Observed Signal · Jun 18, 2026 · Partnership · Source: https://martechseries.com/feed/ · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Smartly and Roku Announce CTV Partnership
Smartly announced a partnership with Roku, Inc. on June 18, 2026 to bring social advertising performance workflows to Connected TV. The integration creates a direct connection between Smartly and Roku Ads Manager via the Roku Ads API, enabling marketers to activate CTV campaigns using the same tools and assets they use for social advertising. The collaboration aims to streamline creative adaptation for TV, speed campaign activation, and provide measurable outcomes on Roku’s streaming platform. The announcement includes quotes from Laura Desmond, CEO of Smartly, and Patrick Harris, SVP, Global Advertising Sales & Partnerships at Roku.
Partnership connects a social-focused AdTech platform to a major CTV ad platform via an API, making it easier to extend social campaign workflows and creatives to TV streaming — a meaningful commercial integration for CTV adoption but not a platform policy change or major industry-shifting announcement.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Smartly announced a partnership with Roku, Inc. on June 18, 2026.
- The partnership creates a direct connection between Smartly and Roku Ads Manager via the Roku Ads API.
- Marketers can run CTV campaigns using tools they already use for social and adapt social creatives for TV at scale.
- Quotes in the announcement came from Laura Desmond (CEO, Smartly) and Patrick Harris (SVP, Global Advertising Sales & Partnerships, Roku).
Connected Companies & Entities
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Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Smartly and Roku Partner to Bring Social Performance to CTV
Smartly, an AI-powered advertising technology platform, announced a partnership with Roku, Inc. to integrate Smartly with Roku Ads Manager via the Roku Ads API. The integration enables advertisers to run connected TV (CTV) campaigns using the same tools and social strategies they use for social media, streamline creative adaptation of social assets for TV, and measure outcomes on Roku’s streaming platform. Smartly and Roku say the connection will speed campaign activation, improve precision and measurability, and allow brands to extend high-performing social campaigns to the TV screen. The press release includes quotes from Smartly CEO Laura Desmond and Patrick Harris, Roku’s SVP of Global Advertising Sales & Partnerships. The article was published on 2026-06-17.
Roku Launches Self-Serve Ads API for Developers
Roku unveiled the Roku Ads API, a self-serve suite that gives developers and advertisers programmatic, automated access to its Connected TV (CTV) advertising tools. At launch the API supports reporting, audience targeting and conversion tracking, with campaign and creative management features planned later in the year. Roku positions the move to attract performance-focused advertisers to CTV by offering automated, data-driven workflows similar to those on major social platforms. Tealium is named as a launch partner, and Roku published full API documentation and credential access on its site. The announcement comes amid a broader industry push — including comparable moves from Comcast — to make CTV measurable and performance-oriented.
Amazon and Roku Form Exclusive CTV Ad Alliance
Amazon Ads and Roku launched an exclusive connected TV (CTV) advertising alliance that will give marketers programmatic access to a combined reach of an estimated 80 million U.S. households via Amazon’s demand-side platform (DSP). The partnership, scheduled to roll out by Q4 2025, uses a shared ad identifier and a custom identity-resolution service to recognize logged-in viewers and unify authenticated inventory across Roku and Amazon Fire TV operating systems, including The Roku Channel and Prime Video. Early tests reportedly increased unique viewers ~40% and reduced ad over-frequency nearly 30%. Both companies present the deal as a scale and efficiency play for advertisers while raising industry attention about consolidation of CTV buying power.
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