The Future of TV Advertising: Roku’s Sarah Harms on Streaming, Data, and the Rise of CTV

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[00:00:35] Everything has to be consumer first. So we're never going to be the obnoxious kind of in your face bothering you all day with annoying ads. You want to make it more seamless and fluid with the rest of the OS. So think of that as our Roku experience. To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move at an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, founder and CEO of Suzy. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry. Why it matters now and how you can keep up.

[00:01:05] Welcome to the Speed of Culture. We're here live at CES in Las Vegas and today we are thrilled to welcome Sarah Harms, the VP of Advertising, Marketing and Measurement at Roku. With an incredible career spanning top roles at companies like GroupM and Microsoft, Sarah now leads at Roku where she's at the forefront of shaping the future of streaming and advertising. Sarah, so great to see you. Thank you. That was a lovely introduction. Oh, of course. Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

[00:01:31] Yes, great to have you. Roku is such an interesting company because the people that have a Roku as a customer... Do you? ...love it. I don't, but I know how it works. Yeah. You should have brought me one. I am. But the people who have it love it. The people who don't use it aren't as familiar with it. For those in the audience who aren't as familiar with it, describe what Roku is. Sure. So we often say we're the best story never told. Yeah. Especially if you don't have a Roku television. Right.

[00:01:58] It's funny though, increasingly we continue to see Roku sticks being put into other television operating systems... ...because ours is so simple. And so for those that do not have Rokus, we're the largest television operating system in the US. We have 90 million households that we announced this week. Half of streaming happens on a stick or a Roku TV.

[00:02:18] And so we very much have a very interesting advertising business and media business because we have our platform, which is, again, the biggest, which allows for all this amazing data. We're also a publisher as well with the Roku channel, which continues to climb the gauge. The best channel that you have. Well, it has everything. Right. It has fast, it has originals, it has branded content, it has sports. And so that's a lot of more education we have to do, not just about Roku, but also all the facets within it.

[00:02:45] Yeah. I mean, a lot of the kind of component companies that make TVs, right? The Japanese companies that they're trying to create their own software because the margins have gotten compressed. You can buy an 80 inch TV now for like 300 bucks. Right. Crazy. So it's very hard for them to make money doing that. They're trying to create services and software. Traditionally, it's been hard for them to do because it's just not in their DNA.

[00:03:09] And I find that the software companies, the companies that know how to do that, the great user experience are the ones that customers like Roku are switching to, despite the fact that the component companies are offering it. How do you look at the competitive ecosystem for Roku, given all that? Yeah. So there's obviously the Roku competitive ecosystem and from my seat kind of advertising ecosystem. And obviously we look at the other TV manufacturers and we tip our cap there. And then we think of the other kind of big streaming publishers.

[00:03:36] So the Disney's, the Netflix's, the Hulu's of the world. And we keep a close eye on them and the gauge and really understand our positioning as really the largest AVOD player, where they're amazing, kind of big, beautiful content. But maybe their advertising scale is not as big. Right. And so we think about that. And then obviously we think about us as a platform as well. And a lot of the evolution we'll talk about today, we used to have our own platform and now we're much more kind of operable with the key players in the space. And so we certainly- In terms of advertising?

[00:04:05] Yeah. Yeah. So we previously had OneView, which is our kind of demand side platform. And we still have our own technology. We continue to commercialize it, but we also acknowledge the need to partner with the key players in the space. And so we think of ourselves as a huge player, but also one that's really not so much of a walled garden, but open and collaborative and interoperable with other big players in the space. So the sum is greater than the parts.

[00:04:30] Gotcha. So if I'm an advertiser and I'm advertising on Roku, am I advertising within your custom channels and custom content? Is that where the reach occurs? There's a few places. Okay. And so I think what excited me about Roku is we really have two complementary media businesses and advertising propositions behind that. So we have our home screen. So 120 million people see that every single day. That many? Yes. So 90 million households, 120 million people. From early US?

