Disney Debuts Future of Entertainment and Advertising at Fourth Annual Tech & Data Showcase at CES

At their fourth annual Tech and Data Showcase – live from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Disney touted its transformative technology and upcoming innovations. The media and entertainment powerhouse hosted major brands, agencies and journalists at the iconic Chelsea Theater in The Cosmopolitan Hotel, in Las Vegas.

“Disney connects our clients to world-class entertainment, sports and programming with proven engagement that cannot be found anywhere else.” said Rita Ferro, President, Global Advertising, The Walt Disney Company. “Our industry-leading technology and data capabilities, paired with our global scale and reach, allows us to deliver intentional, and impactful experiences to consumers, while driving performance and effectiveness for brands. Who else can say that?”

Disney CEO Bob Iger opened the showcase with a powerful message reinforcing the Company’s commitment to innovation, reminding the audience that no other media company drives change at the scale of Disney. During the event, executives detailed the roadmap of advancements that will continue to propel Disney as the leader in the marketplace.

On stage, the Global Advertising President shared, 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 stack. Additionally, she announced Disney’s Magic Words, the company’s first-to-market contextual advertising format using advanced data. This new technology allows Disney to analyze scenes and visuals across their expansive library, to capture a mood or moment, to help advertisers personalize their messaging specifically around that emotion.

Additional announcements made from stage include:

• Clean Room Expansion: Disney has expanded its roster of cloud services powering Clean Room interoperability to include Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud. Separately, Disney and Habu have introduced a dedicated portal that simplifies the way clients stand up a Clean Room.

• Disney Campaign Manager: Disney+ and ESPN+ inventory will be made available domestically through Disney Campaign Manager in 2024. The self-service platform will additionally be expanded globally to create another layer of automation.

• Gateway Shop and Shop The Stream:Evolving from GatewayGo, Disney’s first commerce-enabled ad format, new format Gateway Shop allows consumers to access personalized offers for purchase from a retailer without leaving the viewing environment. Soon, viewers can discover and explore products as they watch by sending products they see in films and TV straight to their second screen with Shop the Stream.

• Innovid and Lucid: Disney is bringing metrics and consideration to marketers in real time through a collaboration with Lucid Impact Measurement by Cint, while helping brands facilitate and achieve actions or outcomes with Innovid.

• Tickets for D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event hosted in Anaheim, California from August 9 – 11 will officially go on sale starting March 26. The D23 experience will also expand globally, beginning in São Paulo, Brazil, this November. Learn more at D23.com.

• Generation Stream Global: As Disney Advertising continues to make its mark and expand its global footprint, the international iteration of Generation Stream, our in-house research study focused on the streaming industry, will continue to help us better understand how best to connect with streamers.

Key takeaways from Disney executives:

• Ajay Arora, SVP, Commerce, Growth, and Identity: “We combine decisioning, data, engineering, automation, and measurement, delivering a massive competitive advantage in meeting our advertising partners’ business needs. And having the strongest tech stack in the industry allows us to pave the way for even smarter innovation.”

• Asad Ayaz, Chief Brand Officer: “D23: The Ultimate Fan Experience will be the cornerstone event for Disney fandom. Featuring special presentations and announcements, a streaming component on Disney+, musical performances, a new interactive app, one-of-a-kind shopping experiences, and much more, fans and families from across the globe will get to experience Disney like never before in this reimagined celebration.”

• Chara-Lynn Aguiar, EVP, Finance, Research, and Strategy: “ESPN is THE preeminent digital sports platform, unmatched in size and scale. We’re the only platform with live events and content from all the major leagues, and a big part of ESPN’s success comes from our relentless commitment to innovate the fan experience.”

• Dana McGraw, SVP, Audience Modeling & Data Science: “Our [Audience Graph] is the foundation for all of our innovation. It’s the backbone that allows us to find, activate and measure against specific audiences – and connects the dots on how viewers consume content on linear, digital, streaming.”

• Jamie Power, SVP, Addressable Sales: “Automation gives you the ability to gain quicker insights that tell you whether or not your campaign is working. Access to all this data ultimately make your buys with Disney more meaningful.”

• Joe Earley, President, Direct-to-Consumer Streaming: “Since launching in 2008, Hulu has been advancing ad tech, paving the way for our recent Disney+ ad tiers in the US, EMEA, and Canada. We offer differentiated ad experiences based on audience, product tiers, and geography, and when you combine the power of the platform with best-in-class advertising teams and our immense Data engine – no one compares.”