Introducing Project Elevate: Put the Power of Disney to Work for You

Introducing Project Elevate: Put the Power of Disney to Work for You

Disney AdvertisingBy Disney Advertising|March 2, 2023

Disney Advertising is passionate and dedicated to elevating diverse voices and announced a pledge in 2021 to support underrepresented-owned small businesses*. To honor this pledge, Project Elevate was born, offering creative consultation and comprehensive, custom advertising strategies to help them tell their stories and engage directly with their customers. In its inaugural year, two small businesses, CAVO and Glow Recipe, were selected to participate in the program, and they’ve spent the past year working hand-in-hand with various Disney Advertising teams to take their businesses to the next level. Take a look at what they had to say about the Project Elevate experience!

If you’re an underrepresented-owned business ready to share your story and take your business to new heights, learn more about Project Elevate here.

If chosen, you will be connected with a dedicated taskforce that will help:

  • establish and inform your brand story using research and insights,
  • develop your brand story using strategy and creativity,
  • and translate your brand story using media and communication.

*Disney Advertising’s Project Elevate defines an underrepresented-owned small business as: A business that is majority-owned by underrepresented individuals, who have experienced disadvantages due to: race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender, or military affiliation.

Underrepresented groups are categorized as: African American/Black Owned/Hispanic, Latin(a/o), & Latinx Owned/Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, or Desi Owned/Native American/Indigenous Owned/Woman Owned/Differently Abled Owned/LGBTQ+ Owned/Veteran Owned

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Automation and Identity Define The Future of Addressability

Automation and Identity Define The Future of Addressability

Disney AdvertisingBy Disney Advertising|January 25, 2023

Two years ago, Disney had a bold ambition – lay the foundation for a fully automated and addressable future. This commitment called for a complete overhaul of Disney’s advertising platform – one that would power the capability for advertisers to buy “once” and deliver “anywhere” across Disney’s vast portfolio of news, sports and entertainment brands.

Since embarking on this journey, Disney invested in the innovation required to reimagine its ad server, unifying inventory across all properties, while putting programmatic automation front and center – and introducing parity across all marketplaces.

For Disney, this was not an efficiency play. “It was a performance game-changer putting choice and control in the hands of buyers,” according to Jamie Power, SVP, Addressable Sales.

“Disney is bullish on unlocking greater automation and interoperability across the ecosystem,” she added. “By creating opportunities for advertisers of all sizes and scopes to reach audiences at scale in the most premium TV environments, the end game is enabling seamless access to all deal types, across all screens alongside world-class content.”

Access Through Automation

With the rise of connected TV and streaming, advertisers are doubling down on an audience-based approach as the industry grapples with the deprecation of the digital cookie.

In just six months since Disney and The Trade Desk formed a first-of-its kind integration to Disney’s Audience Graph through the open-source identity framework Unified ID 2.0, Unilever, in collaboration with Mindshare, is the first brand to strategically test this capability with Disney and The Trade Desk.

“We are excited to be on the front lines of this future-fit partnership between Disney and The Trade Desk, so we can continue learning about holistic reach and frequency in a privacy-safe environment,” said Aaron Sobol, Head of Media Investment and Partnerships for Unilever.

By creating an audience match reliant on high-fidelity first-party data versus more traditional means of matching based on cookies or pixels, advertisers not only know if reached a key audience, but how precisely, while simultaneously creating the scale advertisers need to increase incremental reach more across linear, CTV and digital.

Over the years, Disney has doubled down on audience solutions based on first-party data insights, rooted in integrity with privacy by design and built to scale.

In many cases, advertisers leveraging first-party audience segments through an offering like Disney Select, see 3X the performance of standard segments.

“Disney’s forward approach to identity is already paying dividends since becoming interoperable with Unified ID 2.0,” said Will Doherty, Vice President, Inventory Partnerships, The Trade Desk. “Together with innovative marketers like Unilever, we are able to realize what’s possible in the world of data-driven advertising, which enhances the viewing experience across the open internet, including channels like connected TV.”

The Addressable Advantage

The evolution of Disney’s programmatic offering began by flattening the waterfall to allow all bid types to compete on a level playing field. This evolution allowed advertisers to bid on high-value audiences across all screens – while maximizing value and allowing buyers to tap into lightning-in-a-bottle moments like live sports.

Tools and technology built in-house, like the Disney Real-Time Ad Exchange (DRAX) and Disney’s Unified Ad Platform created the ability for advertisers to reach the most valuable audiences for their business, with improved frequency tapping into real-time data signals.

