Disney on Wednesday (Jan. 8) used its fifth annual Tech & Data Showcase to make its case to advertisers that its streaming-first global ad-tech stack is the best in the industry. Along with unveiling a slew of developments, the tech giant announced that it is estimated to have reached an average of 157 million ad-supported monthly active users globally, with 112 million domestically, per month over the last six months.
Bringing transparency to its ad-supported user base is one of the ways Disney is asserting its place in the media landscape. The company, which operates streamers including Disney+ and Hulu, TV networks like ABC and ESPN and Marvel and Pixar content studios, is a dominant legacy player fending off challenges from tech giants like Netflix and Amazon, which have both made moves into live sports — one area that remains an advertiser target despite consumer behavior changes like cord cutting.
“Disney sits at the intersection of world class sports and entertainment content, with the most high-value audiences in ad-supported global streaming at scale,” said Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of global advertising, in a statement.
Ferro and several other Disney executives were on hand at the showcase, which was held during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for the second time. The annual event allowed the company to explain how its various developments around data and artificial intelligence (AI) are coming together for advertisers.
The showcase also comes just days after Disney announced plans to combine its Hulu + Live TV business with streaming platform Fubo. Along with clearing the way for the previously announced sports streaming platform planned by ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, the move will strengthen the CTV player as the future of live streaming comes into focus.
“This is a huge win for advertisers,” said Dan Larkman, CEO and founder of Keynes Digital, in a statement. “Live sports is a top-performing part of the CTV ecosystem. The more it becomes dominated by tech players (e.g. Amazon and Netflix), the fewer opportunities for advertisers — of all sizes — to run ads alongside premium live sports.”
Sports ads, live and direct
Alongside the Fubo move, Disney will continue working on its next major live sports endeavor: launching ESPN’s flagship direct-to-consumer product in the fall. The platform, which has the internal name Flagship, will bring ESPN’s linear TV feeds to streaming, alongside ESPN+. Additionally, new features within the ESPN app will bring together betting, commerce and fantasy sport — a one-stop shop for sports fans.
At the core of the direct-to-consumer offering will be Disney ad-tech stack capabilities that combine programmatic and real-time bidding to allow advertisers to capture live impressions, reaching specific consumers with custom creative across thousands of live games.
“Today, when it comes to live sports, we are mostly all seeing the same commercial at the exact same time,” said Josh Mattison, executive vice president of digital planning and operations, at the showcase. “For a few national advertisers that makes sense, but for most brands a more personalized and targeted audience approach will be more effective.”
To help standardize ad buying across live sports and entertainment, Disney this week also rolled out a new certification that the company says will help advertisers tap into “lightning-in-a-bottle moments.” Demand-side platforms Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk and Yahoo DSP and supply-side platform Magnite are launch partners of the certification.
"The standards of the past no longer align with today’s marketplace."
Jamie Power
Senior vice president of addressable sales, Disney Advertising
“The standards of the past no longer align with today’s marketplace," said Jamie Power, senior vice president of addressable sales for Disney Advertising, in a statement. “Expanding biddable capabilities will allow advertisers to connect more effectively in real-time, just one of the ways we are setting a new standard for advertising.”
The live certification is intended to help advertisers take advantage of key opportunities that can’t be planned for in live sports — during overtime, for example. Certified partners will have the capacity to scale and respond to bids in a live environment in real time, adapt to spikes in live viewership and be able to handle pre-approved creative.
“While a traditional media plan may be focused on even delivery throughout the week, brands can miss out on a highly engaged audience and all those edge-of-your seat moments in a live game, if they’re limited by standard rules and frequency caps,” said Matt Barnes, vice president of programmatic sales for Disney Advertising, in a statement. “With the introduction of Disney’s live certification, now more advertisers — across an even wider variety of categories — can capture the spikes in critical moments of engagement and fandom.”
New and expanded tools
Disney this week unveiled Disney Compass, a tool that will help brands activate against Disney’s data across a variety of vendors and capabilities, like previously launched Audience Graph and Clean Room technologies. Privacy-focused, first-party data tools remain a priority for advertisers as rules and regulations in the space continue to change.
Disney Compass at launch will allow brands to connect to measurement and data vendors including Affinity Solutions, LiveRamp, Snowflake and VideoAmp. The tool boasts always-on data, advanced measurement tools, objective-based data views and workflow integration across platforms.
At its showcase, the company noted early use cases of Disney Compass, including an integration with Publicis Groupe’s CoreAI that allows for AI-powered audience creation and an integration with agencies like OMG that gives access to data that can be used for deterministic reach curves, deduplication across platforms and optimization across linear and streaming.
"Emotional connections to key moments boosted brand perception and engagement significantly."
Rita Ferro
President, Disney Advertising
In addition to the launch of Disney Compass, Disney will expand its Audience Graph and Disney Select solutions globally into all markets where Disney+ is available. The roll out hit Latin America in the fall and will continue to EMEA next. Plus, the company introduced the Disney Select AI engine, which uses AI and machine learning to power lookalike modeling, driving scale and helping brands reach better outcomes.
At last year’s showcase, Disney teased the launch of Magic Words, a first-to-market contextual advertising format that ties ads to culturally relevant moments. As an example, Disney said that Dentsu last year used the tool to tie travel to United Airlines ads. Next quarter, Magic Words capabilities and biddable activation will be available to advertisers.
On top of that, Disney announced at its latest showcase Magic Words Live, bringing the contextual tool to live moments in sports and entertainment to help brands deliver effective messages based on specific emotions and aligned content. Brands including Chipotle and T-Mobile have been testing the tool in partnership with Magna Global and have seen strong results, Ferro said.
“Emotional connections to key moments boosted brand perception and engagement significantly,” the executive said at the showcase. “Aligning ads with the right moments in real time creates deeper consumer connections and stronger brand loyalty.”
