At CES, it’s the most wonderful (read: busiest) start to the year. And just like it has in years past, Disney didn’t hold back with a slew of ad innovations at its Global Tech & Data Showcase in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
While last year’s showcase touted capabilities like gamified ads and live sports ad bidding, this time around the House of Mouse trotted out new AI tools, including an AI-powered video generation tool along with vertical video. It also highlighted some existing products, including its measurement and analytics tool Disney Compass, which rolled out during last year’s showcase and which is getting souped up with additional features. And building off the debut of its streaming report Generation Stream last year, which highlighted global audience segments, Disney provided a preview of additional consumer behavior research it’s investing in.
“The past year has brought extraordinary change, from rapid consolidation across the industry to breakthrough advances in AI that are reshaping how we work,” Rita Ferro, Disney’s global advertising president, said during the presentation. “With constant transformation, one thing remains clear: focus drives impact. And that principle is guiding our investments in technology, insights, and partnerships.”
Disney’s announcements included:
Right place, right time? Disney is rolling out an AI-powered video generation tool that can help build creative for brands by taking into account input like audience, context, and placement, and using existing brand assets. The goal is to help brands “put the right creative in front of the right viewer at the right time,” Tony Donohoe, the company’s EVP of ad platforms, said during the presentation.
Not-so-secret agent: Disney’s internal teams are now using an AI-powered media planning tool that uses client briefs, forecasting, pricing, and audience agents to help build campaign plans, according to Donohoe.
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Everyone wants this: After introducing a vertical video product called Verts on the ESPN app in August, Disney is expanding its vertical video push to Disney+ this year in the US. While the company is still exploring how vertical video will be deployed across the platform, it will likely include news programming.
Feeling insightful: Disney’s got a few reports it’s cooking up to supplement all its new ad innovations and help support advertiser decision-making across Disney properties. One is a report on multi-game viewing that’s expected to go live in February, Dana McGraw, SVP of data and measurement science, said; the company is also putting together the second iteration of Generation Stream, which will focus on fandom and eventized streaming.
Golden compass: Execs also touted new features within the Disney Compass product, which was introduced at last year’s showcase and allows advertisers to access Disney first-party data for campaign analysis. This year, Compass is being augmented with a Brand Impact Metric, which takes into account attention, reach, brand health, search (aka how TV ads contribute to search behavior), and attribution. Compass will now also feature a Brand Portal, which will house campaign results and display marketplace context, featuring data from measurement companies including EDO, VideoAmp, and Innovid.
“Let’s be honest, our industry has had a tendency to favor last-touch attribution, but when we are creating conversation, building awareness, and driving action, the story of that holistic impact should be clear,” McGraw said.
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