And the proof is in the performance – Disney Advertising has seen nearly a 150% rise in biddable, double the growth over last year for the programmatic business.

The next phase of Disney’s Addressable innovation lives at the intersection of identity and interoperability. Disney’s proprietary Audience Graph, built with a privacy-first approach primed for data collaboration, provides speed-to-market without any movement of first-party data.

By creating direct integrations to the Disney Audience Graph, whether through The Trade Desk for buying, VideoAmp, for precise measurement in connected TV, or Magnite, through a global, two-year expansion that increases access to CTV and mobile inventory, unlocking first-party identity at scale through automation is at the heart of Disney’s Addressable advantage.

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Unlock the Power of Live with our Playbook

Disney Programmatic Logo

Unlock the Power of Live
with our Playbook

Disney AdvertisingBy Disney Advertising|January 25, 2023

Disney is the home for sports, with the most enviable rights, entertainment and streaming brands in the business. We have the ability to deliver both massive scale and specific audiences, across over 15,000 live sports events.

And as the cold months of winter start, live sports at Disney really heat up! Starting in January, some of our biggest leagues get into high gear and are all available via Programmatic, both guaranteed and biddable. From the NBA and NHL, to UFC, College Basketball, International Soccer, and more – we’re serving all fans.

We continue to place big bets on sports across all screens. We made a groundbreaking 7-year agreement with the NHL and formed an updated deal with the NFL. Both expanded hockey and football presence significantly on streaming platforms.

Over the years, we have invested in understanding these audiences and their consumption patterns. In 2019, we released Generation Stream, our most extensive streaming research study ever, which provided an insightful and fresh look at the current and future state of streaming TV.

We pushed the ball even further downfield with Generation Stream: Sports Edition in 2021, where we explored how streamers interact with sports, informing the future of fandom and consumption. Here are a few highlights, and you can download the full brand book to take a deeper dive.

77%

of sports fans say the best thing that’s ever happened to sports is streaming

74%

of sports fans say that they watch more sports than they did a year ago because of streaming

68%

of sports fans have become passionate about a sport that they didn’t have access to before streaming services

Streaming is extending the sports viewing experience for fans, and data provides new ways for brands and marketers to tap into them. Therefore, planning and activating based on changing viewing behavior needs to be top of mind – particularly in the programmatic marketplace.

Through our industry-leading data and measurement capabilities, we’ve enabled advertisers to further amplify their investment by leveraging Disney Select to reach specific audiences during the game.

Everything we have mentioned fuels our Programmatic Playbook – four plays that allow you to capitalize on the power of live sports and drive performance-led results. It’s your guide to capturing those unexpected moments, bringing your message to fans as they’re on the edge of their seats.

Here’s a preview.

1. Capture the Spike

More than 60% of sports streaming happens on the weekend. A key element of live is the unknown – from upsets to overtimes. These moments are pivotal to viewers and spark conversations well beyond the game.

2. Maintain Fluid Budgets

A fluid budget is a must. Advertising expenditure shouldn’t be evenly distributed during the week. We can advise on date exceptions, schedule changes, and most importantly, planning goals, to ensure brands do not miss millions of fans watching over the weekend.

3. Flexible Frequency Capping

In the programmatic space, frequency requires flexibility, standard media rules don’t apply. Programmatic gives advertisers a unique opportunity to control frequency in real time. Extra innings and overtime are when viewers are on the edge of their seats. A standard cap could prevent an advertiser’s message from being seen and heard in these critical fan moments.

4. Leverage Data

Data is the secret sauce that delivers ad relevance and measurable impact. By tapping into Disney’s industry-leading data capabilities, programmatic buys become that much more powerful. Advertisers can utilize our extensive library of first-party audience segments available through Disney Select, with segments including sports fandom, buyer characteristics, buyer affinity, and genre fandom (such as comedy or drama). Disney Select empowers advertisers to connect with fans in live sports content, or even in their favorite entertainment content after the game. Leveraging Disney Select within our new addressable video offerings tees up addressable audiences at scale, across platforms, through one buy.

We want to leave you with this…programmatic represents a huge opportunity, but requires the right approach for brands to maximize success. The winning formula is Live + Flexibility + Data, and our Playbook is your guide!

If you’re ready to get the most out of live sports, please reach out to your Disney Account Representative for a huddle today.

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