New partnership seeks to make leading automotive dataset available for marketers to connect ad exposure to every stage of the shopping journey for the first time

Today, Cox Automotive and Roku (Nasdaq: ROKU) announce they will pair industry-leading data from Cox Automotive with TV streaming data from Roku, the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico*, to better measure TV streaming advertising. Auto marketers can better quantify exactly how advertising in streaming TV impacts web browsing, vehicle sales, and more.

The partnership comes as both retail media and streaming TV advertising are growing in the U.S. eMarketer projects that U.S. digital retail media ad spending will grow 31.4% to $40.81 billion in 2023, which will make up over 18% of digital ad spending. Furthermore, the shift to TV streaming ad spend is accelerating. According to SMI’s December Forecast for TV & Streaming, TV streaming ad spend in the auto category grew +35% YOY in 2022 vs. +7% YOY in 2021**.

Cox Automotive is transforming the way the world buys, sells, owns, and uses vehicles. The global company’s family of brands includes Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, which reach two out of three online car shoppers during their research and shopping journey***. This partnership makes Roku the first TV streaming pilot partner to offer and market Cox Automotive data for measurement in the TV streaming category.

Nearly half of potential auto buyers start their consumer journey 6+ months before a purchase****. However, most measurement solutions for auto marketers today only capture basic sell-through metrics for new and used vehicle transactions. This leaves a blind spot for brands who want to understand how TV streaming impacts search, discovery and pre-purchase behavior.

“The ad measurement of the future will start with data from direct consumer relationships because it’s more accurate and scalable,” says Asaf Davidov, head of ad measurement and research at Roku. “Roku and Cox are uniquely positioned to partner with auto marketers to go under the hood and make every marketing dollar work harder.”

Roku’s scale of 70 million active accounts paired with Cox Automotive, which receives 2.7 billion online visits**** across its online properties, offers new levels of insight to automotive marketers. The new partnership provides advertisers with a look into the entire consumer journey – from online actions at the start, to consideration, to intent, and ultimately to purchase. To get started, an auto brand identifies its target audience and runs a TV streaming campaign with Roku. Roku then passes its ad exposure data to Cox Automotive matching it with their own first-party data set. Cox Automotive can then deliver reports that tie streaming ad exposure to consumer behaviors across Cox Automotive properties.

“With our data capabilities combined, we will offer auto advertisers a holistic view of the consumer auto journey, revolutionizing how advertisers measure the impact of their digital advertising investment,” says Steve Lind, vice president of operations, advertising, at Cox Automotive. “Cox Automotive’s unparalleled audience paired with the data insights from Roku will provide a new look at performance during every stage of the car buyer journey.”

Visit here to learn more about the partnership.

*based on hours streamed, Dec 2022, Hypothesis Group

** SMI December Forecast for TV & Streaming, January-November 2022

*** Cox Automotive Car Buying Journey - 2022

****Cox Automotive Data - 2021

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive is the world’s largest automotive services and technology provider. Fueled by the largest breadth of first-party data fed by 2.3 billion online interactions a year, Cox Automotive tailors leading solutions for car shoppers, automakers, dealers, retailers, lenders and fleet owners. The company has 25,000+ employees on five continents and a family of trusted brands that includes Autotrader®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital™ and vAuto®. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with $21 billion in revenue. Visit coxautoinc.com or connect via @CoxAutomotive on Twitter, CoxAutoInc on Facebook or Cox-Automotive-Inc on LinkedIn.

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 OEM brands. Roku Smart Home products, including cameras, video doorbells, lighting, plugs, and more are available in the U.S. 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 trends related to TV streaming and advertising; the parties’ entry into a partnership; and the features, benefits, growth and reach of the Roku platform. 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. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are detailed from time to time in the reports Roku, Inc. files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on Roku’s website and are available from Roku without charge.

Roku is a registered 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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230201005378/en/