusted
view available of consumers and markets worldwide. Nielsen is
divided into two business units. Nielsen Global Media provides
media and advertising industries with unbiased and reliable metrics
that create a shared understanding of the industry required for
markets to function. Nielsen Global Connect provides consumer
packaged goods manufacturers and retailers with accurate,
actionable information and insights and a complete picture of the
complex and changing marketplace that companies need to innovate
and grow.
Our approach marries proprietary Nielsen data with other data
sources to help clients around the world understand what’s
happening now, what’s happening next, and how to best act on this
knowledge.
An S&P 500 company, Nielsen has operations in over 90
countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For
more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
This press release includes information that could constitute
forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor
provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These statements include those set forth above relating to the
anticipated timing of the closing of the transaction as well as
those that may be identified by words such as “will,” “intend,”
“expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “could” and similar expressions.
These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual
results and events could differ materially from what presently is
expected. Factors leading thereto may include, without limitation,
the risk that the transaction may not be completed in a timely
manner or at all and other specific risk factors that are outlined
in our disclosure filings and materials, which you can find on
http://www.nielsen.com/investors, such as our 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K
reports that have been filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Please consult these documents for a more complete
understanding of these risks and uncertainties. This list of
factors is not intended to be exhaustive. Such forward-looking
statements only speak as of the date of this communication, and we
assume no obligation to update any written or oral forward-looking
statement made by us or on our behalf as a result of new
information, future events or other factors, except as required by
law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210301005800/en/
Roku Media Kim Sampson ksampson@roku.com
Investors Conrad Grodd cgrodd@roku.com
Nielsen Media Sunok Pak Sunok.pak@nielsen.com
Investors Investor Relations ir@nielsen.com
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