Roku has appointed Patrick Harris as its new Senior Vice President of Global Media Revenue, with the position set to begin on March 9, 2026. Harris brings extensive experience from major technology and social media companies, where he has built and scaled advertising operations over more than two decades. He most recently served as president of the Americas at Snap Inc., overseeing the company’s largest regional business, including relationships with key advertising partners across the United States and Canada. In that capacity, he managed teams focused on sales, agency collaborations, ad technology integrations, media partnerships, and creator ecosystems.
Before his time at Snap, Harris spent 12 years at Meta, advancing to the role of vice president of global channels. There, he directed a large organization spanning 30 countries and played a central part in expanding the company’s global advertising footprint. His earlier career includes leadership positions at Microsoft, where he helped develop search advertising revenue streams for Bing, as well as business development work at Reprise Media, which was later acquired by a major holding company. He started his journey in digital marketing at Ask Jeeves, gaining early insights into online advertising trends.
In his new role at Roku, Harris will lead the company’s worldwide advertising revenue initiatives, reporting directly to Charlie Collier, president of Roku Media. Based in New York, he will focus on driving growth in both traditional brand advertising associated with streaming content and performance-based advertising that encourages direct consumer actions, such as requesting information or completing purchases. Roku has been placing increased emphasis on performance advertising to appeal to a broader range of marketers, including traditional brands, smaller businesses, and regional advertisers seeking measurable results and incremental reach beyond their current campaigns.
The company has taken steps to support this direction by forming partnerships with demand-side platforms to facilitate more programmatic advertising opportunities and launching tools like a new Ad Manager designed to help advertisers create effective campaigns. These efforts aim to transform television advertising into a more accountable and results-oriented medium, capitalizing on Roku’s position as a leading connected TV platform. Executives have described the goal as expanding the advertiser base significantly, moving from serving hundreds to thousands and eventually tens of thousands of clients by leveraging Roku’s scale, data capabilities, and understanding of evolving viewer habits in the streaming era.
Roku’s advertising business has shown strength amid the shift toward connected TV viewing, positioning the company as an influential player in the industry even if it is not the largest ad seller overall. The platform’s early adoption by consumers streaming content over broadband has provided valuable insights into changing entertainment behaviors, allowing Roku to adapt quickly to advertiser needs. This hire follows a period of transition in Roku’s ad leadership, as the previous executive in a similar capacity moved to a chief revenue officer position at another major media company late last year.
The appointment reflects Roku’s strategy to strengthen its monetization capabilities as interest from Madison Avenue in connected TV continues to rise. With streaming now a dominant form of television consumption, platforms like Roku are well-placed to capture more advertising dollars by offering targeted, data-driven options that deliver clear returns on investment. Harris’s background in scaling ad businesses at high-growth tech firms makes him a strategic fit for guiding Roku through this next phase of expansion in a competitive landscape where accountability and performance metrics increasingly define success for marketers.
Overall, this move underscores Roku’s commitment to innovation in media revenue streams and its ambition to solidify its role as a key destination for advertisers navigating the evolving television ecosystem.
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