David Eilenberg de Roku
On the second day of the IAB NewFronts, Peter Collie, President of Roku Media, pointed out that Roku is not in the streaming war, “the streaming war is on our platform, we are the battleground.” He sees Roku as a luxury hotel for brands and advertisers, while the others are just “a room.” He added that Roku makes messaging “unmissable” and possible in a “messy” world.
Allison Levy, VP of Advertising Sales announced that for the first time brands will be able to be part of Roku City, being McDonalds the first to join. “Roku powers the streaming journey. 40 million households spend time each month on Roku City and there are 70 million households active on the platform,” she said.
Among the top creator allies of Roku who attended to the event were the sisters Cisely and Mariel Saldaña (Zoey Saldaña’s sisters), architects of the reality show Meet me in Paris, that will be launching its second season, Meet me in Rome, in 2024. They also announced a second season of Mamás en Español that premieres on Friday the 12th.
David Eillenberg, Head of Content at Roku Media, noted that Roku already has 350 channels on the platform and a reach of 100 million people. He recalled the success of the film Weird The Al Yankovic story, part of Roku Originals, starring Daniel Ratcliff.
He said that Roku Originals have several focuses: gastronomy programming with celebrities such as Emeril and Martha Stewart and now with the premiere of a new American version The great American Baking Show of the British franchise that premiered on Friday the 5th with a second season at the beginning of 2024; and competition shows as Celebrity Family Cook Off, created by Manolo González Vergara (who will be the host) and Sofía Vergara, and Special delivery.
Another focus is Spanish and bilingual programming that, according to Eilenberg “is growing.” One of the new shows on Espacio Latino de Roku is Carpe DM, hosted by Juanpa Zurita, a Mexican influencer with more than 80 million followers.
They also announced the launch of long-format stories for brands with one of the first initiatives being the six-part series, Side hustlers, made for Ally with production company Hello Sunshine.
The event was closed by musician and singer Charlie Puth.
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