Roku Ads Manager
Opened Roku to new advertisers by bringing ease and performance to TV ads.
Overview
Roku Ads Manager created a new way for digital-first growth marketers to advertise on television.
Launched in September 2024, the self-service platform combined Roku’s scale, first-party data, premium inventory, optimization, measurement, and interactive formats in a buying experience designed for marketers accustomed to search and social.
The launch expanded Roku beyond its traditional base of major brands and agencies into DTC, performance, app, gaming, and smaller advertisers—creating a new source of demand that Roku would later describe as largely incremental to its existing advertising business.
Elements
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Market Definition
Sized the opportunity and defined new DTC, performance, app, gaming, and SMB customer profiles, identifying their needs, buying behaviors, barriers to CTV adoption, and most relevant use cases.
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Product Marketing
Named and positioned Roku Ads Manager and led its product launch—including messaging, value propositions, launch content, and launch event—making Roku’s CTV capabilities relevant to digital-first performance marketers.
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GTM Strategy
Built the go-to-market model for reaching new performance advertisers, including direct acquisition and channel development with venture-capital firms and other partners serving concentrated portfolios of emerging brands.
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Partner Marketing
Commercialized strategic integrations including Shopify, which gave merchants a first-to-market way to launch self-service shoppable CTV campaigns with checkout directly on the television screen.
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Growth Marketing
Built acquisition and lifecycle programs spanning demand generation, marketing automation, conversion, activation, engagement, and retention to create a repeatable growth model for Roku’s self-service advertising business.
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Customer Success
Developed onboarding, enablement, education, and customer proof, including LolaVie’s first TV campaign, which helped demonstrate how performance marketers could use CTV to acquire customers and drive measurable sales.
Approach
I led the marketing strategy and commercialization of Roku Ads Manager, from defining the addressable market and target customer through product positioning, launch, acquisition, adoption, and customer success.
Key responsibilities included:
Market sizing, segmentation, and ideal customer profile development
Naming, positioning, messaging, and value proposition
Product launch strategy, content, and launch event
Go-to-market strategy and channel development
Partner marketing, including Shopify
Growth, demand generation, and lifecycle marketing
Onboarding, customer education, and enablement
Customer success, case studies, and performance proof
Cross-functional leadership across product, sales, partnerships, analytics, PR, and creative
The objective was to launch Roku Ads Manager as a new growth engine for Roku and diversify its advertiser profile, expand the addressable market, and broaden the jobs CTV could perform for marketers.
NEW CUSTOMERS
Acquired 200+ new advertisers in first six months, expanding Roku’s customer base beyond traditional enterprise buyers and establishing meaningful demand from digital-first marketers.
Impact
GROWTH MODEL
Built a scalable acquisition and lifecycle marketing engine that delivered ~5X marketing ROI in the first six months, demonstrating an efficient model for growing the self-service business.
ADVERTISER SUCCESS
Proved CTV could deliver measurable performance outcomes, including LolaVie’s campaign, which contributed to a 40% sales lift, 53% growth in new customers, and 43% increase in conversions.
Coverage
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"TV Industry Bets AI Can Peel Ad Dollars Away From Big Tech"
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"Roku Ads Manager is a One-Stop Solution for CTV Advertising"
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"Roku Launches Its Own Self-Serve Ad Platform"
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"Roku Wants You to See a Lot More AI-Generated Ads"