FOX Wants Roku. Marketers Should Be Paying Attention.

FOX has announced plans to buy Roku.

The deal still has to clear regulatory approval, so nothing is final yet. But even the proposed deal tells us a lot about where television advertising is headed.

Executive Summary

FOX is not just trying to buy streaming devices. It is trying to gain:

• Access to millions of streaming households

• Roku’s smart TV platform

• Valuable viewing data

• A major advertising business

• Another way to distribute FOX content, including sports, news, entertainment and Tubi
  

For marketers, the takeaway is simple:

• Connected TV cannot keep living in the “maybe next year” section of the media plan.

• Now is the time to start building streaming into budgets, creative plans and measurement strategies instead of relying only on traditional TV buys.

Roku Is Much Bigger Than the Stick

Roku is everywhere.

It powers smart TVs, organizes what people watch, sells advertising and has a pretty good view of how households use streaming.

FOX already has sports, news, entertainment, Tubi and huge national audiences.

If the deal is approved, FOX would gain the content, the platform, the data and the advertising technology.

That is not buying a seat at the table.

That is trying to buy the table.

Smarter Targeting Is the Real Story

Roku understands viewing behavior.

FOX understands the audiences watching its content.

Put those together, and advertisers could eventually get stronger ways to reach specific households on the biggest screen in the house.

For local businesses, that could mean:

• Better geographic targeting

• Stronger audience targeting

• More relevant placements

• Better cross-device campaigns

• Less money wasted reaching people who were never going to care
  

Always helpful.

Connected TV Is Just TV Now

Connected TV is not the shiny new thing anymore.

It is simply how people watch television.

Viewers move between broadcast, streaming apps, free services, paid subscriptions and live streaming packages without thinking twice about it.

Marketers should stop separating “TV” and “streaming TV” as if viewers do.

They do not.

Start Preparing Now

The deal is not final, and nothing changes tomorrow.

But the direction is obvious.

Marketers should already be:

• Adding connected TV to annual media plans

• Creating video that works across traditional and streaming platforms

• Using geographic and audience-based targeting

• Measuring website activity after ad exposure

• Managing frequency across multiple screens

• Moving beyond plans built entirely around traditional TV schedules
  

Traditional TV can still be valuable.

It just should not be the whole strategy anymore.

The Bottom Line

FOX is not really trying to buy Roku sticks.

It is trying to buy access to viewers, viewing habits, ad inventory and one of the biggest front doors into streaming television.

Whether the deal is approved or not, the message for marketers is already clear:

The audience has changed how it watches TV. Your media plan should catch up.