[00:04:55] Yeah. So we're in US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, but really a lot of is the US with a focus of kind of ongoing growth and outer markets. But sticking with the US, that many people come into our experience every day to decide where they want to go and watch content. Yeah. Finding content is harder than ever. And so that's why our UI is so compelling and complimentary of what am I going to watch it and how do I discover content? So we have advertising opportunities on our home screen.

[00:05:25] We talk about Super Bowl size reach every single day. So you're seeing big, beautiful custom creatives. High impact. Yeah. Beautiful. Born out of the media and entertainment business where we are driving tune in for the Peacocks, the Hulus, the Disney's world. But now we have brand advertising there. We have our kind of immersive experiences like Roku City, which is our interactive screensaver. It's viral. People love it. It's just really fun. And so brands like we had Taylor Swift in Roku City. We have stores in Roku City.

[00:05:54] We have cars in Roku City. And so it's just such a fun experience. And so think of that as custom, beautiful, kind of high touch. Inventory in the home. Correct. Yeah. And continuing to test and learn and iterate those advertising opportunities because everything has to be consumer first. So we're never going to be the obnoxious kind of in your face bothering you all day with annoying ads. We want to make it more seamless and fluid with the rest of the OS. So think of that as our Roku experience.

[00:06:21] But then to your point, we have tremendous video inventory scale, either through our partnerships of the apps that we host or more than ever, just the Roku channel. It's the second biggest app on our TVs, which is maybe crazy for us New Yorkers. Considering there's Netflix, all these other platforms. Right. Yeah. But we'll talk more about it. We just, we want to make TV easy and the Roku channel is easy with fast and discovering content. And so we continue to climb the gauge.

[00:06:50] And the gauge just represents the Nielsen gauge, which is kind of illustrating TV consumption in the U.S. And that's just our space within the Roku channel. And so if you think about the other side, which I just articulated, the Roku experience, we're massive in terms of an advertising proposition. So what makes platforms like Roku interesting is that you have the immersion of TV watching, right? But in addition, you have the addressability and measurement that traditionally did not come with advertising on TV. Correct.

[00:07:20] Talk to me about, A, how brands can specifically address the right types of consumers, because we've come a long way from 18 to 49, cookie cutter demographics. And then second, and I know this is in your title, measurement, attribution, what type of attribution you're offering. Sure, sure. So we like to help our clients with playbooks for whatever their goals are. And so we talked about those big, beautiful experiences, mass reach, big launches. But also we understand that because we're the largest operating system in the U.S.

[00:07:49] and because every single household has to have a Roku account, all of that is underpinned by our amazing data. And so using that throughout to kind of build playbooks for the consumer journey through our platform. And so to your point, addressability, targeting, sophisticated data collaboration with key partners.

[00:08:37] We can't always be the source of truth. And so how do we kind of strike the right relationships with the measurement companies that matter to our brands to make sure they're investing with confidence and collaborating with confidence with us? Are you seeing a rise in brands wanting to do bottom funnel conversion?

[00:10:27] Yeah. What is that and why does that matter? Yeah, it's so interesting. It's always kind of what's old is new again. Yeah. And we're really seeing that. I have a personal anecdote. I'm much more of kind of a streamer in the apps, but I love the red carpets. And so I watched the Golden Globes red carpet on our fast channel and you can't tell the difference. And so I think there's a few things I think we've made the experience lovely and almost you don't even know you're doing it. And that's kind of great. And it's not like we're tricking them. We're just making it easy.

[00:10:57] But also I talked about content really hard and sometimes you have a brain dead day and you just want to turn on your TV, lean back and let them choose your adventure. And so I think it's really just addressing the market that content is getting complicated and complex. And so that's where Roku shines. It's like let us help you find the content you care about. And we're happy to help with some fast channels as well. So we're here at CES and you're working with lots of brands, lots of agencies.

[00:11:23] What are they looking for this year to stand out and differentiate it using platforms like Roku? I think there's a few things. Okay. I think they loved seeing our innovation, both in the fact that we're so consumer led, but also these kind of new, exciting mass reach experiences. And so testing and learning again to see how these video or rich media like assets interact with the rest of their funnel. So I think there's that and just testing and learning.

