Disney x Trade Desk = 🤯 (WARNING: This One May Hurt Some Feelings)

Disney strikes a big adtech deal with The Trade Desk as Disney+ expands into ads

Disney struck an advertising agreement with The Trade Desk, making it possible for brands to target automated ads across Disney’s linear and streaming properties — Hulu, ESPN+, ABC, Freeform, ESPN, National Geographic and FX. The news comes in advance of Disney’s launch of an ad-supported tier for its flagship service, Disney+, which would likely be another such target of such a deal. 

All right. So this is in addition to the ad-supported version of Disney+ so still more money on the table for Disney ad properties.

Previously, Disney kept Hulu’s ad inventory separate from its other properties, so this partnership means advertisers can not only discover more addressable inventory across Disney’s portfolio, they can also now programmatically target their audiences and potentially improve their return on investment.

Disney has previously said it wants to automate 50% of its business by 2026. At last year’s upfront advertising sales event, over 40% of the ad inventory Disney sold was automated.

And for anyone concerned about programmatic taking your job, this is Disney and they’re saying only 50% of their ad business would be automated by 2026, so if you’re concerned programmatic coming for you…you can probably stop worrying.

In fact, it used to be that Google ads, ya know…the little paid search ad units at the top of the results page when you search…they used to be sold directly, by humans. The automated bidding thing was just a test that an engineer wanted to try and what they found was that by creating an auction for ad space, it drove rate up more than 60% because you create the conditions for market efficiency, so all of this automation is going to make every piece of Out of Home more valuable, not just digital. And I saw some ridiculous article the other day about programmatic cheapening digital out of home because “that’s what happened to display ads”. There’s one key difference, display ads have no intrinsic value and are nearly infinite. Out of Home is exactly the opposite. Our intrinsic value is the street corner we’re on, whether that be main street, or Times Square. It’s the size, the shape, the context, it’s all of the things. It’s literally what you make of it. It’s real estate, in the real world, that is your brand’s canvas for creating a moment in the physical buyer’s journey and the fact of the matter is, we’ve got a limited quantity. 

Out of the drum dot com, 10% of US programmatic ad spend is wasted on ‘made for advertising’ sites

The study found that Almost 10% of programmatic ad spend in the US goes to low-quality, low-value websites designed to trick advertisers, according to a study from Ebiquity. The research demonstrates that a sizeable proportion of all ad spend among its clients lands on ‘made for advertising’ (MFA) content.

So what is an MFA or a ‘made for advertising’ website?

We’ve all landed on them before. They look like the periodicals, but online. Full of click-baitey titles and no real content. It usually takes a minute before you realize you’re trapped in some maze of weird nonsense but that’s an MFA and 10% of programmatic ad spend is ending up there because demand side platforms love them for delivering and I’m using quote fingers here “above average results based on viewability”. Sound familiar? Sound like the IAB guidance that influenced the recent OAAA updated impression measurement guidance?

Here’s the only problem, just because the trade body says that “viewability” should be the favored attribute of positive performance doesn’t mean that’s what marketers actually think. 

Ever drive down one of those roads that just has one billboard after another after another? Seemingly an endless dystopia of meaningless roadside billboards? Yeah, that’s basically the equivalent of an MFA, in the real world and just because the viewability…rather, the “opportunity to see” is really good, doesn’t make it a high-quality ad experience that drives business outcomes.

Marketers value context and content and the study goes on to say that of the marketers polled, 39% said they cut spending with a major platform last year. So how are brands responding? Brands are being advised to create a clear overview of supply partners and where their ad spend ends up, in addition to reallocating spend to partners that align with value and have demonstrated responsible practices where necessary. So it’s not just about “viewability” anymore, which makes it feel like as an industry, Out of Home is just always a step behind, trying to play catch up to digital when in reality, we are playing an entirely different game.

Brands aren’t asking us for parity with digital. They ARE asking us to confidently show them how to find their audiences offline, to navigate the investment in the formats appropriate for their brand, budget, and goal, and a partner in helping them optimize their feedback loop to ours.

Disney did a record $9 billion dollars in their upfronts this year. They sold the equivalent of all Out of Home domestically here in the United States in their annual opportunity for brands to secure inventory in advance across all of their ad properties.

Yet Out of Home continues to waste time arguing about bulletins versus wrapped cars or who’s DSP is better. We’re stepping over dollars and arguing over dimes. So let’s double-down on what makes being a real-world brand so appealing in a digitally exhausted world - by creating relevant brand experiences for audiences who care in a way that is predictably scalable.

All right, that’s it, that’s my soliloqui for today. Make sure to subscribe and follow wherever you’re getting this transmission and remember - share of voice equals share of mind and share of mind equals share of market so when you say something, make it count.