Youre going to be seeing a lot more of this in the future
Roku and Instacart have plans to sew you to your sofa so you can sit there all day long and never have to leave home to do your shopping.
In a pure tonnage play, Roku with its 90 million subscribers and Instacart with its 14 million active users and 6,000 brand partners, have forged a new partnership with interactive ads that enable consumers to shop while watching TV in their homes.
The partnership beta-tested the idea in 2023 and saw strong results particularly for consumers who had never purchased a product from a specific company before. On average, across multiple advertisers, 52% of streamers who purchased a product they saw advertised on Roku via Instacart were new-to-brand.
Were turning our attention to what every modern [consumer goods] marketer needs: massive scale and full-funnel solutions, Jay Askinasi, SVP, head of global media revenue and growth at Roku, said in the companys announcement. With the click of the Roku remote, users can make a purchase directly from their TV screen.
Impulse buying
This new marketing ploy is a lot like impulse buying in the checkout lane at a store where advertisers try to reach viewers directly via text or QR code. Then, if someone likes what theyre being pitched and wants to buy it, all they have to do is scan the code and order it via Instacart. An hour later and voila, someone is knocking at their door, order in hand.
But, consumers need to be careful because depending on what they purchase they could get bombarded with more ads about the same product or from the same company. A lot like the algorithms YouTube and others use to feed us endless streams of things weve watched similar versions of, the new partnership gives brands the leverage to deliver consumers more relevant ads based on their Instacart purchase behavior.
These advertisers can also get pretty granular. For example, they can target consumers who may have bought something a year or two ago, but havent since or, more broadly, people who have bought organic foods or office supplies.
Therell be more of this for sure
What Roku and Instacart are doing is reminiscent of Amazon's integration of shopping features into its streaming services, where viewers can purchase items related to the content they are watching. Similarly, YouTube has experimented with shoppable ads that allow viewers to buy products directly from video content.
If you dont like where all of this is headed, sorry. Soon, you'll be seeing personalized ads and the ability to shop not only from your TV, but from your phone, or even your smart fridge. Don't be surprised if your favorite streaming services start offering rewards programs and exclusive deals to keep you clicking "buy now" either.
Of course, with all this personalized shopping magic comes the need for top-notch privacy protection, so expect companies to step up their game in that area, as well.
Speaking of privacy, Roku does collect a fair amoungof user information: browsing history, search history, search results, audio information when you use voice-enabled features, interactions with content and ads, etc. So does Amazon with its Firestick and so do other companies especially through the microphone in a smart TVs remote.
If that concerns you, here are some tips on what you can do to keep prying eyes and ears off your TV and out of your life
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2024-10-10 16:21:24
