Roku Gets Upgraded As It Accelerates Its Growth

Roku, Inc. ROKU seems to be back to climbing up after yesterday's analyst rating, when Macquarie rated the company from neutral to outperform with a minimum target of $130. This comes after Oppenheimer announced at the end of September to keep the outperform rating despite the drop in September and raised the price target to $155. As Roku is approaching its quarter earnings results that are due in November, it's definitely a company to keep a close eye on as they have constantly been beating analyst expectations. The company also announced this week the launch of new products in a partnership with Walmart Inc WMT and the expansion of its program into Europe where it will challenge Netflix Inc's NFLX streaming dominance. So, a lot of exciting events for Roku.

Measurement Program

One year ago, yesterday, Roku announced a Measurement Partner Program to help brands and publishers quantify the impact and consequently, outcome of advertising campaigns running on its platform. Working with such data and integrating it within the company's decision-making process can only contribute to the company's bottom line. Last month, Roku further perfected its measurement tools to TV so it can measure and understand their daily demographic reach across the platform and Linear TV.

Truly a Data-Driven Company

With eleven partners being in the program, each measures a specific part of the marketing funnel such as audience demographics, brand awareness, store visits, website visits and sales increases. Now, with the help of Innovid, Roku can use unique datasets matching 30.5 million active accounts (as measured on June 30,) with Innovid's OTT ad serving footprint across over 75 million households. They are expected to provide valuable insights to marketers so they can better allocate advertising space they purchased both from Roku and other publishers without any additional integrations. And this is why a data-driven culture is more than just hiring Data Specialists. It's about using the data, knowing how to interpret it and actually integrating the insights it provides to finely tune day-to-day operations. It's about placing data at the heart of almost every single important business decision.

Partnership With Walmart

Roku and Walmart have worked together for years to enhance the entertainment experience for millions of people who have purchased the company's TV models and streaming players. But now, they are launching a new category of audio and streaming products and just in time for the holiday season. As always, that are easy to use and come at an incredible value for money. So better sound and better TV experience at a great price." With the huge market reach of Walmart, this exclusive partnership can only further boost Roku's growth.

September- Investors Choosing Roku Over Netflix

TD Ameritrade chief market strategist JJ Kinahan joined CNBC's "Closing Bell" last Monday and reported that investors are choosing Roku shares over Netflix. Kinahan further implied that the stock movement is showing that investors went from wanting to own the "producer of the content' to "provider of the content." Walt Disney Co DIS is both the producer and distributer which could explain why many are betting on the company driving its share price up.

Disney, Amazon and Netflix Dispute – A Hidden Opportunity For Roku?

Moreover, Disney and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN are reportedly arguing over ad space in Disney apps. The report by WSJ suggests that the current talks could lead to Disney pulling out. One report is optimistic that they will reach an agreement before Disney+'s November 12 launch to provide availability on over 37 million Fire TV devices. Yet another report says that Disney no longer finds the relationship with Netflix mutually beneficial and might no longer allow Netflix to advertise its content since it is not allowed to the same on Netflix. Disney's channels are still advertising other platforms such as Apple TV+. This might be all good news for Roku, and who knows, if Disney makes an inquiry it could leave Amazon even more behind.

Outlook

Roku pioneered streaming to the TV and everyone's excited about the new capabilities Roku and Innovid are bringing to the market. Roku is definitely investing in efforts to help brands and publishers quantify the impact of advertising campaigns on its platform. Learning from its data is a sure strategy to drive measurable results and Roku is clearly showing it is a real data-driven company. One thing is for sure, Roku's actions throughout last month are only further accelerating its growth.

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