How data is reshaping Disney’s ad strategy

Disney built its Magic Kingdom on creativity. When it comes to shaping its streaming future, it’s using data to keep the magic alive — and give the market what it wants.

That’s according to Jamie Power, Disney’s SVP of addressable sales, who spoke at The Trade Desk’s Forward 25 event in New York last week, discussing Disney’s evolution into a streaming juggernaut.

“We have so much information — we are listening to our viewers, we’re listening to our fans, we’re listening to our advertisers, and there’s so much data to tell us what we need to do,” Power said.

To meet these needs, Disney is investing in tools like The Trade Desk’s OpenPath and Unified ID 2.0, Power said.

“This isn’t betting; it’s listening. It’s seeing the numbers and the trends. Because of that, if I do a deal with [an advertiser], I want to make sure that deal delivers, and we need to make investments to make sure we have the tools to do that,” Power said.

That extends to helping advertisers avoid duplicate ad exposures across Disney’s sprawling media ecosystem by ensuring that its data can flow into buyers’ planning tools.

“Disney is not and will never be a measurement company, but our job is to enable the measurement however and wherever you want to measure … [and] we want you to be able to make smarter decisions when you’re planning. I don’t want you to guess the duplication between Hulu and Disney+ when I can just give you the data so you can plan smarter,” she said.

Another big trend Power has observed is the rapid evolution of the upfronts, with decisioned programmatic media playing a bigger role in deals. Over the past year, Disney’s ad business has flipped from being roughly 60% programmatic guaranteed and 40% biddable, to mostly biddable. And upfront commitments account for 70% of the biddable spend on all of Disney’s properties.

Transacting upfront deals programmatically offers significant advantages — flexibility being chief among them, according to Power.

“It’s the ability to come in at the moments that matter. It’s the ability to run across the same audience, across the entire ecosystem, not just on Disney, in a holistic campaign,” Power said. “You’re able to quickly see what works, what didn’t work and make optimizations, and you’re not just putting all your money down at the beginning.”

The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk.