Roku signs up Walmart for shoppable ads

The Future. Roku is teaming up with Walmart to bring shoppable ads to the streaming platform — all handled by nothing more than the Roku remote. The partnership is a gamechanger in the world of streaming and may inspire (read: pressure) other streamers to make ads on their platform dynamic… putting film and TV streamers in direct competition with the live-shopping features of social platforms like YouTube and Instagram.

Remote control
TechCrunch reports that Roku is turning its streaming platform into a shopping destination.

• Roku is partnering with Walmart to bring shoppable ads to the platform, where users can use their Roku app to make purchases while streaming.
• The feature works through an “overlay to an existing ad,” allowing viewers to simply click “OK” on their remote to start the transaction.
• The purchase will go through automatically since the viewer’s billing information is already saved on the platform.

The shoppable ads will first roll out on The Roku Channel AVOD service and eventually to other channels on Roku. And don’t worry, streamers, your show or movie will pause while you purchase.

Climbing the charts
The shoppable ads are a big win for Roku, which can now claim to be the first platform (outside of Amazon, for obvious reasons) to strike this kind of deal with a retailer. Wall Street took notice, sending the company’s stock up 4%… giving it even more capital to make a name for itself in the original content game.

Additionally, the shoppable ads will be powered by Roku’s proprietary OneView ad-buying platform, which is the tech that Netflix reportedly hopes to license to jumpstart its own ad tier. If a deal materializes, could Netflix pony up even more cash to bring the shoppable ads to their platform?