Roku and Shopify News Release Emphasizes “Integrating”
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A Roku announcement offers an example of reinforcing main points in a positive message, a press release. As students might expect from this type of public message, the emphasis is on benefits for viewers. For an audience of investors, the focus would be different, with more emphasis on financial benefits.
One feature of press releases is the main point right up front. This one has a clear title and subtitle, and the first sentence says it all:
Today, Roku (Nasdaq: ROKU), the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico*, announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with Shopify that provides viewers the ability to purchase products from Shopify merchants directly from their TV through Roku Action Ads.
The asterisk is an unusual choice, but students might be surprised by the claim and appreciate the evidence: “based on hours streamed, December 2022, Hypothesis Group.”
The partnership and new functionality are innovative, as the company boasts, so the second paragraph provides a helpful visualization:
Upon seeing an ad for a Shopify merchant, viewers can simply press OK on their Roku remote to learn more about the product and purchase it directly from their TV. They will be able to check out with Roku Pay, Roku’s payments platform, and return to their streaming experience once they have completed the purchase. Purchasers will receive email confirmation of their order directly from the merchant once the transaction has been processed.
An image would be more effective but non-standard for a press release.
Students can analyze other aspects of the statement and will find a clear theme, reinforced by such words as “seamless,” “frictionless,” “unmissable” (odd), “directly”—and, used in various forms five times and repeated in a callout quote, “integrating.” The point is clear.
