Roku launches shoppable ads with Instacart

It’s been more than a year since San Francisco-based last-mile delivery company Instacart partnered with video streaming company Roku to drive CPG advertising, and now the two are making television shoppable.

Instacart announced on Oct. 9 that it has expanded its partnership with San Jose, Calif.-based Roku to include “interactive ad formats, enhanced targeting capabilities, and closed-loop measurement.”

The initial partnership announced in April of 2023 offered advertisers insights that tracked the impact of TV ads on e-commerce purchases. 

“On average, across multiple advertisers, 52% of streamers who purchased a product they saw advertised on Roku via Instacart were new-to-brand,” Instacart said in the press release. 

Instacart and Roku are now offering shoppable ads on the streaming platform that enables customers to scan a QR code or receive a text message on products that take them to Instacart’s platform to purchase. 

Those purchases can be delivered in as quickly as an hour, Instacart noted. 

CPG advertisers can also now place products on the Roku home screen that take them to Instacart’s online portal. “This premium real estate enables brands to capture the attention of viewers as they decide which shows they want to watch on Roku,” Instacart said in the press release. 

The Roku platform can also now offer relevant purchase suggestions based on a shopper’s previous purchase on Instacart.

"With our combined scale and advanced data insights, we're delivering precision targeting, highly relevant ads, and measurable outcomes in a privacy-compliant way to drive performance at a new level,” said Tim Castelli, vice president of global advertising sales at Instacart, in a statement. “Together, we are transforming how CPGs connect with consumers, making every ad not just an impression, but a direct pathway to purchase."