Disney Touts Enhanced Ad Technology, D23 Expo Expansion at CES

LAS VEGAS – The Walt Disney Co. showcased its investments in cutting-edge advertising technology on Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, with top executives talking up the company’s enhanced ablity to serve marketers across linear and streaming platforms around the world.

“2023 was Disney’s biggest year in our history for investments in ad technology, including the
global expansion of Disney+ with ads,” said Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of global advertising, told the crowd at the Cosmpolitan hotel. “Our tech stack was intentionally built for streaming, to work seamlessly across the global marketplace. It was made for you to buy once and deliver everywhere.”

A procession of executives gave short presentations on innovations and strategic moves made to allow advertisers greater ability to target discrete groups of consumers — capabilities that Madison Avenue has dreamed of for decades.

Joe Earley, Disney’s president of direct-to-consumer streaming, sketched out the scope of Disney’s streaming business, which has seen exponential growth since the dawn of ESPN+ in 2018 and Disney+ in 2019. Earley emphasized that while the core Disney brand is synonymous with kid and family-friendly entertainment, with Hulu it also has plenty of options for adult viewers.

“We have managed to scale at an astonishing rate,”…