Introduction
Deezer, the global music streaming platform with over 120 million tracks available across 180+ countries, partnered with Rokt to unlock a new, high-quality source of subscriber acquisition beyond traditional paid channels. Operating in one of the most competitive markets in digital media, where Deezer competes against category giants, the team needed a channel that could deliver genuinely incremental subscribers at scale, not just more impressions.
The opportunity
Deezer's performance marketing team runs one of the most analytically rigorous acquisition operations in streaming. Incrementality is non-negotiable: every channel must prove it is adding net new subscribers, not cannibalising growth that would have happened anyway. To scale its reach and identify incremental growth opportunities, Deezer set out to target a fundamentally different type of audience—one made up of consumers who are already in the buying process.
The challenge was compounded by the economics of music streaming: with the majority of subscription revenue flowing to rights holders, cost per acquisition is a make-or-break metric. Deezer needed a channel that could bring in subscribers who convert from free trial to paid and stay.
The approach
Rokt enabled Deezer to reach consumers at The Transaction Moment™—immediately after completing a purchase on Rokt's network of partner ecommerce sites. Rather than interrupting someone mid-browse, Deezer's subscription offers appeared when audiences were already transacting, already engaged, and already in a mindset of action.
Deezer activated Rokt Ads across Rokt's global network, targeting audiences whose transaction behaviour signalled the strongest fit for a music subscription. The team applied their characteristic data rigour to scale the channel with confidence, such as testing offers, refining audience segments, and tracking free-trial-to-paid conversion rates closely.
Critically, the audiences reached through Rokt were ones Deezer's existing channels simply couldn't access: people transacting on trusted third-party platforms, in a post-purchase moment of peak engagement and receptivity.
The unlock
- +71% growth in new subscribers acquired via Rokt, H1 2025 vs H1 2026
- −20% reduction in cost per acquisition over the same period
- +50% improvement in ROAS, H1 2025 vs H1 2026
By partnering with Rokt, Deezer turned the Transaction Moment™ into one of its highest-performing subscriber acquisition channels—bringing in more subscribers, at lower cost, with stronger long-term value.
Rokt allows us to reach a new audience—one we were previously unable to reach—consisting of people who are already engaged in the purchasing process on platforms they trust. This ability to reach consumers at a time that is particularly conducive to discovery and purchase enables us to expand our reach, acquire new customers, and, ultimately, contribute directly to our growth objectives.
— Lisa Blanchard, Senior Media & Acquisition Manager - Affiliate Growth
Takeaways
Reaching consumers at The Transaction Moment™, when intent and attention are at their highest, delivers meaningfully better acquisition quality than interruption-based channels.
- For subscription businesses where free-trial-to-paid conversion is a critical KPI, audience quality at the point of acquisition determines long-term unit economics. Rokt's network delivers audiences who convert and stay.
- Incrementality testing is the right way to validate a new acquisition channel. Deezer's rigorous measurement approach confirmed that Rokt was driving net new subscribers—not cannibalising growth from other channels.
- Scaling a new channel requires continuous optimisation. Deezer's data-driven team iterated on offers and audience segments throughout the partnership, driving sustained improvement in both volume and efficiency.