[00:11:51] I think they're also starting to understand how do I invest more in some of these? Is it fast? Is it women's sports? Is it these challenger sports? Just to kind of test and learn. Women's sports is huge. It's huge. Yeah. Female athlete here. And so I'm very proud of it. And I think as a kind of tangent here, the media math wasn't mathing for a long time. It was like the nice thing to do to invest in these sports, but that only is half the problem. You need it to work and you need the eyeballs.

[00:12:17] And so I love to see that it's actually happening and the eyeballs are there and the performance is there. So really kind of clients asking us like, well, how do we start? And then again, I think there's the ongoing maturation of our business. So more accountability, more addressability, more infrastructure of data collaboration, unique measurement. And so they come to us with questions and we're happy to help. That's great. And are you primarily having conversations with brands, with agencies? How does it work? Both. Yeah.

[00:12:45] I mean, we serve it all and we serve big. And then we talked about Roku ads manager. And so we very much support agencies and their businesses and their products, but also acknowledge that brands are increasingly making very big decisions with or without their agencies. And we do everything in between. Absolutely. So where are you focused on 2025 to make sure that you continue to bring your vision for Roku's ad platform to life? Where are you spending your time?

[00:13:12] Where are you spending your time learning and growing as a professional to make sure you can continue to excel? Yeah, I think there's the business angle and then there's the people angle. Obviously, we're recording today and a lot of our team is displaced and confused. And so as a leader, I want to support our team today and in the future of kind of growing at the company, which is how we do great work. But also on the business side, I think again, Roku is on a big evolution. Like the things we talk about now we haven't talked about in the past.

[00:13:41] And that was really where we weren't so open for collaboration or we weren't so interoperable. We were pretty inflexible. And so talking about different DSP integrations or even the fact that we talk about Roku data cloud, it's a big evolution for the business. And so we need to make sure our teams understand the step changes we need to do to kind of execute on that vision. But that's really what brought me to Roku is very excited to see this modernization of the business and it's paying off. We're doing very well.

[00:14:09] What works for you just personally in terms of being a good partner to clients? Like what types of behaviors have you been able to hone over time and skill sets that make you an effective professional? Yeah, at Roku, we used to talk about platform, not the pieces. We had amazing pieces that came together again to a pretty rigid platform. And that's still compelling. We can still be your one stop shop. Great. But increasingly, our clients and brands, they're building platforms.

[00:14:36] Yeah, we understand we're just a really big piece of it, but not the only one. And I think that's important to kind of change that mindset that we know they're not only buying Roku, right? But we want to be their best, most collaborative partner. And so helping them solve problems, helping them build products, helping them understand reach curves and the ecosystem and doing research together. And so it's being very much collaborative, consultative, empathetic, I think is really where we're winning.

[00:15:05] Yeah, because if you're just selling them impressions, well, then you're commoditized. Everyone has that. And it's like, why? Because you need to stand out. I mean, everybody is selling advertising here. It's like PayPal has an advertising product. Chase does. Walmart does. Which is kind of crazy if you think about it, because those are also big advertisers themselves. And they're also selling advertising. So one thing I've been thinking about as I had all these interviews at CES is like, how do you really stand out? How do you really add value? How do you differentiate?

[00:15:32] Because there's only so many buyers out there and everyone wants their dollars. Everyone wants their attention. So I think being able to add value, create relationships, differentiate is probably table stakes now to be able to succeed. Yeah. We're very excited and proud of the fact that one, our OS is just great. The product has to be good. They love it. Consumers love it. And we're being so thoughtful about how we introduce advertising more and more in a very elegant way. And so that's check one. Yeah.

[00:16:01] Consumers love our product and we will always be consumer led. But off the back of that, we don't only have content. We have the platform, which is sticky. We didn't really talk about churn, but churn is real in kind of the streaming landscape. More than ever. Correct. And so 26 days out of the month, people come on the Roku platform and we see that drop significantly for each individual app. So we are a sticky. You're saying so they could set up for name the streaming platform and who are also selling advertising. Right.

