From ADOTATFox Bought Roku's Ad "Expertise." Then Roku's Ad Boss Left on Day One.
Fox Paid for Roku's Ad Expertise. Its Ad Chief Was Out the Morning It Closed.Pick
By Pesach Lattin,
When Fox agreed to pay $22 billion for Roku on June 15, Lachlan Murdoch told analysts what he was getting: a home screen he called beachfront property, and what he called Roku's unique expertise in performance marketing. The deal closed Friday, Nov. 6, months early. That same morning a staff memo said Charlie Collier, who ran Roku's ad and platform business for four years, was not coming along. Neither was general counsel Chris Handman. Roku's ads now report up to Mustafa Ozgen, the executive who ran its devices and technology. Fox kept the expertise it praised in June off the chart.
Roku's own filings explain why the sales floor is nervous. Third-quarter ad revenue rose 23% to $727.4 million. But Roku served 33% more video impressions and earned 7% less for each one. In the first quarter it was 59% more for 14% less. Across nine months, impressions rose 42% while the average price fell 11%. That is growth by volume, not by price. Fox's closing release put about $400 million a year in cost savings on a two-year clock, and people at Fox told ADOTAT Roku's PR and marketing team will likely be cut. One person who knows the ad business said Roku's sellers "took whatever" they could get.
The pitch Fox inherited has a proof point that does not prove what it says. Roku's sales script cites a 40% drop in cost per action from an Omnicom study. ADOTAT read the study. It was a survey test with roughly 300 people per group, measuring answers like intent to search. No purchases. No live campaigns. No cost per action. And the grader was a holding company that buys the inventory.
Then there is the drug pitch. Roku has been selling health marketers targeting built on what the TV recognizes you watched, home screen units, QR codes, retargeting and marketing to doctors. ADOTAT sent Roku five questions on Oct. 28, starting with whether viewers consented to that use. Roku did not answer. Neither did DeepIntent. Michigan's attorney general is already suing Roku over data, and an FDA rule on drug ads has a December target. If you buy Roku, get your team, your data access, your measurement and your price history in writing this month. Fox paid for an expert. Ask it for the name.
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Expanded from ADOTAT's Nov. 11 investigation, which draws on Fox's and Roku's SEC filings, press releases and the June 15 deal call; Roku's 2026 shareholder letters and quarterly reports; the Omnicom and Roku "CTV Power Couple" study; Roku's advertising site and versions of its sales pitches reviewed by ADOTAT; trade reporting on the Nov. 6 staff memo; and written answers from TINA.org, the FTC, the Michigan attorney general's office and Barry Lowenthal, plus unnamed people at Fox and familiar with Roku's ad business. The PR and marketing cuts are expected, not completed, and Fox has not confirmed them. Roku's per-impression figures are blended averages. Roku and DeepIntent did not answer questions sent Oct. 28; Roku was sent questions on the shakeup Nov. 10 and had not answered by publication. ADOTAT discloses that Pesach Lattin has done contract work for Fox5 in Las Vegas and has said publicly that Charlie Collier should be replaced, that Jack Myers, quoted in the original, is a longtime ADOTAT reader, and that ADOTAT has no financial relationship with Fox or Roku. ADOTAT is reader-supported, with no paid placement in editorial.