Horizon Is Bringing Roku’s TV Data ‘In House.’ Here’s What That Means For Advertisers | AdExchanger
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Home CTV Horizon Is Bringing Roku’s TV Data ‘In House.’ Here’s What That Means For Advertisers
CTV
Horizon Is Bringing Roku’s TV Data ‘In House.’ Here’s What That Means For Advertisers By
Alyssa Boyle
Wednesday, September 16th, 2026 – 9:00 am
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Streaming TV generates a flood of viewership data – but there’s a catch. By the time that data reaches media planners, the campaign has probably already moved on.
Horizon Media and Roku are trying to change that dynamic.
On Wednesday, Horizon announced a direct integration with Roku to pipe its TV data into blu., the agency’s homegrown data and intelligence platform. The duo asserts that this is more than just another data integration; it’s a joint product road map to tackle the persistent challenges in streaming TV ad buying.
Brands need to “connect the dots” between when someone sees an ad and when they take an action, said Samantha Rose, EVP and Head of integrated investment and programmatic at Horizon. They have a better chance of achieving their intended business outcomes if they can act on those insights while a campaign is still in flight.
Because Horizon and its clients get Roku’s TV data “in house,” as Rose put it, they can apply it earlier in the media planning process, which improves targeting and optimization.
Picture this
Before, Horizon would have to request campaign information and insights from Roku throughout a campaign, Rose said, “like we would [with] any media partner.”
But “now,” she said, “we’re going to have that [data] on an ongoing basis, in close to real time.”
Getting Roku’s TV data earlier helps brands more accurately reach their target audiences across Roku’s ecosystem of media sellers. Improved data access should “really reduce the delay between observing meaningful campaign signals and acting on [them],” said Sal Candela, VP of global agency partnerships at Roku.
But speed isn’t the only advantage.
Roku’s device and audience data sets allow Horizon to plan, activate and measure media based on “a much larger and deterministic data set,” Rose said, “which we need to make sure we are being more specific and accurate in measurement.” That’s a noteworthy shift away from panel-based audience data, which is more probabilistic by nature.
A+E Global Media, for example, expects the stronger integration between Roku and Horizon’s data to help it expand its audience reach to more relevant viewers.
“The challenge we’re grappling with today is that viewership data is incredibly siloed,” said Elizabeth Luciano, EVP of marketing at A+E. Centralizing disparate data sources into a common intelligence platform helps create a more comprehensive view of how people watch content, she said.
For instance, A+E expects to have a better sense of which audiences generate higher conversion rates based on information about viewing habits, such as genre preferences, Luciano said. From there, A+E can fine-tune which audiences and genres to target – and at what frequency – to grow its viewership base and keep people more engaged.
In short, she said, advertisers get a clearer picture of how viewers watch and a faster path to discovering which ones are worth reaching again.
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Horizon Media and Roku are pursuing a direct integration to channel Roku's television data into Horizon's proprietary data and intelligence platform, blu. This initiative is framed as a joint product roadmap designed to address persistent challenges within streaming television advertising. The fundamental objective of this integration is to enable brands to establish a clearer connection between ad exposure and subsequent user actions, allowing them to act on observational insights while a campaign is still active.
By acquiring Roku's TV data, Horizon gains earlier access to critical viewership information, which facilitates improved targeting and optimization within the media planning process. Previously, gaining such insights from media partners required iterative requests throughout a campaign; now, this data is available to Horizon in an ongoing, near real-time fashion. This improved data access is intended to reduce the latency between observing meaningful campaign signals and taking appropriate action, as noted by Sal Candela, VP of global agency partnerships at Roku.
Furthermore, the integration provides access to a larger and more deterministic data set for planning, activation, and measurement, which enhances measurement specificity and accuracy compared to the probabilistic nature of traditional panel-based audience data. This shift is critical for achieving more precise outcomes in advertising.
The centralization of disparate data sources is essential for overcoming the challenge of siloed viewership data. Elizabeth Luciano, EVP of marketing at A+E Global Media, points out that consolidating these sources into a common intelligence platform creates a more comprehensive view of how people consume content. This holistic view allows entities like A+E to gain a deeper understanding of viewing habits, such as genre preferences, enabling them to fine-tune targeting and frequency to grow viewership and increase engagement. Ultimately, this process provides advertisers with a clearer understanding of viewer behavior and a faster pathway to identifying audiences that yield the highest conversion rates for re-engagement. |