Tentpole events like the Winter Olympics remain rare cultural gravity wells for advertisers, with connected TV (CTV) and adjacent activations becoming more important to campaign strategies. During the Milan Cortina Winter Games, Roku stood out as a unique way to celebrate the event with consumers.

This month, the streaming platform transformed parts of its dynamic screensaver Roku City into a full-scale Olympic village, blending fandom, discovery, and brand integration into one home-screen experience. The activation, the longest on Roku City, was designed to align with real-world momentum while extending it into the streaming interface itself.

"We really transformed it, including the ski jump, the mountains in the back, and we really brought the Winter Olympic village to every Roku streamer," said Katina Papas Wachter, head of media and entertainment partnerships at Roku. "Every time a user comes back to their television throughout that time period, [we] remind them that it's on, remind them that it's evolving, remind them that the drama is unfolding."

In the two years since the last Olympic games, the marketing industry has seen a lot of change, including the evolution of CTV. As marketers race to be where audiences watch, Roku's Olympics initiative displays a unique take to reaching consumers.

From “real estate” to full-scale takeovers

During the 2024 Paris Summer Games, Roku launched a partnership with NBCUniversal to promote the event on its platform with a hub of information and sponsorships. This year, Roku aimed to repeat its successful NBCUniversal partnership, and extend to other parts of its CTV experience.

• Honda, Carnival Cruise Line, Delta, Xfinity, and Visa are just some of the partners that showed up in Roku City's Olympic Village.
• Roku paired the visual transformation with a dedicated Olympics destination within its sports experience hub, allowing users to click directly to NBCU's Peacock and track results via a dynamic medal counter.

"Creating multiple touchpoints is probably the biggest change from last Olympics, that constant presence is what brings users back and brings brand results with it," said Papas Wachter.

Roku City's evolution made this exposure possible. Ads have been placed in the animated skyline for around three years, but recently it has hosted more feature-rich experiences like a Demi Lovato concert.

"We started building it with the foundation that our users loved it," said Papas Wachter. "Over those three years, it's been testing and learning and just understanding where the line between making it enjoyable for our streamers and bringing brands along for the ride."

Discovery is the CTV battleground

While live sports have long been considered appointment viewing, platform fragmentation has complicated the viewer journey.

• 39% of CTV/over-the-top (OTT) advertisers say fragmentation is the biggest issue they face, according to an April 2024 survey from Advertiser Perceptions and Premion.
• 27% say a lack of insight into audience reach is a top CTV challenge, while 20% are concerned with difficulty measuring ROI, according to a 2025 report from Gracenote.

"There's a perception with these big moments that it's obvious where to find them and how to watch them," said Papas Wachter. "Fragmentation has made it harder for users to get there seamlessly."

Even as some streaming services consolidate, the number of platforms, screens, and experiences used by audiences every day can create a whirlwind of targets and measurement data for marketers.

"Brands can be the hero to help with that content discovery," she said. "I think that's been the biggest change when we brought these sports experiences holistically to market."

The future of watching

The Winter Games activation was intentionally controlled, the first of its scale and the first with multiple sponsors embedded. But Roku sees room to push further.

That ambition hints at where CTV is heading: Dynamic, reactive environments that evolve alongside live events. If the first wave of Roku City was about surprise and delight, the next could be about real-time interactivity layered with measurable outcomes.

"The more we do here, the more users take notice, the more feedback we get from our users, and the more that we can then invest and partner with brands to bring that to life," she said. "So I think you'll definitely see more of that,” said Papas Wachter.

For marketers, the CTV home screen is no longer neutral territory. It’s becoming programmable, contextual, and culturally responsive.

And during tentpole moments like the Olympics, Roku showed that it can make the platform itself one of the most strategic canvases in advertising.

"Making sure people can get there in a frictionless way and be excited about the content that they're going to watch is something that Roku is really passionate about," she said. "I think we nailed it with this one."