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Roku and Best Buy announced today the streaming platform and device company will get access to the electronics sellers’ first-party data. The announcement also said the chain store is now the exclusive seller of Roku-branded TVs. This comes the day before the pair launch Roku City, an in-person, interactive activation at South by Southwest (SXSW). 

First partner and first party. This is the first time Best Buy has partnered with a TV streaming platform. The deal has the company’s advertising business, Best Buy Ads, providing Roku with data it can use to target its marketing. 

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“We’re bringing together our entire business to build the future of entertainment and advertising — making the TV experience simpler, offering the right marketing, data, tech, and scale to drive real results, and helping win the entire streamer’s journey together with Best Buy,” Julian Mintz, co-head of U.S. brand sales for Roku Media, said in a statement.

Last year Roku formed a partnership deal with Walmart to test out shoppable streaming ads. Walmart ads on Roku let viewers purchase the product being shown by pressing a button on their remote. 

Roku City at SXSW. The two-day, in-person event puts people in a 3D version of Roku’s screensaver, Roku City, featuring Best Buy Home Theater Experience. It showcases the latest Roku devices available at Best Buy and upcoming original content on The Roku Channel.

Why we care. It will be interesting to see if this partnership can help two brands in a tough economic time. Roku must deal with tighter ad budgets and last month reported flat earnings for the fourth quarter 2022. Best Buy reported a 10% drop in revenue for that quarter and recently said it might close up to 30 stores this year.

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