Roku Ads Manager: how small businesses buy TV ads

This guide is built from Roku's Roku Ads Manager page and these Roku Ads Manager Help Center articles: Getting started, Where will my ads run?, Placements, Creating a campaign, Set your campaign goal, Campaign budget & schedule, Bid guidance, How billing works, When will I be charged?, Ad Credits, Audience targeting, Location targeting, Special ad categories, Frequency Capping, Creative technical requirements, Action Ads Deep Dive and Report metrics guide. For video ads on TV screens through Google, see our YouTube ads on TV guide.

What Roku Ads Manager is

Roku calls Ads Manager its "self-service ad platform": you build, buy and measure streaming TV campaigns in one place, and Roku optimizes delivery toward the goal you pick. Roku's product page says you can "go live in minutes (no DSP fees)". Two limits from the Getting started article matter before you plan anything: "Ads Manager runs non-skippable CTV Ads in the US", and "At this time Ads Manager supports only Ads in English".

Where the ads run

Ads play in pre-roll and mid-roll breaks in streaming shows and films. Roku says they run on The Roku Channel, across the Roku Audience Network ("a dynamic list of our 100 ad-supported apps"), and on a curated list of premium CTV content. During set-up you choose between three placement options:

• Automatic placement (the default): Roku spreads delivery across all available first and third-party streaming inventory.
• Roku: The Roku Channel only, Roku's own streaming app.
• Other streaming apps: other ad-supported apps; Roku names Hulu, Tubi and Discovery+ as examples.

Roku adds that it "does not guarantee that any campaigns will run on any specific streaming app or channel", and that Ads Manager ads will not appear on some platforms, such as Amazon Prime.

Minimum budget, pricing and billing

• Minimum: every campaign needs a lifetime budget, and it "must be $500 or more". Roku says there are no revenue requirements beyond that, and campaigns can be paused or extended at any time.
• Pricing model: "We price our campaigns on a dynamic CPM", and "CPMs are variable based on campaign set up." Roku publishes no fixed rate. You pay for impressions (views of the ad), and "You're never charged for ads that didn't run, only for billable impressions."
• Bidding: Auto bid (the default) lets Ads Manager set bids for your objective; Max bid lets you set the most you want to bid on an opportunity.
• Over- and under-delivery: you are not charged above your lifetime budget, and unspent budget at the end of the schedule is not charged.
• When you are charged: by credit card or invoicing, "never upfront". Card charges come when spend reaches your billing threshold and on the last day of the month. Roku says "Our billing thresholds start at $500, then $1000, $2000 and double from there."
• Ad Credits: Roku sometimes issues promotional credits as promo codes. They are "offered at Roku's discretion", need an account in good standing with a valid payment method, and some carry extra conditions such as being a first-time spender. Each offer states its own terms.

The account time zone and currency are set when you create the ad account; Roku says the time zone "can’t be changed once you create the account."

Setting up a campaign

Roku's Creating a campaign article walks through these steps:

1. Choose the objective: Awareness (optimized for reach) or Conversion. A Conversion campaign needs an event first, set up with the Roku JavaScript pixel, the Conversions API or the Shopify integration. Roku says only six events can be optimization goals: page views, sign-ups, leads, purchases, app installs and subscriptions.
2. Declare a special ad category if your ad is about credit, housing or employment.
3. Set the lifetime budget and schedule. Start dates must be in the future, and Roku says to "allow 2-3 business days for manual review of your creative".
4. Pick locations and, if you want, audiences.
5. Choose Auto bid or Max bid under Delivery.
6. Upload up to 10 creatives.
7. Add a payment method and publish.

You can also clone an existing campaign as a starting point.

Targeting

• Locations: with no selection the whole United States is targeted. You can include or exclude states, ZIP codes or Designated Market Areas, but only one type at a time; switching type clears your earlier list.
• Audiences: four audience-targeting options sit under the Audience section, with a forecaster to see how household reach changes. Selections in different groups combine with AND; selections in the same group combine with OR. Roku's own advice: "Unless you know who your audience is for sure, we recommend letting the system optimize".
• Special ad categories: credit, housing and employment ads cannot target by income, age, gender or ZIP code; political ads cannot target by income.
• Frequency cap: under Delivery, advanced settings, you can limit how often one home sees your ads. Roku says this is only available on Awareness campaigns.

Video specs and review

Roku's technical requirements for the video file:

• Length 6 to 92 seconds, aspect ratio 16:9, file size up to 1 GB, .mov or .mp4.
• Frame rate 23.98, 25.00 or 29.97 fps; AVC or ProRes 422 HQ; video bit rate at least 6 Mbps.
• Audio PCM preferred, AAC accepted, at least 96 kbps, 16- or 24-bit, and matching the video length.
• File names up to 170 characters.

Every creative gets a technical review and then a 2-3 day manual content review. If your video is lower resolution, Roku points to its creative upscaler tool. If the same video will also run on YouTube, compare our YouTube ad specs guide.

Action ads

Action ads add an on-screen prompt to your video: viewers "press OK" on the Roku remote, confirm their phone number and get a text message from your brand, then the ad break carries on. Roku says there are "no additional minimums or premiums" for them. Two limits: the interactive overlay only shows on ads that run on The Roku Channel (on other apps the same ad plays as a standard video), and action ads are not available for alcohol, cryptocurrency or political ads.

Reporting

The Reports page shows spend, impressions, CPM, video completion rate and cost per completed view, views to 25%, 50% and 75%, household reach and frequency, and cost per unique reach. With the Roku pixel in place you also see attributed actions, cost per action and, for purchases with a value, return on ad spend.

How we would start

This is our own view, not Roku's guidance:

• Set up the pixel and events before launch, even for an Awareness test, so you can see what viewers did afterwards.
• Make one 15 or 30 second 16:9 video built for the TV screen, with your name and offer said out loud.
• Start with the minimum budget over a few weeks, in the locations you actually serve, before narrowing audiences.
• If you want texts from viewers, use action ads with the Roku placement only.

For help planning video and TV campaigns, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Roku Ads Manager cost?

Each campaign needs a lifetime budget of at least $500. Roku prices on a dynamic CPM that varies with campaign set-up and publishes no fixed rate; you can set a max bid, and you only pay for impressions that ran.

Is there a monthly fee for Roku Ads Manager?

Roku's help pages describe no subscription fee: you pay for delivered impressions, charged when you reach a billing threshold (starting at $500) and on the last day of the month.

Where do Roku Ads Manager ads run?

In pre-roll and mid-roll breaks on The Roku Channel and other ad-supported streaming apps that Roku works with. Automatic placement is the default; you can limit ads to The Roku Channel.

Can I skip a Roku ad?

No. Roku says all ads placed through Ads Manager are non-skippable.

Where is the Roku Ads Manager help center?

At help.ads.roku.com, with sections on getting started, campaigns, creatives, billing, pixels and events, and reporting.

Related guides: YouTube ads on TV screens, YouTube ad specs, Amazon streaming TV ads and ads on Apple Maps. To plan a campaign with us, see our services.