Best Buy’s first-party data access to Roku: What does it mean for marketers?

Roku and Best Buy announced a new partnership under which the streaming platform and device company will gain access to first-party data from the electronics retailer. According to the announcement, Best Buy is now the sole seller of Roku-branded televisions.

This is the first of its kind of collaboration for Best Buy, as it has never partnered with a TV streaming platform before to provide first-party sales data. Best Buy, however, is not Roku's first retail partnership. Last year, CTV announced a partnership with Walmart to develop its shoppable advertising product.

The new agreement allows Roku to target advertisements using the retailer's data. Best Buy Ads, the company's advertising division, debuted in January 2022.

The collaboration reflects a shift in how advertisers spend their money as they shift towards streaming and retail media to reach a larger number of consumers. According to eMarketer, 82% of US advertisers expect to increase their spending on retail media networks in 2022.

Roku and Best Buy also recently conducted an exclusive two-day, in-person, interactive activation event. It allowed participants to experience Roku's screensaver, Roku City, as well as the Best Buy Home Theater Experience. The Best Buy Home Theater featured the latest Roku devices available at Best Buy and Roku's upcoming original content slate, among other titles on The Roku Channel.

First-party customer information is more than indispensable for any business in this digital world to create more purposeful marketing in order to resonate with audiences. Given that the competition in the streaming space is increasing by the day, the collaboration of Roku and Best Buy is remarkable for helping marketers bring greater efficiency to their marketing efforts.

Personalized ad targeting:

The first-party data is unique, accurate, and authentic as it is collected directly from customers. It allows marketers to understand the customers’ needs and preferences in order to target audiences with personalized ads. As a result, the merged datasets of two companies ensure only relevant audience segments will receive brand ads. The possibility of those audiences showing interest in the brand's products will also become relatively higher. This, in turn, helps marketers drive conversions.

Optimize campaigns and improve ROI:

Ideally, the first-party data from Best Buy will help marketers ensure their advertising investment is on track and not wasted. Because it prevents marketers from spending on audience segments that are not valuable to brands and makes their investments more valuable.

Marketers with access to Best Buy's customer data can gain insights into their customers' pain points, trends in customer behavior, and interests, and thus optimize their campaigns accordingly.

For instance, earlier marketers might have prioritized the audience segments they deemed important. Now with the new data source, they get a chance to target new audience segments that are filled with high-value audiences and lessen their priorities for the others. This way, they can possibly maximize their campaign performance and improve ROI.

Compliant with privacy standards:

Data privacy standards and regulations have become far more stringent than before. It is well known that ad tech companies are facing privacy lawsuits one after the other. Even consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about how brands use their data.

93% of Americans believe it is important to have control over who has access to their personal data. In this regard, as first-party information is regulation-friendly, marketers get the possibility to sharpen their targeting and improve performance with Best Buy data access while respecting consumer privacy.

In short, Roku’s new collaboration with Best Buy gives marketers the capability to reach the exact audiences they want to reach in the streaming space. Thus, the ball is in marketers’ court to make the most of it.