Welcome to Roku Ads Manager. In this article are a few steps to consider as you get started
What is Roku Ads Manager?
Roku's place at the center of the streaming ecosystem provides a unique opportunity for advertisers to connect with their streaming audiences. Roku Ads Manager is the ad platform that enables that connection.
Built for speed and performance, Roku Ads Manager makes performance in streaming ads a reality for all businesses. Build, buy, and measure streaming ad campaigns all in one place.
Set objectives and goals, target your ideal audience, upload creatives, and publish your campaign in minutes. Roku will automatically optimize your campaign based on your campaign parameters to maximize performance.
Our self-service ad platform simplifies the streaming ad buying experience at every step, from campaign creation to performance optimization to billing.
Before you start
Before launching your first campaign, define what your main goal is. Whether it’s driving conversions (purchases, installs, leads) or building awareness (reach, impressions).
Your goal determines how the campaign is structured, optimized, and measured for success.
Optimization is the process where the system:
Collects data from your campaign (impressions, clicks, conversions, audience behavior).
Analyzes performance to see which audiences, placements, times, and creatives are working best.
Adjusts delivery automatically - showing your ads more often to the people and situations most likely to achieve your goal (e.g., more conversions or more reach) while reducing spend on less effective impressions.
Example:
If your goal is purchases, the optimization engine will learn over time which types of viewers are most likely to buy and will prioritize showing ads to them. This increases efficiency you get more results for the same budget.
Start tracking Events before launch to start collecting valuable data, and begin with broad targeting so the system can learn and find your best audiences.
Your first campaign is both marketing and data collection the more quality signals you give the system, the better it can optimize toward your goal.
What kind of Ads do I need?
Ads Manager runs non-skippable CTV Ads in the US, so you will need video assets that meet the technical specs listed here.
Ads Manager accepts videos from 6 to 92 seconds in length.
Note: At this time Ads Manager supports only Ads in English
If you don't have a video that meets requirements readily available, you can use:
Creative upscaler to enhance a video with lower resolution, so that it meets Ads Manager's specification requirements, ensuring your ad looks great on TV.
our Spaceback Partnership which will take you're Social Media Ads and assets and convert them into a ready-for-TV Ad.
Here you'll find some creative best practices to keep in mind when producing your ad.
Tip: You can find examples of creatives that have performed well in some of our case studies.
Building a campaign
The first step when creating a campaign is declaring the goal you defined. Learn more about goals here. The goal you set will determine how Ads Manager optimizes.
Other important Campaign settings include Budget, Location, Audiences and Placements. You can find articles on each here.
How much will I spend?
Our platform has no revenue requirements, so you can spend as little or as much as you like. Campaigns can be published for as little as $500, which can be paused or extended any time.
You'll pay as your campaign delivers with a credit card or via invoicing, never upfront.
We price our campaigns on a dynamic CPM which helps get you the best price while also maximizing your campaign's performance. CPMs are variable based on campaign set up. You can even set a max bid, if you'd like to ensure your campaigns don't exceed a certain amount.
Adding my creatives
The last step in the campaign set up, is adding your creatives. This is where you will upload the video assets you have available.
You can also create an Action Ad that includes an overlay prompting viewers to take action with their remote control.
You can add as many creative variations as you want. This will allow our system to optimize and prioritize the best creative to meet your goal.
Tracking Events
If your goal is to drive users to your website and perform specific actions, our system will need to be able to track them. We have many integrations that make the set up process easier, as well as Java Script Pixels and a Conversions API (CAPI) that allows advertisers to make Server-to-server calls.
Tip: We recommend always tracking events even if you're running an Awareness campaign. The more data our system has the better it can optimize, and you will have greater insights into how your campaign impacted visits and sales on your page.
How do I get help?
Get assistance at any time, by clicking the purple question mark on every page and asking our Operator questions. If you prefer help from a Roku Team member, you can ask Operator to redirect you.
