Programmatic at the core
More than 50% of Disney’s inventory is streaming, according to Valentino. Its trio of platforms, which the executive said are representative of the company’s full portfolio, will be the focus of Disney’s upfront—likely including more about the new “one-app experience,” revealed during Disney’s recent second-quarter earnings, that will integrate Hulu content onto Disney+.
It’s not every earnings call that a media company CEO discusses programmatic advertising with investors, but on its call last week, Bob Iger touted the strength of its programmatic business, or automated, real-time and addressable inventory. “We’ve added more than 1,000 advertisers over the past year, and now have 5,000 advertisers across our streaming platforms, with over a third buying advertising programmatically today,” Iger said during the call.
Read more: Disney+ will soon include Hulu content
The thread will continue to Disney’s upfront stage, where Rita Ferro, president of advertising, will announce the company will include programmatic buying as a core element of every upfront deal.
“It’s no secret that there have been some tough macroeconomic conditions,” said Adam Monaco, executive VP of sales at Disney. “Clients are just holding on to budgets a little bit longer and then booking closer to air, but we’re still seeing those dollars come in.”
The push for programmatic buying is meant to accommodate that flexibility within advertisers’ upfront commitments, allowing them to plan, buy and measure inventory in real time. At its tech and data Showcase, Disney announced it was on route to fully automate half of its streaming inventory by next year through its programmatic and self-serve platforms, which also allows small and medium-sized businesses access to the company’s inventory.
Monaco also said that half of transactions through Disney’s self-service platform are from agencies, demonstrating the demand for efficiency from marketers. Disney has been building out its capabilities in recent years through its partnership with the Trade Desk, as well as data companies including Experian and LiveRamp.
Valentino also said the adoption of Disney’s clean room, which allows clients to match audience data in a privacy-safe setting, has doubled since the beginning of the year. Over 100 brands and partners are utilizing the technology for addressable activation and measurement.
Read more: Disney opens its data clean room to VideoAMP
“We’re open to really pushing the boundaries of this marketplace to be much more performance-driven,” said Valentino.
Advertisers are looking for more insights into attribution metrics, said Valentino, noting that proving out business results from advertising is now possible in its programmatic marketplace through its partnership with EDO, as well as metrics from VideoAmp, Nielsen, iSpot.tv and Samba TV.
