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Roku’s popular screensaver, Roku City, is getting a new partner.
McDonald’s is joining TV’s biggest digital downtown, becoming the first brand to integrate with the screensaver, the companies announced Tuesday afternoon during Roku’s NewFronts presentation at New York’s Chelsea Factory.
The partnership is set to create plenty of reach for McDonald’s.
Internal Roku data found that two out of three of Roku’s 71.6 million users would take a trip to the purple-drenched city occupied by friendly monsters. Plus, previous Twitter data found that Roku City is mentioned every 11 minutes, and 40 million users regularly engage with Roku City every month. The company itself didn’t name Roku City, it was instead branded that way by fans.
After a peek at the new creative during the presentation, Roku’s head of advertising Alison Levin told the crowd that while McDonald’s is the first brand to join Roku City, the company is reserving a few category exclusives for interested brands.
“Those Golden Arches will shine with a purple glow,” said Levin.
When it comes to potential partnerships, McDonald’s is a natural fit for the screen-saving experience. After all, Roku has had a long-standing relationship with the QSR, with the first meeting between the companies occurring in 2015. Now, the fast-food company is one of Roku’s major partners.
“Our goal this NewFront is to make brands unmissable in TV,” Dan Robbins, vp of marketing and partner solutions at Roku, told Adweek ahead of the presentation. “As the platform, our goal is to bring all of the pieces together so that you’re not just buying the pieces, but buying the platform.”
McDonald’s isn’t Roku’s only major brand partnership. The company has commerce integrations with Best Buy, Cox Automotive, DoorDash, Kroger and Walmart, with Instacart most recently joining the fray. Together, these partnerships are the company’s new Commerce+ offering, which Roku says brings all of the best data and measurement from the biggest retailers and marketplaces directly into its platform. Roku now has over 30 measurement partners.
