The road to Cannes Lions 2024: Roku caps off month of new partnerships

Roku is riding a wave of new media partnerships as this year’s Cannes Lions Festival kicks off in the South of France.

The annual advertising industry event brings together a diverse crowd of participants representing well-known brands, advertising and marketing firms, publishers and media companies, and tech providers to talk about the latest industry trends and to consummate potential deals.

Here are just a few highlights of what led up to Cannes this week:

‘House of the Dragon’ comes to Roku City

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Vhagar, the oldest and largest dragon owned by House Targaryen, lighting up the purple skies of Roku City. This collaboration makes the upcoming season of Max’s House of the Dragon unmissable to millions of streamers.

In addition to Vhagar, fans and foes of the House Targaryen will find a castle bearing the Targaryen sigil in Roku City, as well as key imagery from the show featured on the home screen.

Fans of Roku City know that the digital downtown is packed with movie and TV references. In fact, 85% of Roku subscribers have watched the popular screensaver scroll by as they take streaming breaks.

In addition to Vhagar’s appearance in Roku City, House of the Dragons also was featured prominently on the Roku home screen for the premiere of the show’s second season:

Roku and Fandango announce new theatrical advertising relationship

Through Roku and Fandango’s expanded relationship, theatrical advertisers will gain a better view of their media buys, giving them insight into how Roku campaigns impact consumer behavior at theaters and at home to further leverage their big screen trailers across the Roku platform, while driving and improving ticket sales performance.

Fun fact: Approximately nine out of 10 Roku users report going to the movies in the last 12 months.

Learn more about this exciting new relationship here in the Roku Newsroom.

Roku Exchange unlocks access to Roku’s audience and premium media

Just last week, Roku announced Roku Exchange, a TV streaming-first advertising technology solution that connects ad inventory with all buyers, including programmatic leaders.

Combining Roku’s premium advertising supply with identity data and AI-driven optimization capabilities, advertisers will be able to maximize the performance of their campaigns, and more buyers will have access to inventory.

To learn more about Roku Exchange, read the news release in the Roku Newsroom.

Coming soon to Roku Originals: ‘A Radical Act: Renee Montgomery’

Roku Originals has picked up “A Radical Act: Renee Montgomery,” an inspirational feature documentary about Renee Montgomery, a two-time WNBA Champion, sports broadcaster, and activist who is currently co-owner and vice president of the Atlanta Dream.

This new feature is an intimate portrait of Renee’s transition from player to front office, as well as the experiences that formed her character, from growing up in West Virginia to capturing two WNBA titles with the Minnesota Lynx.

Directed by Sandrine Orabona, “A Radical Act: Renee Montgomery” is produced by UNINTERRUPTED in association with Storyform, P&G Studios, and the WNBA. LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, Philip Byron, Renee Montgomery, Stephanie Acevedo, Kimberly Doebereiner, and Eric Austin serve as executive producers. Camille Maratchi serves as co-executive producer.

Learn more about the documentary here in the Roku Newsroom.

Roku lands exclusive rights to MLB Sunday Leadoff

Roku steps up to the plate as the exclusive home of Major League Baseball (MLB) Sunday Leadoff.

Baseball fans can now find the live MLB games for free every Sunday on The Roku Channel and TheRokuChannel.com through the end of the regular season. The telecasts will be produced in collaboration with Major League Baseball.

Roku has also introduced the MLB Zone, a new one-stop destination for fans to browse, discover, and stream everything MLB, including a more robust, ad-supported MLB channel, up-to-date highlights, MLB Game of the Week replays, Minor League Baseball game replays, and more.

For the complete MLB Sunday Leadoff schedule and details on how to tune in on Roku, read the news release in the Roku Newsroom.