Disney will make programmatic part of every upfront ad deal

Disney will flaunt its fall programming and ad tech to advertisers this week from “the biggest stage we’ve ever built—maybe that’s ever been built for an upfront,” said Lisa Valentino, executive VP of client and brand solutions at the media company. 

The House of Mouse is anticipating a crowd of 3,000 advertisers Tuesday at the North Javits Center. The show, themed “Connections,” will feature three stages for each of Disney’s streaming properties—Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+—and what Valentino described as unexpected “experiential moments that hopefully people will just be wowed over.”

The Disney upfront will build on announcements from the company’s tech and data showcase earlier this year, centering programmatic ad capabilities, as well as updates on measurement and commitments to diversity.

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.

The Joint Industry Committee

Media measurement is likely to be a recurring talking point throughout upfront presentations as the industry continues to wrestle with standardizing datasets and rallying around Nielsen-alternative currencies such as VideoAmp, iSpot.tv and Samba TV. A new initiative attempting to sort it all out is the Joint Industry Committee hosted by OpenAP, which has rallied participation from the likes of NBCUniversal, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox, among others. Disney has remained a notable standout from the effort.

Disney supports efforts to standardize measurement practices and shares best practices for alternative measurement with the JIC members, said Valentino, but “it’s a little bit unclear in terms of what the JIC is actually out to accomplish.” She also pointed to other companies that have yet to join, including Netflix, Amazon and Google, as a hesitation for the company.

“We really need to have a representative group around the table that reflects platforms and media owners if we’re really going to be out to create standards for the future of video,” said Valentino.

Monaco added that Disney would be “happy to talk with them and react to anything that they come to us with.”

Upping DE&I commitments

At last year’s upfront, Ferro announced that advertisers had met Disney’s challenge to invest $100 million in the company’s multicultural programs. The ad chief then challenged advertisers to triple that number.

"Already this year, we’ve seen a larger amount of DE&I investment planned than all of fiscal year ‘22,” said Monaco. “So we continue to make tremendous progress there with our partners and we’re really pleased to see how committed they are.”

While last year’s upfront goal hasn’t yet been reached (Valentino notes the company is on the path to doing so), Disney is upping its challenge to advertisers.

But rather than reiterating a new number, Ferro is asking advertisers to expand their lens for diversity to include gender, race, disability, sexual identity and veterans. Last week, Disney announced partnerships with Group Black, Equal Pride, UnitedMasters Inc. and Mecenas Media’s Cocina to create branded content for advertisers. Monaco and Valentino said many opportunities to support diverse programming and talent will be available across Disney’s upcoming slate of scripted, unscripted and sports programming.

The company’s commitment to diversity will also be represented onstage at the upfront, where Valentino said more than 50% of the talent will be inclusive of the voices it's challenging advertisers to invest in.

Overall, Valentino said she hopes the show is emblematic of Disney’s mission to merge its growing capabilities with the content it creates

“There are companies that just sit in the science—that sit on their tech, and then there are companies that sit purely in the art space,” said Valentino. “We’re the art and science company, and that’s what we really want the takeaway to be because honestly, those are the ingredients you have to have to win in the hearts and minds of clients.”