Revenue -- $137.1 million, up 6% year over year in the fourth quarter. Contribution ex-TAC -- $65.2 million, showing 19% year-over-year growth and representing a 48% margin compared to 42% in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA -- $24.3 million, increasing 53% year over year and implying an adjusted EBITDA to contribution ex-TAC margin of 37%. Operating Cash Flow -- $21.8 million for the quarter, increasing over 400% year over year.
The deal ties Roku's proprietary viewership data to Instacart's sales data (across over 1,100 retail banners and 80,000+ stores in North America) in a privacy-safe way to provide advertisers with new insights about whether viewers purchase products on Instacart after seeing an ad for a CPG brand on the Roku platform. In essence, the partnership aims to enable advertisers to more easily quantify the impact of their streaming buys on product sales.
This week, TV advertising company Cadent announced that all of its SSP's CTV supply paths are now direct, surpassing the 75% industry benchmark recommended by Jounce Media. Direct supply has been baked into Cadent's SSP since the product three years ago, according to Brian Weigel, SVP of operations. Still, hitting 100% wasn't easy. Cadent had to onboard a range of publishers and supply-chain partners that first had to be vetted by Jounce.
Pinterest intends to buy tvScientific to turn its intent-rich audience data into a performance engine that extends beyond its own app and onto the connected TV screen - effectively using CTV to close the loop between inspiration, intent, and measurable outcomes. Announced last week, Pinterest expects that the purchase will give it immediate access to one of the few remaining pure-play performance CTV businesses, at a time when advertisers are demanding that television behave more like search and social.
Advertisers that buy Samsung inventory through the Amazon Ads DSP can use both companies' data to target CTV campaigns, as well as measure post-campaign results. This inventory includes ad spots on Samsung TV devices and the Samsung TV Plus network of FAST channels. In other words, a marketer trying to reach a particular type of shopper - parents who buy diapers, for example - can match that interest to segments within Samsung's network where those types of shoppers are highly likely to appear.
Inefficiency is baked into the programmatic supply chain. Between invalid traffic (IVT), bots, flawed targeting approaches that need to be adjusted midflight and ad tech taxes collected by middlemen along the way, brands spend a lot of money without seeing a return. But AI can help cut out some of this programmatic waste, said Caroline Proto, director of global media at EssilorLuxottica.
The Roku Ads API is intended to serve two different kinds of developers, said Hamilton. First, there are the ad tech partners that want to build on top of Roku's technology to create new CRM and CDP tools for advertisers. Then, there are the advertisers and brands themselves, which can incorporate Roku's tech directly into their own systems for measurement, reporting and campaign management.
Back when the dating app first launched in 2012, it was a completely anonymous hookup app - a "quick and safe way to find sex right now," according to one tagline from back in the day. But Pure has since pivoted to what Chantal Pesulima, the app's director of integrated marketing, calls a "full-blown dating app" focused on sexual openness, mutual consent and safety.
"It's a shame because on paper everything suggests that CTV should actually perform better. There's less ad clutter. You can't skip ads. You can be more targeted. There's so many positives to it. But I think price is probably one of the biggest barriers."
"They [clients] may not be used to seeing every layer of the ad tech fees. You have things like data, supply, and other ad tech fees, and it just gets compounded... and can be upwards of 15-to-40% of your media when you use certain platforms."
