How to monetize your Roku channel (part 2)
                     How to monetize your Roku channel (part 2)
John Z
Writes on ad server, involved with ad server solutions & 
Adspeed Ad serving software.
The increasing number of video streaming channels now makes it possible to advertise in 
countless new places and reach new audiences, which is good for both advertisers and 
publishers. If you are interested in video streaming, then it might make sense to create 
your own Roku channel as a publisher. The viewers who add your channel to their lineup 
are almost certainly going to be consumers who are interested in the content that you 
publish and the associated ads that you show on your channel. However, it is a good idea 
to only display high-quality ads related to your channel to maintain a pleasant 
experience for your viewers. As we discussed in the previous article, Roku offers a wide 
range of advertising options that can help publishers and advertisers of all sizes to reach 
their target customers and make money doing so. You can use ad networks to 
supplement your premium ads or place endorsed products in your videos. However, that 
is not all. There are additional options available when it comes to ad serving on Roku.
Roku also allows publishers of video channels the ability to use their own 
video ad server to display video ads on their channels. The ad server is 
responsible for serving ads on the Roku player. The ad server is also 
responsible for determining what type of ads to serve, when to serve 
them and recording the ad metrics for reports. As you build your Roku 
channel, you can improve its quality by making money from advertising 
and then investing it back into the channel with more high-quality content.
Use your own video ad server
While it’s certainly possible to take a hands-off approach and get all ads from a third-
party video ad network or ad exchange, it is more profitable for you to actually use 
your own video ad server and sell ads directly. The benefits are that you have total 
control over what gets shown, which might be a better idea if you want ads that fit 
your specific niche. You can add a variety of different ad formats and see greater profits 
since you are in total control and can cross-sell effectively. Your advertisers also like this 
approach because they have more advertising options and can mix and match multiple 
ad formats. You can offer a variety of advertising packages that include not only video 
ads on Roku but also display banner ads on your website or in email newsletters.
Add a premium subscription level or ask for donations
During the initial stage, you could potentially ask your viewers for 
donations to help grow the channel. Once the quality improves, you 
may have an ad-supported level and even a premium subscription level 
that will bring in guaranteed money each month. The premium 
subscription level will allow viewers to have a more personalized and 
distract-free experience. It should also provide them with additional 
content that they can't get anywhere else.
Find your own advertisers
This route is also a smart thing to do because it is more profitable and you can control 
what gets seen on your channel. You really get to know the advertisers and their ads. For 
example, if your Roku channel is kid-friendly, you will certainly not want adult-themed 
ads showing up and creating a potential problem with your viewers. You also get to set 
the ad rates directly and pay no commissions to third-party ad networks or exchanges, 
which can be a very significant percentage. Those benefits might well be tempting 
enough to spend time learning about potential advertisers and how to attract them to 
your channel. Once you build up a network of advertisers, these relationships are very 
powerful and often long-lasting if you can provide a sustained value to your advertisers.
About Adspeed
AdSpeed ad server is a reliable & powerful ad serving and ad 
management solution that serves your ads, tracks impressions & clicks 
and reports ad statistics in real-time. Driven by the latest ad serving 
technologies, the goal of Adspeed adserver is to provide a reliable 
platform that can help in executing online advertising strategy more 
efficiently. 
Thank you for spending your precious time in reading this article.