At its fourth annual technology and data show — live from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Disney touted its transformative technology and upcoming innovations. The media and entertainment company hosted major brands, agencies and journalists at the iconic Chelsea Theater at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas.
“Disney connects our customers to world-class entertainment, sports and programming with proven engagement that can't be found anywhere else.” said Rita Ferro, president of global advertising at The Walt Disney Company. “Our industry-leading technology and data capabilities, combined with our scale and global reach, allow us to deliver intentional, impactful experiences to consumers, while enhancing performance and effectiveness for brands. Who else can you say that?”
Disney CEO Bob Iger opened the show with a powerful message reinforcing the company's commitment to innovation, reminding the audience that no other media company is driving change on the scale of Disney. During the event, executives detailed the roadmap for developments that will continue to propel Disney as a market leader.
On stage, the global advertising head said advertisers can now buy inventory across both Hulu and Disney+ in a single campaign; A capability made possible by the company's award-winning unified technology suite. Additionally, it announced Disney's Magic Words, the company's first contextual ad format to market using advanced data. This new technology allows Disney to analyze scenes and visuals across its expanded library, to capture a mood or moment, to help advertisers tailor their messaging specifically around those emotions.
Additional announcements made from the theater include:
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Clean room expansion: Disney has expanded the list of cloud services that support clean room interoperability to include Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud. Separately, Disney and Happo have introduced a dedicated portal that streamlines the way customers engage with the clean room.
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Disney Campaign Manager: Disney+ and ESPN+ inventory will be made available locally through Disney Campaign Manager in 2024. Additionally, the self-service platform will be expanded globally to create another layer of automation.
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Shopping portal and shopping in the stream: Evolving from GatewayGo, Disney's first commercial advertising format, the new Gateway Shop format allows consumers to access personalized offers to purchase from a retailer without leaving the viewing environment. Soon, viewers will be able to discover and explore products as they watch by having the products they see in movies and TV shows sent directly to their second screen through Shop the Stream.
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Innovative and clear: Disney brings real-time metrics and considerations to marketers through collaboration with Lucid Impact Measurement by Cint, while helping brands facilitate and achieve actions or results with Innovid.
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D23 tickets: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, which will be hosted in Anaheim, California from August 9-11, will officially go on sale starting March 26. The D23 experience will also expand globally, starting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, next November. Learn more at D23.com.
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Global generation stream: As Disney Advertising continues to make its mark and expand its global footprint, the international iteration of Generation Stream, our internal research study focused on the streaming industry, will continue to help us understand how best to connect with streamers.
Key takeaways from Disney executives:
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Ajay Arora, Senior Vice President, Commerce, Growth and Identity: “We combine decision making, data, engineering, automation and measurement, providing a tremendous competitive advantage in meeting our advertising partners' business needs. Having the strongest technology stack in the industry allows us to pave the way for smarter innovations.
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Asad Ayaz, CEO of the brand: “D23: The Ultimate Fan Experience will be the ultimate event for Disney fans. Featuring special presentations and announcements, a streaming component on Disney+, musical performances, a new interactive app, one-of-a-kind shopping experiences, and so much more, fans and families from around the world will be able to Experience Disney like never before in this reimagined celebration.
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Shara Lynn Aguiar, Executive Vice President of Finance, Research and Strategy: “ESPN is a preeminent digital sports platform, unparalleled in size and scale. We are the only platform with live events and content from all the major leagues, and a large part of ESPN's success comes from our ongoing commitment to innovating the fan experience.
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Dana McGraw, Senior Vice President of Audience Modeling and Data Science: “our [Audience Graph] It is the foundation for all our innovations. It's the backbone that allows us to find, activate and measure specific audiences – and connects the dots on how viewers consume linear, digital and live content.
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Jimmy Power, Senior Vice President of Sales Addressing: “Automation gives you the ability to get faster insights that tell you whether your campaign is working or not. Having access to all this data ultimately makes your purchases with Disney more meaningful.”
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Joe Early, President of Direct to Consumer: “Since its launch in 2008, Hulu has been advancing ad technology, paving the way for our latest Disney+ ad tiers in the US, EMEA, and Canada. We deliver different ad experiences based on audience, product levels, and geography, and when you combine the power of the platform And our best-in-class advertising teams and massive data engine – no one compares.