[00:16:31] Right. They might not be there. No. Yeah. They might sign up for a show and they might cancel. Yeah. We'll be there three days out of the month. Right. You know, you're the platform layer. Correct. Which makes more sense to invest over time. Correct. Yeah. So not only do we help their businesses, we continue to help Peacock or Hulu or Disney or whoever their content get discovered because again, it's hard. And so that is a service we provide to them, but also consumers. But also I think we have the platform. We have the data, but we also have content.

[00:17:00] And I really think of that Venn diagram to really be differentiated and be future proof. You have to operate somewhat in the middle and we feel very good about the fact that we do both very well. Absolutely. So I want to shift gears and talk about you as we wrap up here. So you've worked at a lot of great companies that are kind of innovating and emerging on the ad tech side. What are some of the reasons for your success over your career? What do you think you do particularly well? And how have you been able to nurture those skills over time?

[00:17:28] Yeah. So I was very lucky. I started my career. My whole career really has been in ad tech and programmatic. And so I think what did well for me was a thirst for knowledge and becoming an expert in it. And that was back when it was nascent and it was like, oh, it's just remnant or that's just kind of cheap inventory. But now it's the way we work. And so one, I think just no question is a dumb question and just become an expert. And so that's just done very well for me. But also, I think interpersonal relationships matter. Yeah.

[00:17:58] And people matter both on your team, on other teams and externally. And so I try to be direct, but also very collaborative and pragmatic. And I think that's really important. I think the people thing is really important. And for some of our younger listeners, what are some of the things that you think they should do earlier in their career as an ad sales professional to set themselves up well for success? So one of my old boss was such a mentor and he talked about being pie shaped like the pie symbol. So don't be good at just one thing.

[00:18:28] Build extra legs to your career and continue. I like that. Yeah, it's great. So that's one thing. Again, no dumb questions. Find mentors internally, but also externally that will give it to you straight. And feedback is absolutely a gift and always ask for it because a lot of managers, especially early in their career, don't do it. Yeah. And you have blind spots and things you're doing that you would definitely want to improve if you knew about it, but you just don't. Correct. Yeah, I definitely. No one is perfect. I agree. And so I think it's so important.

[00:18:57] And I hope our young talent, especially as we all kind of return to the office, just they get much more comfortable and actually excited about these conversations for their career. Yeah, I think it's important. So we always wrap up our podcast by asking our guests if there's a quote or mantra that sums up their professional journey in the day. And I was wondering what comes to mind for you and why? It's from Bambi with Thumper. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. Right. So my mom always said it growing up and it goes back to kind of a lot about how I feel about the people thing.

[00:19:26] And so I think that can be the interpersonal thing, but also in a meeting, it's okay to be quiet. You know, and so maybe not being nice or not saying anything nice, but also if you don't anything to add, listening and observing is also okay. Yeah, sometimes people just like to hear their own sound of their own voice. Earlier in my career, I'd be nervous. And when I'm nervous, I'm like, let me fill the void, you know, but sometimes it's okay. And so I think, again, going back to just learning, observing, but also always doing it so in a very gracious and nice way. Awesome.

[00:19:56] Well, I want to thank you for taking the time today out of your busy schedule at CES to tell us about Roku and yourself and the journey you guys are on. Thank you. I wish you nothing but a successful 2025. Thank you. And you should get a Roku. Oh, on it, on it. On behalf of Susie and I, we team. Thanks again to Sarah Harms, the VP of Advertising, Marketing and Measurement at Roku for joining us today live at CES. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, see you soon. Bye-bye.

[00:20:24] The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Susie as part of the Adweek Podcast Network and Agass Creator Network. You can listen and subscribe to all Adweek's podcasts by visiting adweek.com slash podcasts. To find out more about Susie, head to susie.com. And make sure to search for the Speed of Culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Click Follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Susie, thanks for listening.

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